F1: Verstappen beats Mercedes cars to win pole for Mexico City GP

World Driving Champion Max Verstappen turned a lap of 1m17.775s in his Red Bull Honda to win his first pole for the Mexico City GP.

With the pressure on, he nailed his lap and wound up 0.304s clear of the field, as George Russell managed to hold on to second despite having his last lap time deleted. He did at least out-qualify his teammate Lewis Hamilton, albeit by just 0.005s.

“It was a good qualifying, the car got into a better rhythm,” said a happy Verstappen.

“It’s a long run to Turn 1, so we need a good start, but we have a quick car and that’s the most important thing. It’s amazing to drive here. Checo will be there tomorrow, I hope for a fun race will lots of action.”

“The team deserved more today, they’ve produced a great car this weekend,” said Russell. “I feel like it was our pole to have – it was a terrible lap from my side but at the end of the day, no points for qualifying, the race is tomorrow.”

The locals cheered their hero Sergio Perez on to a 4th fast time, 0.353s behind his Red Bull teammate.

“Unfortunately, the first one which was quick enough for second wasn’t quite good enough, and the Red Bulls are so fast,” said Hamilton who keeps saying that, but he beat the Red Bull of Perez so is it really the car or is Verstappen just better than you?

“I’m really proud of my team, this is the best qualifying we’ve had this year. I’m pretty happy with that position, to be honest, with the run down to Turn 1.”

Well, that makes tomorrow a pretty tasty prospect, doesn’t it? Verstappen has the quickest car down the straights, but he’ll have two drivers on his tail and in his slipstream who will fancy their chances.

Then there is Perez, who is right in the thick of the action as well and with his mastery of tire wear, could well drive himself into contention in what is so often a race of attrition.

Carlos Sainz Jr. rounded out the top-5 for Ferrari, 0.576s behind and ahead of Valtteri Bottas’ Alfa Romeo and his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc.

Behind, Ferrari has some work to do to play catch up in the race. Neither driver was able to lay down a perfect lap, but then again they might argue that was more due to over pushing a car that wasn’t quite on the pace here. Fifth and seventh are interesting places to start from, and provided they can keep clear of any chaos on the first lap, they certainly aren’t out of it.

Qualifying Results