Verstappen beats Russell, Hamilton to Mexico pole
Red Bull’s Verstappen secured his first-ever pole at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez with a pair of brilliant laps in Q3 to edge out the Mercedes pair and top qualifying for the sixth time this season.
The double world champion already held provisional pole but went even better on his final run to outpace Russell, who was left frustrated to miss out on pole by 0.304s after what he described as being a “terrible” lap.
Russell pipped Mercedes teammate Hamilton by just 0.005s, with the seven-time world champion left on the back foot after seeing his first laptime deleted due to a track limits infringement.
Home hero Sergio Perez was not able to deliver the result his devoted fans hoped for as he ended up fourth, 0.353s down on his Red Bull teammate.
Carlos Sainz was the highest-placed Ferrari in fifth, over half a second off the pace, while an impressive lap from Valtteri Bottas helped the Alfa Romeo split the Ferraris in sixth.
Behind Bottas came Charles Leclerc, McLaren’s Lando Norris and the Alpine pair of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon, who completed the top 10.
Outgoing McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo missed out on a spot in Q3 by just 0.053s, while Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu was 12th-quickest.
Yuki Tsunoda edged out teammate Pierre Gasly in the battle for qualifying bragging rights at AlphaTauri, with the pair taking 13th and 14th ahead of the Haas of Kevin Magnussen, who will drop five positions because of an engine change.
Mick Schumacher, fighting for his F1 future at Haas, was knocked out in the first part of qualifying after seeing his fastest lap deleted for cutting Turn 2.
He set exactly the same time as Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, who was 17th and only behind Schumacher by virtue of completing his lap after his compatriot.
Lance Stroll was 18th in a disappointing showing for Aston Martin, but the Canadian will start Sunday’s race last due to being slapped with a three-place grid penalty for causing a collision with Alonso in Austin last weekend.
The Williams pair of Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi were slowest of all in qualifying, taking 19th and 20th respectively.
