Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen took F1 Mexico GP pole from Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel after a late crash for Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas.
Q1:
It was a relatively sedate run in first part of F1 Mexico GP qualifying with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen leading from Alexander Albon and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. It was not a good day for the Haas drivers with both knocked out in Q1.
Racing Point’s Lance Stroll (1m18.065s) was leading the pack though in 16th with Haas’ Kevin Magnussen (1m18.436s) ahead of teammate Romain Grosjean (1m18.599s), who had only one lap due to an early off at Turn 1.
Williams’ George Russell (1m18.823s) handsomely led Robert Kubica (1m20.179s) as the FIA put Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo and Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat under investigation for a pitlane incident, which is to be looked at after the session.
Q2:
The second part of Mexico GP qualifying had a one-sided strategy to start with as all the drivers except the two Renault drivers chose to set their first lap on the medium tyres. Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas was on the backfoot after going off on his quick lap.
The second runs had Mercedes staying on the mediums but the rest using the soft, however, neither Ferrari and nor Red Bull set a quicker lap on that compound. It left Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton ahead of teammate Bottas.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was third as Racing Point’s Sergio Perez missed on a Top 10 spot by a mere 0.008s after his 1m16.687s lap. He had the two Renault drivers behind him with Nico Hulkenberg (1m16.885s) ahead of Ricciardo (1m16.933s).
All of the medium runners aside the top teams did improve on their second runs on the soft compound. The Q2 standings was rounded out by the Alfa Romeo Racing drivers with Kimi Raikkonen (1m16.967s) in 15th ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi (1m17.269s).
Q3:
It was provisional pole in Mexico GP for Red Bull’s Verstappen with a 1m14.910s with Ferrari duo Leclerc and Vettel in second and third respectively. Mercedes’ Hamilton was fourth with Albon and Bottas rounding out the Top 6 spots.
The best of the rest fight had McLaren’s Carlos Sainz heading after their first run from Toro Rosso’s Kvyat. It was an anti-climax to the qualifying session with a big crash for Bottas in the final corner, when he rammed into the barrier.
Verstappen, meanwhile, went quicker still with a 1m14.758s lap to secure Mexico GP pole, his second of the 2019 season, with no improvements from anyone else meant Ferrari’s Leclerc (1m15.024s) ended up second and Vettel (1m15.170s) third.
While Verstappen took pole, there was some confusion as to if he improved on his lap time under double waved yellows due to Bottas’ crash. The FIA did not open any case for investigation until the end of the qualifying and the post-session ceremonies.
The yellows meant Mercedes’ Hamilton (1m15.262s) remained fourth with Red Bull’s Albon (1m15.336s) fifth ahead of Bottas (1m15.338s), whose side impact could result in a gearbox change if found damaged.
The best of the rest honours went to the McLaren duo with Sainz (1m16.014s) ahead of Lando Norris (1m16.322s) as Toro Rosso’s Kvyat (1m16.469s) and Pierre Gasly (1m16.586s) rounded out the Top 10.
UPDATE: The FIA confirmed that no investigation was necessary as Verstappen slowed down enough in the mini-sectors they have available with them.
Here’s what happened in FP3 session of Mexico GP
