The Saturday in F1 Mexico GP saw Max Verstappen get the better of the Mercedes duo amid issues for almost all the leading drivers.
Max Verstappen eventually took pole on Saturday in F1 Mexico GP after a crucial lap in Q3 when others around him had some problems or the other. The Red Bull driver did not have a great run until the final part where he shone but P1 is not always the best place.
Considering the long straight, the pole-sitter is always under pressure from those around him and in this case, he will have Mercedes pair of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton to fend off, both of whom looked good until the final part of qualifying.
Russell rued the issues in Q3 which eventually cost him pole as per him, while Hamilton had his initial lap deleted and the subsequent one was only good for third as he expanded on engine cuts in corners from the Q2 session onward.
Problems were faced by Red Bull’s Sergio Perez as well who was fourth as his DRS was not working properly and he had issues on the communication side too. Not only did Ferrari lose performance overall, but Charles Leclerc felt engine trouble on his final run.
Verstappen: “It was, I think a bit of a tricky start to qualifying, because the track was a bit warmer than FP3. So I think everyone was sliding around a bit more and it was a bit more difficult to find your rhythm. So it was really like Q1 to Q2 to Q3 trying to… Well, trying to find a balance in the car again. And I think yeah, every session it got a little bit better. And I think in Q3, we finally could push a little bit more with the car and yeah, two decent laps, I think. So of course, very happy with that, because around here, it’s very hard to… For me at least, it is very hard to nail a lap, just you know, it’s very low grip and there are a few kerbs that you have to, like, perfectly hit to actually gain time.
“So it’s definitely not the easiest of qualifyings always. And the same with the tyre warm-up around here. But it seemed like in Q3 we had it under control. Regarding the race, I mean, I’ve started, I guess, everywhere except pole here, and we won the races, so … It is always important to have a good start around here. I think our top speed is not too bad to defend, at least, when people are in the draft. So yeah, we just need to focus on that and honestly, I think if we have good race pace, then it will be a good fight anyway, but yeah, of course, we’ll try to stay ahead into Turn 1.”
Russell: “It was a very difficult session for us. The car’s been feeling great every single lap I’ve driven this whole weekend in FP2, in FP3, obviously quickest in both sessions. And then my very first lap in Q1, it was just awful! When I was really struggling, I was driving terribly and I just had no rhythm whatsoever. So, that first lap in Q3 was kind of, I wouldn’t say necessarily a banker, but it was a good lap, it was a clean lap. And I knew there was a lot more on the table. And when I tried pushing further, I just got bitten by the car and couldn’t complete the lap. It started at Turn 5, I had a big, big oversteer moment. And then obviously I locked up just trying too hard in Sector 3 to make up.
“So, you know, I am disappointed because I feel like the team deserved the pole position today. The car’s been performing great but ultimately the points are scored tomorrow, and we’ll be going for that race win. I think we were looking competitive. Similar to what Max said: we don’t really know. But we think we’ve got a reasonable shot. And I think obviously, having Lewis and I there at the front gives us an opportunity to maybe do something different with the strategy. And I don’t think anybody really knows if it’s going to be a one- or two-stop. So, let’s see what we can do.”
Hamilton: “It was generally a really good qualifying session. No real, major issues. I mean, we had some problems with the engine towards the end in Q3. So, I think there was definitely a bit of performance left on the table with that, unfortunately. But I did the best I could. I think losing that first lap definitely made the last one very, very difficult. I had to be very reserved on that last lap, just to make sure that it was clean, because I was tenth up until that point. So unfortunately, not able to push as hard as I would have liked. But nonetheless, I think this is a great result to be second and third. It’s not a bad position to start for tomorrow. And I hope that we can fix the engine problem for tomorrow.
“It started to appear in Q2 and then it was just every run in Q3. It was basically dropping out of power on exits of corners so I definitely think we were losing quite a bit of time, I think, out of the last corner and basically out of most of the corners. Not really sure what was happening, it felt like an ignition issue but I will find out from the team. As for the lap deletion, I don’t really know. I think it was… I was told it was turn two so just apex kerb. I think we need to look deep into it, because I don’t believe it’s the case but we’ll see.”
Leclerc: “It was a difficult session but there is a problem, I’m sure. We need to look into it. It was mostly engine-wise; we were losing a lot of time down the straight and there were loads of problems with drivability. The throttle was not really… I mean the engine was not responding to the throttle input I was giving. Especially in the high speed it was extremely difficult. I really hope we can fix that for tomorrow. If yes, I feel confident we can have a good result, if not I’m not sure how it will go. I think this is really a one-off. For me it was really strange. We need to look into it and I hope we can find something for tomorrow.”
Perez: “It was a big shame. We had an electrical issue throughout quali, and with DRS we were struggling and so on. It was important to make sure we got everything right, but I was pretty much blind through quali – I had no reference lap time, I had no information on my brake balance or times, so it was just a mess. When I look back at my quali, I nearly got knocked out in Q1, and in Q2, so to be P4 is not the end of the world, but I really believe we could have fought for pole position.”
The pack behind saw Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas in prime position after an all-round good weekend in F1 Mexico GP thus far. The Finn has looked solid so far but it will only count in the grand prix as he will be wary of the team’s reliability troubles so far.
Others were usual suspects in the Top 10 with McLaren’s Lando Norris in ahead of Alpine pair Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon. They have Daniel Ricciardo just behind them as they will look to outdo each other in the battle for fourth place.
The big one to lose out here was AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly who looked good in practice but stated that they just lost pace with no grip from FP3 onward. Both he and Yuki Tsunoda were knocked out in Q2 leaving them with a task to finish in points.
Bottas: “It’s been good all weekend. FP1 we saw we were in the top 10 but we didn’t know if other teams were lacking pace or something. Maybe the upgrades we’ve had in the last few races, somehow they are popping out here a bit more, and I felt really comfortable and had good laps, especially the last lap in Q3. It’s been a while since we had a result like this in qualifying, and I think it’s really uplifting for the whole team. We’ve been performing well since the start of the week and being able to just carry that performance on from practice one. Considering the altitude and the smooth surface, it actually feels good. It’s been quite an easy car to drive, in a way, the kerbing has been good – and since practice one I just had good confidence. We started also with the right set-ups, just fine-tuning and building up from a good practice one. I think we have a good base; we’ve seen also in long runs also the pace is there. I think we should hopefully be best of the midfield, let’s say. All we need is a good clean Lap 1 and that way, hopefully, we can have a good race. Based on all the runs we’ve done, low fuel, high fuel, we seem to be around sixth, seventh place. I hope tomorrow is a good day because we need some points.
Norris: “I’m very happy, it was a good day today and I’m pleased with P8. I did a very good lap in Q3 to put us ahead of both the Alpines, which is the best we could do in the conditions. We’re too far off the teams ahead, but that’s usual, so I’m happy because we’ve given ourselves a good chance going into tomorrow’s race. It’s a long run down to Turn One, many things can happen. We’ll switch our concentration to the race and focus on having a clean start, getting away, getting our heads down and having a clean race from then on.”
Alonso: “It was a little bit more difficult than expected today but we are still quite pleased to be in ninth position on the grid for tomorrow’s race. It’s good we are on the clean side of the grid and just behind Lando. In general, I didn’t feel that fast and struggled with the balance of the car. I was tenth in Q2 and so I think ninth was potentially our maximum today. With the unique temperatures and altitude of this race, we can’t take anything for granted. That’s the same for everyone this weekend and we’ll do our best to take points at the chequered flag.”
Gasly: “We started the weekend really well yesterday, but since FP3 we’ve started to struggle a lot, sliding all over the place. Normally we’re able to find solutions ahead of Quali, but we haven’t been able to this time. I was pretty happy with my final lap this afternoon, but unfortunately the pace just wasn’t there. We’ll need to try something tomorrow, it’s a tricky track here and our long-run pace is looking stronger, so for sure there’s an opportunity in the race to make our way forward.”
Much like Gasly was loss of words, it was the same case for Haas, Aston Martin and Williams who found themselves in a spot of bother due to lack of grip. Kevin Magnussen made it in Q2 but he still did not have enough pace to better anyone in the group.
Magnussen: “We’ve obviously had a bit of a tough weekend with FP1 and then with the test tires which you have to use in FP2, so I got very little running, but I actually think we were alright considering everything. We changed the front wing, rear wing and floor from FP3 to qualifying but the aero balance changed completely and we were completely off so we had to correct it, but we got through to Q2 which was good. This qualifying didn’t matter as much because of the five-place grid penalty, so we’ll start near the back but let’s see what we’re able to do.”
Vettel: “Things did not look very promising in FP3 this morning, but we hoped we could take a step forward for qualifying. But that was not the case: we struggled for grip and overall balance – the car would not behave in certain corners. I know from past experience that the podium here is incredible – but that is a long shot right now. But who knows? I am always hopeful that we can do something special in the race tomorrow.”
Albon: “The car felt okay and I was feeling good in FP3 but the track was hotter in Q1 and had lost a lot of grip compared to FP3. I think it would have been hard to get into Q2 today, however our lap was looking like it could have got us through. We were on the edge today and on the final lap, with the same corner speed as the lap before, I got massive oversteer; it’s really tricky to drive these cars on the edge, especially for us. Tomorrow will be interesting as you think it would be easy to overtake here but it’s actually quite difficult and there’s some cars here that are faster than we expected.”
Here’s how F1 Mexico GP qualifying panned out