Sebastian Vettel got an unexpected pole position for tomorrow’s race at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton completed the top 3.
Q1 started with one less driver, as Gasly couldn’t even leave the pits following the mechanical issues which have been affecting his engine since yesterday. The Haas had a very poor performance and they were behind the Saubers, who were also eliminated.
Since both McLarens have grid penalties which will force them to start from the back, neither of them took part in Q2, although Alonso had set the 5th quickest time in Q1, less than 2 tenths slower than the fastest time. Hartley was unable to set a timed lap after his Toro Rosso stopped on track. This left Massa and Stroll out of Q3 on P11 and P12.
Verstappen set what seemed to be an unreal laptime in Q2, and he then almost equaled it in Q3. However, Vettel managed to set an even quicker time which gave him pole position. Some mistakes left Hamilton and Bottas right behind them. Räikkönen was P5, 7 tenths behind his teammate. Ocon will start right behind the Iceman and ahead of Ricciardo, who was 9 tenths slower than his teammate. Hülkenberg, Sainz and Pérez completed the top 10.
Result:
1 Vettel 2 Verstappen 3 Hamilton 4 Bottas 5 Räikkönen 6 Ocon 7 Ricciardo 8 Hülkenberg 9 Sainz 10 Pérez 11 Massa 12 Stroll 13 Hartley 14 Alonso 15 Vandoorne 16 Ericsson 17 Wehrlein 18 Magnussen 19 Grosjean 20 Gasly
