After all the predictions of Red Bull domination, it’s Mercedes who have taken the headlines with a stunning 1-2 in Mexico. Bottas starts ahead of Hamilton, while Verstappen and Perez could only manage 3rd and 4th respectively.
Extended Q1
As the session got underway, Red Bull were hard at work on the back of Verstappen’s car. This was unprecedented and the severity of the work was unknown. However, on the other side of the garage, Perez was out early, making the most of the raucous home crowd.
Perez’s first lap was interrupted by a red flag, caused by Stroll. The Canadian lost control coming out of the last corner and his stricken Aston Martin had the front left suspension ripped apart. He already had an engine penalty for the weekend, now his team would have yet more work to do.
It took 25 minutes to fix the Techpro barriers and there was 11 minutes left on the clock, with 13 drivers yet to set a time.
There was a colossal queue as the cars scampered out onto the track, desperate to set a time. Sainz was not able to scamper out as he had a power issue coming out of the pits. His car was stuck at 27 km/h but, after a tense minute, the Ferrari was able to set off.
Verstappen took the initial fastest time, 0.6s ahead of Perez. Bottas climbed to 3rd, while Norris edged infront of Hamilton for 4th. The Mercedes was not looking smooth around the high altitude track. Despite this, Bottas would eventually finish ahead of Leclerc and Verstappen after taking a few more laps.
Alonso was knocked out by his team-mate’s lap, which was ironic considering that Ocon would have a penalty for tomorrow’s race. Latifi was unable to capitalise on Stroll’s early exit, but will start higher than his 17th placed result after penalties are applied. Schumacher finished in front of Mazepin again, despite an earlier squabble between the two Haas cars.
Eliminated:
- 16th Alonso
- 17th Latifi
- 18th Schumacher
- 19th Mazepin
- 20th Stroll
Q2
Strangely, all cars chose the medium tyre as Q2 started. Again, Verstappen took the initial fastest time, but by only 0.016s from Hamilton after a very effective slipstream by the Mercedes duo. Leclerc was again in the mix, moving up into 3rd, ahead of Perez.
Hamilton would eventually pip Verstappen to the fastest lap by 0.009s. Tsunoda jumped to 3rd and, despite setting the lap on the faster compound tyre, impressed with a lap time only 0.2s behind Hamilton.
Vettel was the first to be eliminated, just missing out on Norris in p10. Raikkonen finished a very impressive 12th in his last Mexican GP while Russell jumped to 13th with his final lap. Giovinazzi spun on his last flying lap and couldn’t improve from 14th, while Ocon was in no man’s land in 15th.
Eliminated:
- 11th Vettel
- 12th Raikkonen
- 13th Russell
- 14th Giovinazzi
- 15th Ocon
Q3
As the qualifying session was progressing, there was a trend of cars attempting to perfect the slipstream effect. All of the constructors came out in pairs, attempting to convert the slipstream potential.
Red Bull’s initial slipstream attempt seemed to fall apart, with Perez too far infront of Verstappen to actually provide any benefit.
Mercedes stormed to a provisional 1-2 after the Red Bulls struggled with their outlaps. Verstappen was in 3rd, 0.3s behind Bottas’ fastest lap.
The cars came out in pairs again for their final laps. This time, the Red Bulls were far closer and Perez, the lead Red Bull, was also taking a slipstream from a stray Ferrari in front.
But, the laps were disrupted as Tsunoda went off infront of Perez, throwing up dust. This also affected Verstappen’s flying lap as the two cars in front were attempting to rejoin.
Neither Mercedes cars improved, but it was enough to give Bottas a shock pole position, with Hamilton lining up behind. Verstappen was able to control the damage with 3rd, while Perez must be underwhelmed with 4th. Gasly jumped to 5th with an impressive performance. Sainz was the lead Ferrari in 6th, while Ricciardo surprised, finishing in 7th ahead of Leclerc. Tsunoda took a good result with 9th, although he has penalties to face, while Norris was an unremarkable 10th
Top 10
- Bottas
- Hamilton
- Verstappen
- Perez
- Gasly
- Sainz
- Ricciardo
- Leclerc
- Tsunoda
- Norris
There is an 800m drive to turn 1 from the start, and Red Bull will be surprised to be starting the race looking at the rear wings of the Mercedes. An unexpected result, but one that could lead to an incredible battle between two drivers and two teams fighting for titles.
Featured Image Credit: @F1 Official Twitter
