Carlos Sainz beats Max Verstappen to Mexico City GP pole
Carlos Sainz claims first pole position of the season after beating Max Verstappen in Mexico qualifying.
Carlos Sainz stormed to his first pole position of the season ahead of F1 championship leader Max Verstappen at the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Outgoing Ferrari driver Sainz outpaced Red Bull’s Verstappen by 0.225 seconds to land pole at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Verstappen, who leads the championship by 57 points, saw his first lap of Q3 deleted due to track limits.
Verstappen’s championshiival, Lando Norris, was third-fastest as he fell 0.314s adrit of pole. Third place on the grid has historically been a good place to start in Mexico due to the slipstream effect down the circuit’s incredibly long run to Turn 1.
Charles Leclerc had to settle with the second row of the grid and fourth after failing to match the searing pace of his Ferrari teammate.
The Mercedes pair of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton locked out the third row of the grid in fifth and sixth, with seven-time world champion Hamilton seven tenths off the pace.
Kevin Magnussen claimed eighth ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, the Williams of Alex Albon and Haas teammate Nico Hulkenberg, who rounded out the top-10.
Yuki Tsunoda crashed at Turn 12 on his way to securing 11th on the grid, one place ahead of RB teammate Liam Lawson.
The late red flag prevented others from improving on their second runs, leaving Aston Martin duo Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll 13th and 14th, ahead of Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas, who made a rare Q2 appearance.
Franco Colapinto failed to progress out of Q1 and will start 16th for Williams, ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who suffered a shock exit in 17th.
Pressure continues to mount on Sergio Perez after the Mexican could only manage a time good enough for 18th and was dumped out of the first part of qualifying for the fifth time this season.
Perez was only faster than Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu.
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