Vettel ready to go 'all out' from Mexico pole despite bleak title picture

Sebastian Vettel says he will go "all out" and "attack" in Sunday's Mexican Grand Prix despite his slim title hopes after storming to his 50th Formula 1 pole position in qualifying on Saturday for Ferrari.

Vettel entered the Mexico race weekend trailing Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton by 66 points with 75 left to play for, meaning a top-five finish on Sunday will be enough to give the Briton his fourth F1 title.

Vettel refused to go down without a fight in qualifying, charging to pole position with a stunning final lap in Q3 to edge out Red Bull's Max Verstappen, while Hamilton could only manage P3, four-tenths of a second behind.

"It was quite a lap I have to say, I'm really happy," Vettel said after the session. "Very difficult here very slippery, very difficult to get everything in one lap. I had a little bit in the first sector, managed to get that right so had a good start then had a moment in Turn 6, had to go down to first gear but didn't seem to really lose time.

"I thought if I could just keep it clean it and cross the line it would be enough and it was. 

"Yesterday wasn't that fast, if I'm honest but overnight we had a lot of things that improved, we had a lot of things we worked on and changed and they worked so now I'm really happy and tomorrow we'll see what happens.

"We have to maximise every session, whether practice or qualifying. Obviously today is really good and tomorrow we'll see."

Despite knowing even a win in Mexico is unlikely to keep his title hopes alive, Vettel said he is ready to push hard and try to deliver Ferrari its first win since the Hungarian Grand Prix before the summer break.

"Obviously it's not as in my control as I'd like it to be, it depends what Lewis is doing," Vettel said.

"But for us I think we go all out, we attack. We deserve a good result, Ferrari deserves a good result, so let's see what happens."