Mexican Grand Prix Qualifiers: Mercedes recalls its speed from first hat: pole for Bottas

Like the devil out of the box, Valtteri Bottas is in pole position in Mexico. The Finn Mercedes driver set the fastest time ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, with a 1:15875.

Red Bull Racing looked superior until the second part of qualifying. Verstappen is ultimately 0.35 shorter than the fastest Mercedes. Max Verstappen was unable to complete the last fast lap due to the slower drivers on the track.

live report

Live report on qualification for the Mexican Grand Prix or #MexicanGP. The track at an altitude of more than 2,200 meters above sea level makes Sergio Perez rise above himself. Can he repeat what he just did during VT3 by setting the fastest time again? GPToday maintains – as usual – a live report here. Therefore, update this page regularly and stay informed of developments on the track, immediately read the results here and read the summary again after qualification. In the meantime, you can express your valuable opinions in the chat, through this link.

Should Sergio Perez Repeat what he did during VT3, then commented Team orders may be in the airt for the Mexican local champion. Max Verstappen has a 12-point lead over Lewis Hamilton in the world championship, which is fast approaching its end. Red Bull Racing has 23 points less than the Mercedes team ahead of the race at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez near Mexico City.

Q1: The red flag after the crash of the Stroll

Lance Stroll goes off the track as he pushes for a quick run. The Canadian driver of the green Aston Martin shoots hard off the track as he enters the straight. A red flag has been waved and all drivers must abort the run. Stroll crossed his car and rolled around the tire wall. The driver is in good condition, his car is in poor condition and has to be towed away. Aston Martin was badly damaged. The replay shows Stroll coming too wide through a corner and then losing control.

Restart Q1: File

It’s urgent when getting off the pit lane: Several drivers exit the pit lane next to each other in a sprint. Nikita Mazepin grumbles on the radio that he is being held by teammate Mick Schumacher. After restarting the session, all drivers try to find a good gap.

When all the drivers have set a fast time after making some repairs here and there, Max Verstappen records the current fastest time at 1:16.788. Verstappen is faster than Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Perez, Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc, Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly, Antonio Giovinazzi and Esteban Ocon. While Max Verstappen has already returned to the pit lane, Valtteri Bottas and Charles Leclerc are still under his time. The track is getting faster with time and seems to provide more and more grip.

A message from the race department appears on the computers: After the session, an investigation is opened with George Russell and Nicholas Latifi for trouble exiting the pit lane in which Kimi Rakkonen also appears to be involved.

Q1 . dropouts

Fernando Alonso, Nicholas Latifi, Mick Schumacher, Nikita Mazbein and Lance Stroll did not qualify for the first part of the qualifiers.

Q 2

Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time on medium rubber in 1:16.483 with Verstappen 0.009sec on the soft tyre. Behind him, Tsunoda sets the third fastest time on the soft tire. The rest of the top ten are Bottas, Gasly, Leclerc, Beers, Ricciardo, Sainz, Norris. So both McLaren still qualified for the top ten after a bad Friday.

Vettel, Raikkonen, Russell, Giovinazzi and Akon are disqualified and not allowed to proceed to the final part of qualifying.

Q3

Upon first passing, the Mercedes really does seem to have the speed that one seems to conjure up like a rabbit out of a top hat. Valtteri Bottas scores 1:15875 which is faster than Hamilton and up to 0.35 seconds faster than Max Verstappen. The Red Bull driver complains that his car still slips a lot in the back.

After the first games, the standings are: Bottas, Hamilton, Verstappen, Perez, Gasly, Leclerc, Ricciardo, Sainz, Tsunoda and Norris.

The second round of Red Bull drivers is needed

All drivers still have one way to go. Red Bull cars definitely need them if they want to beat the front row of the grid. The last minutes are more exciting. Can Red Bull Racing respond to Mercedes’ sudden speed?

Sergio Perez makes a mistake, and the Mexican goes off track in the part of the court behind Yuki Tsunoda. Max Verstappen leads right behind that. Limburger is out of fuel due to cars leaving the lane for him. Verstappen was fast on his way and could take first as he was the fastest in the third sector all weekend. Whether Red Bull will be able to do that, we’ll probably never know.

Mercedes takes the pole and conjures speed when it counts. Pole for Bottas, Hamilton can also start from the front row. The results are below.