Mexico GP Qualifying Report

There were some incidents during the Free Practice sessions: Russell, Albon and Bearman all got into trouble.  Most talk though was still on the Norris/Verstappen overtake controversy.

It was hot and steamy in Mexico and the track was improving with every lap of Pirelli rubber laid down and tyres coming into the sweet spot with the heat.  Zhou was out in last place, Ocon ahead of him and then there were a couple of surprises with Perez (the home track hero) not being able to go quick enough, then Piastri having lap times deleted.   Out in 16th was, more predictably, Colapinto.  Bottas was through to the second session, for a very rare outing there.

The second session was very pedestrian until Tsunoda crashed with less than two minutes to go and brought out a Red Flag.  This gave several drivers a buy through to the next session as fast laps were nullified.  Surprisingly this didn't lead to any big scalps.  Out went Tsunoda, Lawson, Alonso, Stroll and Bottas; team mates travelling two by two.  An Aston Martin occasionally makes it through to the final session but with two drivers for top teams already out, Albon, Gasly and both Haas were through.  What could they make of the opportunity?

The start of the final session was a little delayed to get the barrier fixed.  The drivers went out for their first flying lap, with Verstappen putting in a very quick lap.  The stewards then established that it was quick because he went outside of track limits so the time was deleted.  Many drivers were trying to get a slip stream from their team mates or other drivers.  Sainz had put in the fastest lap in the first tranche.  Hamilton was out of step putting the laps in.

With four and a half minutes to go, all the drivers apart from the Mercedes came out.  This was a risky strategy for them.  The battle seemed to be between the two Ferrari drivers.  Sainz took the pole from his team mate, Verstappen then split them.  Norris went fastest in the middle sector but the other two sections of the track weren't quite quick enough and he was third.  Poor LeClerc finished fourth.  The Mercedes of Russell and Hamilton were behind them, then Magnussen, Gasley, Albon and Hullkenberg.

It could be a tricky Mexican race with four drivers all in with a good chance of winning it and, everyone apart from Verstappen, probably willing to take a risk to get it.