Alonso had also made a big splash with a comment about drivers at the back of the grid (probably directed at Albon) being substandard. Albon said he was disappointed but still looked up to Alonso. That was more frustration coming out.
Before that a number of drivers had missed the press day or been ill earlier in the week including the championship contender. It had been blamed on this race being the second triple-header in a row. I think it's the same lurgy that we're all getting passed on aeroplanes between Texas and Mexico.
When in Mexico though, all attention was on Checo Perez. Cadillac capitalised on this by announcing that his contract was renewed for the next season.
In Free Practice 3 there were more divas wanting their share of the attention: Lawson and Verstappen were given conflicting advice over the radio about what the other was doing and crashed into each other. This was followed by some very harsh comments from Verstappen about what a driver "who is fighting for their seat" should be doing. Both drivers were given a one place grid penalty.
There was more going on with Red Bull drivers, Hadjar also received a warning from stewards after pushing a paddock guest who aggressively approached him for a selfie when he was running late for Free Practice 1. In the olden days he would have gotten away it but with people catching footage for social media everywhere, he did not.
If you really want people to see you then you need to do what Alonso did in the middle of the first Qualifying session and pull over to stop your car in the middle of the stadium section of the track. 40,000 people were present and the session was Red Flagged and stopped. He did not know why they stopped the car like that.
Leclerc and Norris had been quickest during Free Practice but Hamilton was the fastest in the first Qualifying session. The slowest six cars were Albon, Alonso, Hirakawa, Stroll, Perez and Bottas. It seems likely that this will be Bottas' last season in Formula 1. I don't understand how Stroll could not beat his team mate when his team mate did not even have a car. When will it be his last season? Alonso would even be reprimanded for not replacing the steering wheel correctly when he stopped.
The second session passed without event although we started to see some drivers have lap times deleted. The drivers that didn't go through were: Hulkenberg, Colapinto, Piastri, Bortoleto, Bearman and Sainz. If Alpine are going to have a good day, someone in a top team will go out and today it was Piastri. It was a pretty big scalp when McLaren were looking good at this circuit. Ultimately the team made a poor choice with tyres.
In the final session, drivers were pushing. Hadjar crossed a white line at the pit lane entry and became under investigation. From nowhere, with a minute to go, Russell took pole position from Leclerc. He had not been mentioned at all thus far into the coverage. Hamilton quickly took it off him. Leclerc, who had been so strong, could only come back to third place. Antonelli was not quick and then Verstappen locked up his tyres as Norris was in his way. The dying seconds did not see anyone put in a quick lap. The top ten were: Hamilton, Russell, Leclerc, Verstappen, Antonelli, Norris, Hadjar, Lawson, Linblad and Gasly. Verstappen and Lawson will both take a one place grid penalty, remember.
Hamilton was overwhelmed and almost hugged his car. Russell and Hamilton both need to finish near the front in the race if they are to take Antonelli's championship bid on to the next race. It looks like a good line-up and I'm actually exited to watch the race.
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