The Red Bull of Max Verstappen will start the 2019 Mexican Grand Prix from pole position after a blistering lap of 1:14.758. Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel will start the race behind him in second and third for Ferrari. In the first session of qualifying, the five drivers that were eliminated were Lance Stroll in the Racing Point along with the two Haas cars of Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean with the Williams of George Russell and Robert Kubica who will start the race from the last row on the grid.
In Q2, The Ferrari’s set their fastest times on the medium tyres on their first runs as they struggled with the soft compounds. When the pack went out for their second run of the sessions The Ferrari’s Mercedes cars set their fastest times of the session with Lewis Hamilton on top and Valtteri Bottas in second. The Ferraris aborted their laps on the soft tyres to ensure they stat the race on Sunday on the medium compound tyres which suits the car better.
As for the eliminations in the second session, Sergio Perez was eliminated in Q2 in the Racing Point at this home race weekend and will be starting from 11th place. Behind him will be the two Renaults of Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg and the two Alfa Romeos of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi.
The top 10 shootout was left to be fo8ght between five teams, Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, Torro Rosso and McLaren.
The fight for pole was hot between the top three teams. During the first run, while the two Mercedes and two Ferarri’s set decent lap times, it was the two Red Bulls that made things more interesting as Alex Albon on his first run split the two Mercedes’ and was set for fifth place and Max Verstappen was able to put his Red Bull ahead of the two Ferraris for provisional pole.
During their final run, everyone was struggling on the soft tyres. Leclerc went off track but tried his best to salvage the best time he could of what remained of the lap. But as the pack behind him was reeling in their lap times, Bottas on his hot lap lost grip and crash on the final corner of the lap bringing out the yellow flags. With the section of the track forced to be slowed down, no one was allowed to set fast lap times thus resulting in Verstappen to claim pole for the 2019 Mexican Grand Prix on Sunday.
The two Ferraris of Leclerc and Vettel will start from second and third respectively. Hamilton will start from P4 ahead of Albon and Bottas. Sainz, Norris, Kvyat and Gasly claimed the top 10 starting positions for the race.
Bottas’ crash on his final run could also be the final nail in the coffin for the championship being handed for the sixth time to Hamilton, should Bottas require any new components to be used forcing him to take a grid penalty or worse start from the pit lane for Sunday’s race. However, all hope is not lost until the chequered flag is waved.
