@Max33Verstappen clinches #MexicoCityGP pole position. #F1 #F1ESTA

Verstappen Mexico City GP Pole – Red Bull’s Max Verstappen stormed to pole position by over three tenths in an intense qualifying session at the Mexico City GP ahead of Mercedes pairing George Russell and Sir Lewis Hamilton who were second and third respectively.

Home favourite Sergio Perez was fourth in the other Red Bull RB18 entry whilst Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas split the Ferrari duo and secured sixth place on the grid for the Grand Prix.

After Hamilton had a solid Q1 and Q2 sessions, he lost his initial flyer in the final qualifying stage for cutting the turn three apex, with Verstappen leading the top of the time-sheets after those first hot-laps in the final qualifying stage, his 1:17.947 effort was the first to break into the 1:17’s bracket for the initial time all session.

Perez like he had in the first flying tours, lead the pack around for the last flyers and he improved on his final attempt, but no by enough to topple his team-mate or Mercedes’ Russell who was behind by 0.132 seconds after the opening tours.

Following Perez, the Ferrari duo could not recover from their slow sector one times on their initial efforts, with Carlos Sainz unable to improve on his personal best from the first runs and the Spaniard ended up fifth.

Charles Leclerc in the other F1-75 entry improved, but not by enough to trouble the front grid slots, which left the focus on the two Silver Arrows and after Verstappen then smashed through to lower the benchmark with the pole-setting effort of a 1:17.775.

This officially became the pole time when Hamilton finally registered his lap-time that was 0.309 seconds adrift of the Dutchman, but still not faster than his Mercedes team-mate Russell, who also lost his final effort for sliding off the circuit beyond the turn 12 exit kerbs entering the stadium section of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez but done enough to secure second place on the grid.

Whilst the focus was on the front-runners in the battle for pole, Bottas put in a 1:18.401 having been in the top six in both Q1 and Q2 segments in a strong showing for Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN.

Behind Leclerc was McLaren’s Lando Norris and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso, who completed just a single hot-lap in Q3 during the lull between the two efforts completed by the majority of the top ten, with the other Alpine A522 racer of Esteban Ocon rounding out the top ten.

In the second qualifying stage, which was topped by Hamilton, McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo qualified outside the top ten and in-front of Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu who took 12^th and AlphaTauri duo Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly who were 13^th and 14^th respectively.

Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen qualified 15^th and will start five places back due to taking on a sixth internal combustion engine for the season.

In the opening segment, which was topped by Hamilton, Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher was the quickest of the eliminatees in 16^th and ahead of Aston Martin pairing Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll who were 17^th and 18^th respectively.

Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon and Nicholas Latifi brought up the rear.

Stroll takes a three grid-placed penalty for his collision with Alonso at last weekend’s United States Grand Prix.

You can see the full Formula 1 Gran Premio De La Ciudad De Mexico 2022 Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1136/mexico/qualifying.html

2022 Mexico City GP Qualifying – The Top Three

2022 Mexico City GP Pole Position – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing-RBPT, RB18, 1:17.775:

“It was a good qualifying, the car got into a better rhythm. It’s a long run to Turn 1 so we need a good start, but we have a quick car and that’s the most important thing. It’s amazing to drive here. Checo will be there tomorrow, I hope for a fun race will lots of action.”

2^nd Place – George Russell, #63, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, F1 W13 E Performance, +0.304:

“The team deserved more today; they’ve produced a great car this weekend. I feel like it was our pole to have – it was a terrible lap from my side but at the end of the day, no points for qualifying, the race is tomorrow.”

3^rd Place – Lewis Hamilton, #44, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, F1 W13 E Performance, +0.309:

“Unfortunately the first one which was quick enough for second wasn’t quite good enough, and the Red Bulls are so fast. I’m really proud of my team, this is the best qualifying we’ve had this year. I’m pretty happy with that position to be honest with the run down to Turn 1.”

In the earlier FP3 session, it was Russell ahead of team-mate Hamilton in a Mercedes one-two with Red Bull’s Verstappen third and fifth respectively as Ferrari’s Leclerc split the pairing in fourth. You can see the full Formula 1 Gran Premio De La Ciudad De Mexico 2022 Free Practice 3 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1136/mexico/practice-3.html