With Max Verstappen’s track record, Sergio Perez’s home crowd cheering him on, Ferrari’s Quali pace and Mercedes’ excellent FP3, it was all to play for in Qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Q1
In Qualifying 1: Mick Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, Lance Stroll, Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi were the five slowest drivers in qualifying. Haas have struggled this weekend and Schumacher was annoyed at the fact that he was knocked out by his teammate who has a penalty. Just go faster. Sebastian Vettel was frustrated with just how slow his car was. He also did the exact same lap time as Mick, but he did it later, so he starts behind him. Lance Stroll finished a tenth behind his teammate in 18th. What a horrible day for Aston Martin. Alex Albon will be really disappointed. He looked pretty decent in Practice 3 but in Quali, he went off at turn 7. Nicholas Latifi qualified last. That’s it. Lewis Hamilton topped Q1, just half a tenth ahead of Max Verstappen.
Q2
In Qualifying 2: Daniel Ricciardo, Zhou Guanyu, Yuki Tsunoda, Pierre Gasly and Kevin Magnussen all failed to make it into the top 10 shootout. Daniel Ricciardo did a better job this weekend and he was only 2 tenths off his teammate in Q2. I’m not 100% sure if that’s a compliment or not. On paper, Zhou Guanyu qualifying 12th is pretty solid, but he was 7 tenths off his teammate which is really poor. Yuki Tsunoda outqualified his Alpha Tauri teammate Pierre Gasly. A decent job from Yuki but neither driver seems particularly happy with their car. Only 3 races to go Pierre! Kevin Magnussen was the slowest driver in Q2. That Haas just isn’t working well at the moment. Lewis Hamilton was quickest in Q2 over Carlos Sainz, George Russell and Max Verstappen. The gap between the top 4 was just 14 thousandths of a second and Checo Perez was half a tenth of his teammate in fifth. It’s definitely all to play for.
Q3
In Q3, Max Verstappen pulled out a 1:17.775 to comfortably take pole position. It was a great lap from Max as he was over 3 tenths quicker than the two Mercedes’ in second and third. George Russell was frustrated with a mistake he made on his final lap, but he still managed to outqualify his teammate Lewis Hamilton by just 5 thousandths of a second. Sergio Perez will be slightly disappointed with his lack of pace compared to his teammate, but he is still well within the fight from P4. Carlos Sainz made mistakes on both of his flying laps which means he starts fifth and alongside him is Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas. Valtteri was absolutely flying in qualifying and he now has a big opportunity to score some good points. It’s vital that he does. Charles Leclerc had a pretty horrible session as he lines up in P7 and McLaren’s Lando Norris will start 8th. Another good day for the Brit. Alpine locked out the fifth row of the grid with Fernando Alonso coming in ahead of Esteban Ocon. McLaren VS Alpine is going to be a big talking point in tomorrow’s race.
Starting Grid for the Japanese Grand Prix and my Qualifying grades
Max Verstappen: 10
George Russell: 9
Lewis Hamilton: 9
Sergio Perez: 7
Carlos Sainz: 7
Valtteri Bottas: 10
Charles Leclerc: 5
Lando Norris: 8
Fernando Alonso: 7
Esteban Ocon: 6
Daniel Ricciardo: 5
Zhou Guanyu: 5
Yuki Tsunoda: 5
Pierre Gasly: 4
Mick Schumacher: 2
Sebastian Vettel: 2
Alex Albon: 2
Nicholas Latifi: 1
Kevin Magnussen: 3
Lance Stroll: 1
My Predictions for the Mexico City Grand Prix
Max Verstappen
Lewis Hamilton
Sergio Perez
George Russell
Carlos Sainz
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