Finnish Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) will be the first on the starting grid of the Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix, followed by his teammate and current World Champion, Briton Lewis Hamilton, and Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull).
When it looked like the Red Bull drivers would stay in the more forward places on the starting grid, the Silver Arrows appeared with authority: Bottas, clocked in 1: 15.875, 145 thousandths behind Hamilton.
“It was an incredible lap,” commented Bottas of the performance that earned him pole position in the third qualifying stage. “I honestly think it was one of my best laps. I have a good feeling.”
(You may be interested: this was Bottas’ triumph in Turkey)
On Sunday Bottas will enter the race as third in the drivers’ world championship standings with 185 points. Verstappen leads with 287.5 points and Hamilton is second with 275.5.
“ÍValtteri has done an incredible job! He has run very well in the last competitions”, he said. Hamilton at the end of qualifying. “I didn’t think we had this pace, but blocking the first exit is something very special,” admitted the multiple world champion.
In addition to having achieved the 19th pole position of his career, Bottas has produced a certified replica of the helmet with which Juan Manuel Fangio first became Formula 1 world champion in 1951.
It was the ordeal
Qualifying practice began with a temperature of 21 degrees Celsius in the environment and 43 degrees on the track. About eight minutes after the start of ‘Qualy 1’, the car of Canadian Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) seriously damaged the front left suspension by hitting the retaining wall, after having skidded in the curve before the main straight of the track.
(Also: “I didn’t even know if this victory was going to happen or not”: Lewis Hamilton)
The session was stopped with the red flag as the car was pulled off the track and resumed more than 20 minutes later. At the end of the first qualifier,
Bottas was the best with a time of 1: 16.727, followed by Monaco’s Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) at 21 thousandths of a second; Spaniard Fernando Alonso (Alpine), Canadian Nicholas Latifi (Williams), German Mick Schumacher (Haas) and Russian Nikita Mazepin (Haas) were eliminated, as well as Stroll, injured.
After three discreet free practice, world champion Lewis Hamilton was the best of the “Qualy 2” with a time of 1: 16.474, but only nine thousandths ahead of Max Verstappen.
The eliminated were the German Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin), the Finnish Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo), the Briton George Russell (Williams), the Italian Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) and the French Estéban Ocon (Alpine).
In the ‘Qualy 3’ the reaction of Mercedes cars occurred. Red Bull had the ‘pole position’ close at hand, but the Silver Arrows appeared dizzyingly to leave Verstappen and Pérez in second place.
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“I think I had a good last lap, but I don’t know what happened, qualifying didn’t go the way we wanted,” said Verstappen. “Being third isn’t bad, but it would have been better to start second.” Despite rising to fourth place at the start, ‘Checo’ Pérez has not lost his optimism: “tomorrow anything can happen, it’s a very long race and you have to be patient”.
Those in the background
In Sunday’s race, four drivers will start from the back of the grid. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) and Japan’s Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) were penalized on Friday for changes to the powertrain of their cars.
On Saturday, Briton Lando Norris (McLaren) received the same penalty for installing the fourth engine of the season; Frenchman Estaban Ocon (Alpine) was also penalized for fitting six new components to the powertrain.
Great Britain’s George Russell (Williams) was penalized five positions at the start after failing to make the second try due to the replacement of his gearbox. str / gfe
AFP
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