In pure 2021 style, Mercedes shocked their rivals in Red Bull by securing a 1-2 finish in qualifying, locking out the front row. Throughout the weekend, Red Bull have had the upper hand at a place usually considered as a stronghold for them – but Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton had other ideas.
Bottas pulled out a lap from under everybody’s nose in his first attempt in Q3. A time of 1:15.875s left the polesitter to be the only driver who managed to break into the 1:15s, outqualifying teammate Hamilton by 0.145s. The British driver had to settle for the second grid slot after trailing his teammate throughout the weekend but will crucially start in front of his championship rival, albeit on the dirty side of the grid.
Mercedes seemed as shocked as anybody with their starting positions, after being as far as half a second away in FP3.
Red Bull were left scratching their heads, as they appeared to under perform when it mattered. However, it is not the end of the world for them considering the lengthy run they face to the opening corner – yet the session was still a mess. Max Verstappen will line up in third on the grid, 0.350s away from pole. The Dutchman saw his final run ‘destroyed’ after the duo of Sergio Perez and Yuki Tsunoda travelled off the track just ahead of Verstappen. Add some rear wing damage in and it was not the best day for him – however P3 at Mexico and on the clean side of the grid can make a nice meal. Perez continued to be on the pace this weekend at his home event, but had to settle for fourth after also having his final run ruined by the adventures of Tsunoda.
Red Bull won’t be best pleased with the Japanese driver, after his excursion cost both first teamers a chance at a better lap. Tsunoda will be starting from the back anyway after taking a new power unit, despite qualifying in ninth, which makes the reasons of why he was cruising even stranger.
Now, perhaps the lap of the day has to, once again, go to the AlphaTauri man of Pierre Gasly. Lapping within six tenths from pole, the Frenchman secured his 13th top six start of the season – whilst putting a comfortable gap between himself, Ferrari and McLaren. Hell of a performance.
Speaking of, the Ferrari v McLaren battle continued as the two teams interlocked one another yet again – despite the interruption of Tsunoda. Carlos Sainz would have thought his session was over in Q1 as his Ferrari seemed to lose all of its power, before waking up and securing sixth on the grid with the Spaniard controlling. But, he trailed Gasly’s time by three tenths of a second.
Just two thousandths behind Sainz saw Daniel Ricciardo in his McLaren, who had managed to lead Lando Norris throughout the weekend again. His renaissance continues. Charles Leclerc could not make it two Ferrari’s ahead of their rivals, as he fell just less then a tenth short of the Aussie man in eighth. Norris’ best time in Q3 was actually 20 seconds away from the pole setting time, but the British man will be starting from the back of the grid after being another driver to take a power unit penalty, adding to a long list.
With all drivers eager to start the race on the medium compound of tyres, it was Sebastian Vettel who was the first to fall short of the sacred top ten spots on the grid, sitting in 11th. Still, he managed to keep his Aston Martin away from the walls, something Lance Stroll could not do. Ten minutes into Q1, Stroll lost the rear of his car in the final corner, smacking the wall. Although he is another driver who will be taking a power unit penalty, his mechanics are in for a longer night then planned.
Similar to practice, Alfa Romeo managed to trap someone in their own sandwich. Kimi Raikkonen secured 12th, but will start tenth after penalties, snubbing George Russell by two tenths and Antonio Giovinazzi by three. Russell was fortunate to take part in the session after suffering from a technical issue, but the Williams mechanics worked the Formula 1 magic to get their man out on track. The most exciting part of Giovinazzi’s session was his error in the final sector that left the Italian lightly hitting the barrier.
Alpine had an awful day, they really did. Esteban Ocon scrapped through to Q2 but could not improve further and set a time that was only suitable enough for 15th, yet he outqualified Fernando Alonso. The veteran was unable to pull a clean lap together and found himself getting knocked out of qualifying at the first time of asking, down in 16th.
Nicholas Latifi seemed to be in no mans land for Williams and could only pull out a lap for 17th, ahead of both Haas cars.
More bickering went on between the driver and the team at Haas, as Nikita Mazepin requested to make his way past Mick Schumacher on their outlap, but yet again he found himself comfortably beaten by his teammate. Schumacher eventually managed to finish half a second clear of the Russian driver, and managed to get within a tenth of the Williams of Latifi.
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