The F1 paddock, which has entered a busy calendar with races to be held in 3 consecutive weekends with the American GP, came to Mexico for the 20th leg of the season.
Qualifying laps were held today at the Mexican Grand Prix, which is held at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez Circuit, located 2,200 meters above sea level, and is one of the most different challenges of the season every year due to the high altitude.
In this exciting session, the fastest time came from Ferrari pilot Charles Leclerc. Thus, Leclerc achieved the 22nd pole position of his career.
Tomorrow, Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen will be on the grid alongside Leclerc.
The Mexican GP will start at 23.00 GMT on Sunday.
Race grid:
Photo: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB19
Q3- Third phase: Leclerc on pole, reds closing the first line!
In the last part of the qualifying rounds, in addition to the pilots of Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes and Alfa Romeo, Daniel Ricciardo and Oscar Piastri competed.
After the first attempts, Ferrari was 1-2! Leclerc was the leader with 1:17.116, while Sainz was second, 0.067 seconds behind.
Verstappen, Ricciardo, Russell, Hamilton, Perez, Piastri, Zhou and Botttas completed the top 10. 3 minutes before the end, the second attempts started.
Almost no one could improve their time in the second attempts, and Leclerc took the pole position with a time of 1:17.116. Sainz took second place, 0.067 seconds behind his teammate. Thus, the reds closed the first line.
Although Verstappen improved his performance slightly in the last lap, this was not enough and he took 3rd place. Daniel Ricciardo, who carried his strong pace in training to the qualifying rounds, recorded the fourth fastest time. The Australian pilot will start the race from the second row next to Verstappen.
Local hero Perez completed the top 5, while Lewis Hamilton was sixth. Piastri, Russell, Bottas and Zhou completed the top 10.
Q3 result:
Photo: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
George Russell, Mercedes F1 W14
Q2-Second quarter: Hamilton on top, Verstappen second
As the competition got more intense in the second part of the qualifying rounds, the drivers competed fiercely to make it to the last part.
The fastest time of the session came from Hamilton, with Verstappen and Russell completing the top 3. Daniel Ricciardo looked competitive again, as in all sessions this weekend, and finished fourth. Piastri completed the top 5.
Other Q3 tickets went to Leclerc, Bottas, Perez, Sainz and Zhou. Pierre Gasly, Nico Hulkenberg, Fernando Alonso, Albon and Tsunoda – whose lap was deleted – were eliminated.
Q2 result:
Photo: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR23
Q1- First part: Verstappen is on top, Norris is eliminated!
The qualifying session in Mexico started as always with the 18-minute Q1 session. Max Verstappen finished the first session in first place, there was no surprise there, but Lando Norris’ elimination in 19th place was a surprise.
The British pilot first took to the track with medium compound and could not achieve the lap he wanted. He then switched to soft tires and started his second lap, where he made a mistake in the middle sector and was eliminated.
For Norris, everything was down to the last lap, but when Fernando Alonso spun in the first sector and got stuck in the yellow flags, Norris ran out of time and the McLaren pilot bid farewell to the session in 19th place.
Other names eliminated were Esteban Ocon, Kevin Magnussen, Lance Stroll and Logan Sargeant.
Q1 result:
Photo: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Esteban Ocon, Alpine A523
2023-10-28 22:02:47
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