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MEXICO CITY − Valtteri Bottas claimed pole position for the Mexico Grand Prix yesterday with “shocked” world champion Lewis Hamilton next to him in a Mercedes front-row lockout.
Championship leader Max Verstappen, who has a 12-point edge over Lewis in the title race with five events left, was third fastest.
The other Red Bull driver Sergio Perez was fourth in front of his home fans in Mexico City.
“Valtteri did an amazing job, he has been driving so well for the team. To lockout the front row is so special,” said Lewis of his teammate who clocked 1m 15.875s, the only driver to dip below 1:16.
“They (Red Bull) were six-tenths ahead at one stage but when we got to qualifying, we had better pace. I am as shocked as everyone.”
For Valtteri, it was a career 19th pole position, bettering the 18 of Rene Arnoux as the driver on most poles without ever winning the world title.
“Honestly, that first run in Q3 was one of my best laps. It’s a good feeling,” said the Finn.
Max admitted that there had been a problem with the balance on his Red Bull.
“It seemed like through qualifying, the balance went away a little bit, but actually, the last lap I was on for a good lap," said the Dutchman.
“I don’t know what happened in front of me but there were two guys going off and I thought there was going to be a yellow flag, so I backed out and the lap, of course, was destroyed.
“Even with that and not having a great balance, I think we could have still gone for that pole lap.”
Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff said later that team orders could come into play to allow Lewis to close the championship gap to Max.
“I’m a competitor at heart and I always find those kinds of decisions disappointing in a way, but sometimes they are necessary," Toto told reporters after qualifying.
“We will first discuss it with Valtteri and Lewis because they are the ones it concerns and then we will see if the situation requires us to do so.”
AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz, Daniel Ricciardo in a McLaren, Charles Leclerc in the second Ferrari, Yuki Tsunoda of AlphaTauri and Lando Norris in a McLaren filled out the top ten yesterday.
The first qualifying session was marked by Lance Stroll burying his Aston Martin in the barriers at the spectacular Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
The opener was red-flagged to clear the debris.
On the resumption, Max − a two-time winner in Mexico − roared away from the two Mercedes with a blistering 1:16.788.
Former two-time champion Fernando Alonso in the Alpine was the most high-profile driver to fail to make it to Q2.
Lewis finally found his pace in Q2, dipping below 1m 17s with a time of 1:16.474, just 0.009s ahead of Max’s earlier effort.
Japan’s Yuki clocked an impressive 1:16.071 in the Alpha Tauri to be third fastest in the session at one stage.
However, he already knew he was starting today’s race from the back of the grid, along with Lance, for taking too many engine parts after both also changed engines this season. – AFP, November 7, 2021
