The Dutch driver Max Verstappen, from Red Bull and brand-new two-time Formula 1 champion, achieved the pole position of the Mexican Grand Prix this Saturday at the Hermanos Rodríguez Autodrome.
“It was a very close qualifying, we had to make some adjustments to the car to have a better pace. Being on pole here is fantastic“, Verstappen said after registering the best time with 1:17.775. “It’s a long way to the first corner, I must have a good start.”
After getting his sixth pole of the season and nineteenth of his career, on Sunday Verstappen will start ahead of the Briton George Russell of Mercedes, second from the starting grid.
the also british Lewis Hamilton, the other Mercedes driver, was in third position and will share the second starting line with the Mexican Sergio ‘Checo’ Pérez, from Red Bull, who was fourth.
At the beginning of qualifying, the thermometer showed a temperature of 24 degrees Celsius in the environment, but on the asphalt of the circuit it was 49.5 degrees. Hamilton led the first ‘qualy’ with a time of 1:19.169.
READ MORE: Russell and Hamilton surprise in third practice session
The Germans Mick Schumacher (Haas) and Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin), the Canadian Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), the Thai Alexander Albon (Williams) and the Canadian Nicholas Latifi (Williams) were eliminated.
Hamilton remained at the forefront in the second ‘qualy’ with a time of 1:18.552 and the Australian Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), the Chinese Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo), the Japanese Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri), the French Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) and Dane Kevin Magnussen (Haas).
It seemed that the seven-time world champion would take the position of honor for Sunday’s race but they erased the times by exceeding the limits. Hamilton managed to regain third place, but Verstappen had already set an unbeatable time.
the moment @Max33Verstappen become our 11th different polesitter in the last 11 trips to Mexico!#MexicoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/FpxQze9qJ9
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 29, 2022
After being relegated to fourth place, Checo Pérez lamented his result: “It’s a shame, I think today we could have fought for pole position; I had an electrical problem throughout the session, we had to change an electrical box and we lost connection; I almost stayed out in Q1 and Q2”.
The Ferrari driversthe Spanish Carlos Sainz and the Monegasque charles leclerc, they finished fifth and seventh in the ranking, respectively.
The Mexican Grand Prix race, number 20 of 22 in the series, will take place this Sunday starting at 2:00 p.m. local time (5:00 p.m. in Paraguay).
