Hello and welcome to coverage of the Mexico City Grand Prix at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Charles Leclerc beat teammate Carlos Sainz by just 0.067 seconds to complete a front row lockout for Ferrari. But can they get over the line and prevent Max Verstappen from winning his 16th race of the season?
“I didn’t expect to be on pole, because it looked like we were lacking quite a bit of pace after practice,” said Leclerc.
“But for some reason once we put everything together it went well and we gained a lot on the new tires.
“I’m already concentrating on tomorrow’s race because we’ve had a lot of pole positions this season, but we have to convert them into a win and that’s going to be very difficult.”
Verstappen starts the race from third place and is in an excellent position to attack on the long home straight.
“I still felt pretty bad in the middle sector, I was sliding around quite a bit, so again, yeah, I was trying to get some time back,” he said. “My first sector was probably not ideal. I mean, I’ve improved a little, but not enough. But yeah, it’s just feeling, and if you slide a little too much here, it won’t come together. If it’s that tight, one [or] two-tenths can easily be found or lost. I think that’s what happened in qualifying.”
Lewis Hamilton, disqualified for finishing second to Verstappen at the United States Grand Prix a week ago, finished only sixth, 0.288 seconds behind.
Nearly 400,000 spectators will pass through the gates of the high-altitude venue this weekend, the majority of whom are here to support Sergio Perez.
But the home favorite did not succeed. He finished almost three-tenths behind Verstappen and qualified fifth, one position behind Daniel Ricciardo, who impressed in his AlphaTauri, and came fourth.
American rookie Logan Sargeant, who scored his first F1 point in Austin last weekend, will keep the grid afloat after seeing two laps wiped out by the stewards for exceeding track limits.
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