Mexico GP: Ferrari lock-out front row as drivers undergo investigations

Ferrari has locked out the front row, ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix, with Charles Leclerc in pole position while a handful of drivers are subject to investigation by the stewards.

Q1

In an unusual fashion, compared to the previous Q1 sessions this season, there was no queue at the head of the pit lane as the traffic light turned green. Haas Kevin Magnussen was the first diver to head out onto the circuit. The Dane had the circuit all to himself before more drivers began to drip out onto the circuit such as Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and both Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso.

While the majority of the field naturally reverted to the soft compound tyres, a handful of drivers opted to complete their first runs of qualifying on the medium compounds. The medium compound runners were the Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren drivers. However, McLaren’s Lando Norris did not set a lap time on the board.

In the dying minutes, a traffic jam formed at the head of the pit lane as drivers tried to remain within the time delta set by race control on their out laps as well as to gain a gap. Both Verstappen and George Russell were going to be investigated for impeding in the pit lane.

A yellow flag was waved on the exit of the opening corners, in the last moments of Q1, after Alonso spun around on the exit of turn three. The Spaniard was able to continue on and remained safe to progress into Q2 as he sat 10th, but the rest of the field was forced to slow down and abort their laps. Thus, many drivers were not able to improve

(* – pending steward investigation[s])

Eliminated: 

20. Logan Sargeant, Williams*

19. Lando Norris, McLaren

18. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin

17. Kevin Magnussen, Haas

16. Esteban Ocon, Alpine

Q2

During the Q1/Q2 break, Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri), Norris, Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo) and Sargeant were placed under investigation, accompanying Russell and Verstappen on the list. Hamilton and Sargeant were under investigation for failing to slow down for a yellow flag, whereas Sargeant – again – and Tsunoda were under investigation for overtaking under yellow flags.

Russell, Norris and Zhou were also placed under investigation for failing to follow the race director’s instructions, more notably to remain within the maximum time delta.

Of the opening banker laps, Verstappen was at the top of the timing boards – albeit pending an investigation – ahead of Piastri and Alpha Tauri’s Daniel Ricciardo who occupied second and third. At the other end of the timing boards, Williams’ Alexander Albon was on the verge of being eliminated, in 11th, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg (Haas), Gasly, Alonso and Tsunoda respectively.

Despite another problematic pit lane exit, all of the top three drivers were under investigation for their respective problems as Hamilton went to the top of the timing boards ahead of Verstappen and Russell respectively. As the chequered flag fell at the end of Q2, Williams’ Alexander Albon had progressed through to Q3 but a review by the stewards deemed the British-Thai driver had exceeded track limits at turn two.

This promoted Zhou back into qualifying as Albon settled into 14th to prematurely end his qualifying session.

Eliminated: 

15. Yuki Tsunoda, Alpha Tauri*

14. Alexander Albon, Williams

13. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin

12. Nico Hulkenberg, Haas

11. Pierre Gasly, Alpine

Q3

Unlike Q1 and Q2 beforehand, a number of drivers peeled straight out onto the circuit to get their banker laps in. Only Zhou remained in his respective garage in the opening minutes of Q3. When the Chinese driver peeled out of the pit lane, he was out of sync with the remaining drivers as the remaining nine drivers were pulling back in to prepare for their final runs.

After the first laps, Ferrari held a provisional front-row lockout as Leclerc was on provisional pole ahead of Carlos Sainz. Verstappen and Ricciardo occupied the top four in third and fourth respectively, ahead of both Mercedes as Perez occupied seventh – in his home event.

Four minutes remained on the clock and the field started to filter back out onto the circuit. Only Russell and Hamilton remained in their respective garages while the rest were out on track, in a bid to have the best condition out on track.

Despite everyone’s best efforts, most of the drivers remained relatively where they were after their initial banker laps with slight improvements in one or two positions. For the top three, they remained exactly where they were to give Leclerc his second consecutive pole position ahead of Sainz and Verstappen.

Top 10:

10. Guanyu Zhou, Alfa Romeo* 

9. Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo

8. George Russell, Mercedes*

7. Oscar Piastri, McLaren

6. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes* 

5. Sergio Perez, Red Bull

4. Daniel Ricciardo, Alpha Tauri

3. Max Verstappen, Red Bull*

2. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari

1. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

That’s all for the article; Mexico GP: Ferrari lock-out front row as drivers undergo investigations!

Read more Formula 1 here:

• Mexcio GP: Verstappen completes clean sweep of practice as Williams show pace
• Mexico GP: Verstappen sweeps Friday practice as fastest driver despite light drizzle
• Mexico GP: Verstappen fastest as Albon slips in 0.095s behind
• RACE REPORT: Verstappen takes 50th win at United States GP with brake issues
• Hamilton and Leclerc disqualified from the US Grand Prix
• Verstappen holds off Hamilton’s late charge to take 50th win in F1 US GP

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