F1 Grand Prix qualifying results: Bottas takes Mexican pole

Bottas will start in front of Hamilton and Red Bull's Max Verstappen after the one-hour qualifying session, which is split into three segments with five cars each being knocked out in Q1 and Q2 before the top-10 shootout of Q3.

Mexican Grand Prix qualifying results: Bottas on pole from Hamilton

Cla	Driver		Time	Gap	km/h
1	Valtteri Bottas		1'15.875		204.209
2	Lewis Hamilton		1'16.020	0.145	203.820
3	Max Verstappen		1'16.225	0.350	203.271
4	Sergio Perez		1'16.342	0.467	202.960
5	Pierre Gasly		1'16.456	0.581	202.657
6	Carlos Sainz Jr.		1'16.761	0.886	201.852
7	Daniel Ricciardo		1'16.763	0.888	201.847
8	Charles Leclerc		1'16.837	0.962	201.652
9	Sebastian Vettel		1'17.746	1.871	199.295
10	Kimi Raikkonen		1'17.958	2.083	198.753
11	Antonio Giovinazzi		1'18.290	2.415	197.910
12	Fernando Alonso		1'18.452	2.577	197.501
13	Nicholas Latifi		1'18.756	2.881	196.739
14	Mick Schumacher		1'18.858	2.983	196.484
15	George Russell		1'18.172	2.297	198.209
16	Nikita Mazepin		1'19.303	3.428	195.382
17	Lance Stroll		1'20.873	4.998	191.589
18	Yuki Tsunoda		1'17.158	1.283	200.813
19	Lando Norris		1'36.830	20.955	160.016
20	Esteban Ocon		1'18.405	2.530	197.620
View full results

What happened in Q1?

Q1 was eight minutes old when Lance Stroll lost control of his Aston Martin on the dirty track surface at the exit of the Peraltada corner and spun into the barrier, smashing the left-front wheel from the car.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fastest before the red flag, with a laptime of 1m17.991s. After the session restarted his time was beaten in rapid succession by Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri at 1m17.746s, Hamilton’s 1m17.576s, Bottas’s 1m17.516s, Sergio Perez’s 1m17.451s and then Verstappen’s 1m16.788s.

The Mercedes duo stayed out, Bottas dipping into the 1m16s bracket in P2 with 1m16.959s, while Hamilton rose to third on 1m17.207s. Bottas ran again, lowering the P1 time to 1m16.727s as the chequered flag flew, and Leclerc was second quickest, just 0.021s slower.

Falling at the first hurdle were Fernando Alonso (Alpine), Nicholas Latifi (Williams), the Haases of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin, and Stroll.

Mexican Grand Prix Q1 results: Bottas fastest from Leclerc

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	km/h
1	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	9	1'16.727			201.941
2	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	9	1'16.748	0.021	0.021	201.886
3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	5	1'16.788	0.061	0.040	201.781
4	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	8	1'16.908	0.181	0.120	201.466
5	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	8	1'17.003	0.276	0.095	201.218
6	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	8	1'17.207	0.480	0.204	200.686
7	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	8	1'17.330	0.603	0.123	200.367
8	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	9	1'17.502	0.775	0.172	199.922
9	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	9	1'17.517	0.790	0.015	199.883
10	Lando Norris	McLaren	7	1'17.569	0.842	0.052	199.749
11	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo	10	1'17.606	0.879	0.037	199.654
12	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	6	1'17.719	0.992	0.113	199.364
13	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	9	1'17.897	1.170	0.178	198.908
14	George Russell	Williams	7	1'17.958	1.231	0.061	198.753
15	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	7	1'18.126	1.399	0.168	198.325
16	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	7	1'18.452	1.725	0.326	197.501
17	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	8	1'18.756	2.029	0.304	196.739
18	Mick Schumacher	Haas	9	1'18.858	2.131	0.102	196.484
19	Nikita Mazepin	Haas	9	1'19.303	2.576	0.445	195.382
20	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	3	1'20.873	4.146	1.570	191.589
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What happened in Q2?

Everyone started this session on the medium tyre, with Perez setting the bar at 1m17.055s before Verstappen smashed it with a lap of 1m16.483s. Hamilton then jumped to P2, just 0.016s off Verstappen.

AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda used soft tyres to vault up to P3, then Hamilton jumped to the top with 1m16.474s at the end of the session, pipping Verstappen by 0.009s.

Knocked out at this point were Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin), Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo), George Russell (Williams, who has a five-place grid penalty), Antonio Giovinazzi (who spun his Alfa Romeo entering the stadium section) and Esteban Ocon (Alpine, who will start near the back due to an engine change).

Mexican Grand Prix Q2 results: Hamilton fastest from Verstappen

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	km/h
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	7	1'16.474			202.610
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	6	1'16.483	0.009	0.009	202.586
3	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	5	1'16.701	0.227	0.218	202.010
4	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	7	1'16.864	0.390	0.163	201.582
5	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	8	1'16.955	0.481	0.091	201.343
6	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	7	1'17.034	0.560	0.079	201.137
7	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	5	1'17.055	0.581	0.021	201.082
8	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	5	1'17.092	0.618	0.037	200.985
9	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	8	1'17.248	0.774	0.156	200.579
10	Lando Norris	McLaren	7	1'17.473	0.999	0.225	199.997
11	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	7	1'17.746	1.272	0.273	199.295
12	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo	8	1'17.958	1.484	0.212	198.753
13	George Russell	Williams	6	1'18.172	1.698	0.214	198.209
14	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	6	1'18.290	1.816	0.118	197.910
15	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	6	1'18.405	1.931	0.115	197.620
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What happened in Q3?

On the first runs, Perez set the benchmark at 1m16.342, which was eclipsed by Verstappen’s 1m16.225s. Then the Mercedes duo flashed over the finish line, with Bottas taking P1 with 1m15.875s, ahead of Hamilton on 1m16.020s, 0.145s off his teammate’s pace.

On the second runs, nobody improved as Perez went off in the Esses – distracted by Tsunoda running wide ahead of him – while Verstappen was also delayed, then had a moment in the stadium section and a big slide at Peraltada.

Bottas scored his 19^th career F1 pole, ahead of Hamilton, Verstappen and Perez. Gasly was the best of the rest in fifth, ahead of Sainz, Ricciardo and Leclerc. Tsunoda and Norris were ninth and 10th, but both will start from the back after an engine change.

Mexican Grand Prix Q3 results: Bottas takes pole

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	km/h
1	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	7	1'15.875			204.209
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	7	1'16.020	0.145	0.145	203.820
3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	7	1'16.225	0.350	0.205	203.271
4	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	5	1'16.342	0.467	0.117	202.960
5	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	6	1'16.456	0.581	0.114	202.657
6	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	6	1'16.761	0.886	0.305	201.852
7	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	6	1'16.763	0.888	0.002	201.847
8	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	6	1'16.837	0.962	0.074	201.652
9	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	6	1'17.158	1.283	0.321	200.813
10	Lando Norris	McLaren	5	1'36.830	20.955	19.672	160.016
View full results