Charles Leclerc led Carlos Sainz to a shocking Ferrari one-two in qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix.
The Scuderia’s tempo got here out of nowhere as Leclerc pipped Sainz by 0.067 seconds whereas Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was 0.097secs off the lead in third.
Daniel Ricciardo added to the sudden really feel of the grid with an excellent fourth place for Alpha Tauri.
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell had been sixth and eight for Mercedes.
Home hero Sergio Perez may handle solely fifth within the second Red Bull, 0.160secs behind team-mate Verstappen, whereas the surprise of qualifying was Lando Norris’ McLaren down in nineteenth place.
The Briton did not put a single lap collectively in a messy first session and paid the value, whereas team-mate Oscar Piastri was seventh within the sister automobile.
Alfa Romeo drivers Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu accomplished the highest 10.
The stewards investigated a collection of incidents after qualifying however Verstappen, Russell and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, who certified thirteenth, had been all cleared of impeding on the finish of the pit lane.
Hamilton was deemed to have slowed sufficiently for yellow flags waved for an Alonso spin at Turn Three within the first session.
But Williams driver Logan Sargeant was given a 10-place grid penalty and two penalty factors for a similar offence as he handed Yuki Tsunoda’s Alpha Tauri below yellow flags. The punishment was tutorial because the American had certified final having did not set a time.
Sargeant’s team-mate Alex Albon additionally obtained a penalty, in his case throughout the session.
Having made it via into the ultimate half of qualifying in ninth place, the Williams driver had his lap time deleted for exceeding observe limits, by slicing the within kerb at Turn Two and he’ll begin 14th.
Ferrari get it proper when it issues
Ferrari had struggling via the follow periods however a formidable run within the first session of qualifying, when Leclerc lapped inside 0.4secs of Verstappen’s quickest lap regardless of utilizing medium tyres whereas the Red Bull was on the softs hinted at their potential.
Despite that, Leclerc was solely sixth quickest within the second half of qualifying, however had saved his greatest for the ultimate session.
The Ferrari drivers went out after the Red Bulls for the primary laps, and first Sainz beat Verstappen’s preliminary time earlier than Leclerc pipped his team-mate.
It was all arrange for a dramatic climax, however none of the highest three may enhance their instances on their remaining run and Leclerc’s fourth grand prix pole of the season and his second in a row was within the bag.
Leclerc mentioned: “We didn’t anticipate to be on pole. We had been struggling in remaining follow once more however for some motive once we put the brand new tyres on all the pieces got here collectively.
“But I’m not even fascinated with pole. I’m already fascinated with the race. We have had sufficient poles and we have to do higher within the races.”
He additionally referenced one of the quirks of Mexico – that the long term from the begin to the primary nook at greater than 800m can typically make the vehicles on the entrance row susceptible to being handed with the slipstream.
“First place right here… I’m undecided it’s the greatest beginning place however I’ll take pole position,” Leclerc mentioned.
Can Ferrari pull off a win?
In any regular season, beginning a grand prix with a front-row lock-out can be seen as an excellent alternative to win the race.
But Verstappen and Red Bull have moved the goalposts this season, and each Leclerc and Sainz admitted that holding again the Dutchman along with his automobile’s superior race tempo and higher tyre put on can be extraordinarily tough.
Their first drawback is in the beginning – two years in the past, Verstappen additionally began third, that point behind the 2 Mercedes, and he handed each earlier than the primary nook.
Leclerc mentioned: “We’ve been good on begins for the reason that starting of the season so I’m not too involved for that. Then of course there’s the sport of the slipstream on the best way to the primary nook and we’ll attempt to use that in our benefit.
“We have not mentioned the beginning but and we’ll, however on the identical time, it is very tough to foretell what is going on to occur.
“It’s principally a end result of how good a begin one can have. And then we’ll adapt. I believe, clearly, we can’t take too many dangers in between vehicles. But aside from that, it is tough to plan what’s taking place in the beginning. It relies upon if I’ve a very good begin, if I’ve a nasty begin.”
For his half, Verstappen mentioned he had “good” confidence for the race.
A multitude-up at McLaren
It was within the chaos of Alonso’s spin that Norris’ hopes had been lastly ended, though he had solely himself responsible.
First, McLaren despatched him and team-mate Piastri out on medium tyres for his or her first runs, however whereas Piastri set a time, Norris selected to abort his run with out doing so.
On his second run, now on the delicate tyres, Norris made a mistake within the Esses, having an enormous slide at Turn Eight and ruining his lap.
He then acquired caught within the messy finish to the session, when Alonso spun his Aston Martin at Turn Three, bringing out the yellow flag and stopping a number of drivers from enhancing.
“I acquired informed to field (pit) for some motive, [but] the tempo was good,” Norris mentioned. “Something clearly wasn’t proper, however that wasn’t an issue.
“We circled and went straight again out. We will talk about it after, however I had one lap and I did not do it. So it’s on me.
“I simply made some errors on my one lap that I had. Obviously there was a yellow ultimately from Fernando.
“So yeah, that one alternative, that one lap that I used to be given, I did not put it collectively. It went off and that was it.”
