Many Formula1 enthusiasts thought that pole position for the Mexico City Grand Prix this weekend was already in Max Verstappen’s pocket.
Unfortunately, after a last-gasp Q3 incident between his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez and Yuki Tsunoda ruined his lap, Verstappen was left lamenting, as rivals Mercedes locked out the front row.
Verstappen had put down a marker in Free Practice 2 on Friday afternoon, lapping the Mexican track F1 last race in 2019 over four-tenths quicker than Valtteri Bottas.
But into qualifying, the momentum appeared to swing suddenly towards Mercedes, as they led the opening two segments of the session.
Then in Q3, after a poor opening lap put Verstappen a provisional third on the grid, the Dutch driver was on a better second effort when he came across Tsunoda and Perez, who would both run off the track at Turn 10 – with Verstappen forced to check his speed as the pair recovered.
This meant that he failed to improve as Bottas took pole, with Verstappen’s title rival Lewis Hamilton claiming P2 ahead of the Dutchman, as Perez took P4.
Verstappen: “I don't know what happened between Yuki and Checo, but they ended up of course both going wide, and when you arrive at that speed, you see a lot of dust, so you’re thinking maybe there's a car spun or crashed or whatever.
“So, I lifted off at 10, and I realized they were driving slowly, so they probably ran into each other a bit. But then of course your momentum is gone, I lost two and a half tenths already from my lap time; you try to recover that in the last sector, but that never works. So, a big shame – from our side this is a terrible qualifying and we deserve to be where we are at the moment.”
“Into Q3, the first lap was just horrible, no grip, sliding around a lot, so when I saw the gap, I was actually like well, fair enough, we just had a terrible lap. So, I tried to make a few changes to how the car was running, and I think that the second lap looked quite okay. Still not a great balance, but it was good enough to fight for pole.” Verstappen noted.
But although no polesitter has won at the Mexico City Grand Prix since Hamilton managed it in 2016 the Dutchman admitted he was nonetheless disappointed not to have grabbed his first pole position at the circuit, having been fastest in 2019 before receiving a grid penalty.
“I would have liked to be on pole and then see what happens into Turn 1, but we just have to now accept what happened in qualifying. It is of course not what we want, but it is not the end of the world. We will just focus on tomorrow, try to have a good start and then just see what happens into Turn 1 of course, and then later in the race.”