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Ahead of the final segment of qualifying in Mexico, all the talk was of whether you would be a pole sitter after the Dutchman had set a scorching pace around the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Daniel Ricciardo who claimed P1, securing Red Bull's first ever front-row lockout in the post-2014 hybrid era with a scintillating final effort that seemed to come from nowhere.
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History was not made, but it was hard for anyone to watch, after a thrilling pole position shoot-out which saw six drivers genuinely gunning for pole position. "Thanks legends," was Ricciardo's succinct message to his team after securing the third pole of his career, and the first at a time that was not Monaco.
In the end, Verstappen lost out on the poleposter mantle by just 0.026s, heading off the title contenders of Lewis Hamilton in third and Sebastian Vettel in fourth of Red Bull capitalised on the searing pace that they've demonstrated in Mexico far to make the front-row theirs and theirs for the first time since the 2013 United States Grand Prix.
The second Mercedes and Ferrari of Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen were fifth and sixth, while Renault, Nico Hulkenberg took the lead in the P7 ahead of the mate Carlos Sainz, while the Saubers of Charles Leclerc and Marcus Ericsson will be paired up on the fifth row of the grid after claiming ninth and tenth.
Q1 – BOTTAS SETS THE EARLY PACE TO GET MERCEDES ON TOP
The drivers headed out on an Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez track that, for the sensitive hypersoft rubber that all the runners set their best on the first segment, was blissfully dry and cool.
With the track evolving dramatically throughout Q1, Mercedes finally found themselves at the top of the timesheets, knocking out Red Bull for the first time this weekend, Bottas heading Hamilton by just 0.093s, while Verstappen was P3, 0.176s adrift, Ricciardo P4 and Sebastian Vettel fifth. To the delight of the Mexican crowd, Sergio Perez was best of the rest in sixth, ahead of his own Force India mate team Esteban Ocon in P7 and the second Ferrari of Raikkonen in P8.
Despite going an impressive P10, Toro Rosso's Brendon Hartley was not a happy racing driver, taking over team radio to accuse team mate Pierre Gasly of backing him up, as intra-team tensions looked to be escalating. Meanwhile, Sauer's Charles Leclerc found himself right on the cusp of the drop-out zone in P15. The reason? A lairy moment through Turn 11 and a magnificent save from the Monegasque. Ay caramba Indeed …
At the bottom of the pile, Romain Grosjean P16 while Kevin Magnussen was P18. In between them was the McLaren of Stoffel Vandoorne, outqualified by Fernando Alonso for the 23rd consecutive race, while the two Williams of Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin were P19 and P20 – although Stroll will be provided by Grosjean's three-place over from Austin, while both will move forward Following Gasly's 15-up drop for changing power unit elements and his gearbox.
Q2 – VERSTAPPEN FASTEST AS RUNNERS GET THROUGH ON ULTRASOFTS
With 'bubblegum' the most commonly used adjective to describe the pink hypersoft tires so far this weekend, all three top teams of Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari elected to try and get through Q2 on the slower but more durable purple ultrasofts.
They all managed it too, which is more important than the six drivers' advantage, but they will not be able to do it better when they start the race on Sunday afternoon. Max Verstappen led the way with a 1m 15.640s, just 0.004s ahead of Hamilton, Vettel has further 0.071s further back.
With those sort of tactics not an option for the midfield teams, it seems that it was a split between the drivers trying to get the most out of the world. tire choice for tomorrow.
The man who managed that was Esteban Ocon, ahead of the McLaren of Fernando Alonso in P12, the second Force India of Sergio Perez – in his worst ever home race qualifying – in P13. The two Toro Rossos of Hartley and the yet-to-be-penalised Gasly were the final two runners in P14 and P15, Gasly not bothering to run, while Hartley made a mistake heading into the Foro Sol stadium section he was able to capitalize on his impressive Q1 pace.
The Hulkenberg ahead of Sainz, the Spaniard making it into Q3 for the first time in five races, while the two Saubers of Leclerc and Ericsson rounded out the top 10.
Q3 – RICCIARDO STRIKES BACK IN QUALIFYING TO DENY VERSTAPPEN
He'd been out-paced by his team mate all weekend in Mexico. But when it came to crunch time in Q3, it was Ricciardo who got the job done, outqualifying Verstappen for the second time in two races on a day when the Dutchman – who was fastest after the first Q3 runs, with Ricciardo only fourth – had You've got to be a pole sitter.
It was a sweet result for the Australian, who's endured a miserable second-half of the season that's been blighted by mechanical failures – his most recent coming to the United States Grand Prix just a week ago. Yet while the blue cars with the yellow women will be on the front row of the race, Sunday, April 1, 2008, Hamilton, Vettel, and the United States. And each will have their Finnish stable ready to back them up (or not, to the case may be …) directly behind them on the grid. And with Mexico having witnessed its fair share of first-lap action in recent years, it could not be easier.
Renault know that Mexico represents their best chance in the last three races to make a strong finish as they seek to win Haas for fourth place in the constructors' championship. And the Anglo-French team's qualifier could not have gone much better, as their drivers locked up the fourth row of the grid, so Haas could pull themselves out of Q1.
A decent qualifying too for Sauber, who continues to improve their C37 to good effect, taking ninth and 10th.
So no mbadive records broken today – from the lap record, that is, which fell by a whopping 1.729s. But a real treat for the fans, a boost for Ricciardo's moral and a scintillating race scenario well and truly established for tomorrow.
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