Mexico City, Oct 30: Red Bull driver Max Verstappen took pole position over the Mercedes pair of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton in a thrilling Mexican Grand Prix qualifying session here on Saturday night.
Hamilton led the first qualifying period (Q1) and repeated the feat in Q2, but his first Q3 run was cancelled for track limits, which meant Verstappen held provisional pole over Russell.
A final flying runs saw Verstappen improve again, this time to a benchmark of 1:17.775 seconds, to leave Russell second by 0.304s — as he had his final run chalked off for track limits — and Hamilton another 0.005s off in Position 3. (P3).
Home favourite Sergio Perez (Red Bull) qualified fourth, 0.353s off the pace, and Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) took fifth — over half a second off pole.
Valtteri Bottas split the Ferraris, with the Alfa Romeo driver taking sixth ahead of Charles Leclerc, while Lando Norris qualified eighth for McLaren. The Alpines lined up ninth and 10th, Fernando Alonso ahead of Esteban Ocon to seal the intra-team qualifying battle.
Verstappen will have to ready himself for a scrap with the Mercedes pair of Russell and Hamilton and the world champion admitted he found it difficult to get into a rhythm ahead of his pole-setting effort. (IANS)
