Valtteri Bottas took pole position for the 2021 Mexican Grand Prix in an anti-climate qualifying at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. The Finn left his team-mate Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen behind, who secured second and third places on the grid.
An overwhelming performance by the Red Bull Racing drivers in the final qualifying session on a preferred track cost them a potential front row suspension. Instead, the scales tipped in favor of the Mercedes drivers who conquered the front row for the race.
Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton secured a lockout in the front row for Mercedes in qualifying for the Mexican GP 2021
Bottas’ fastest lap of 1 minute 15.875 seconds was 0.145 seconds faster than Hamilton’s fastest and 0.350 seconds faster than Verstappen. With the Dutchman at the top of the drivers’ championship title, the grid position could go in favor of Hamilton if the race goes well.
Max Verstappen during qualifying for the 2021 Mexican GP. (Photo by Clive Mason / Getty Images)
The Mexican driver Sergio Perez, who dominated the last practice session earlier in the day, did not deliver a result that was justifiable for the pace and shape of the Red Bull Racing car and finished fourth on the grid.
The Red Bull Racing driver ran a long way trying to avoid Yuki Tsunoda, who ran way ahead of him on his last attempt in qualifying.
Perez’s lap jeopardized the lap of Verstappen, who was behind him and had to slow down on his last attempt to qualify in that sector. While Perez and Verstappen were battling for pole position, Tsunoda’s spin had a knock-on effect on their two performances.
Alpha Tauri driver Pierre Gasly was fifth, his team-mate Tsunoda was ninth fastest in qualifying. The young Japanese was potentially aiming for a top 5 position on the grid and was able to overtake his teammate on this track if he wasn’t spinning.
Ferrari drivers Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc drove the sixth and eighth fastest laps of qualifying. Between the two Ferraris was McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo, who qualified seventh.
McLaren driver Lando Norris finished tenth, completing the top 10 points on the grid. However, Tsunoda and Norris will continue to fall as they have been reprimanded with starting fines for switching to their fourth engines.
Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel was classified 11th, and his former Ferrari team-mate and Alfa Romeo driver Kimi Raikkonen was classified 12th fastest in qualifying. However, due to engine penalties, the former Ferrari duo moved up to ninth and tenth place on the grid.
You can hardly wait for qualifying and neither can we! 
Who will take pole today – Checo, Max, Lewis? Someone else? 
We’ll find out soon
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Who will take pole today – Checo, Max, Lewis? Anyone else?
We’ll find out soon 
# MexicoGP
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Williams driver George Russell and Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi set the 13th and 14th fastest times in qualifying. However, the Briton’s five-place penalty for a gearbox change pushed the Italian to 11th place on the grid.
The alpine riders Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso qualified as the fastest in the session in positions 15 and 16. The Frenchman’s engine penalties drove him back to 19th place. A combination of Ocons and Russell’s penalty shoot-out puts Alonso in 12th place on the grid, despite the Spaniard’s poor performance in qualifying.
Williams driver Nicholas Latifi was ranked 17th fastest, followed by Haas drivers Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin who were 18th and 19th fastest in the session, respectively. Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll was unable to drive time after twisting into the guard rails in the first few minutes of the first qualifying.
Stroll’s off-track excursion resulted in the session being suspended with a red flag for 20 minutes until the barriers were repaired. Fortunately, his performance in qualifying or the failure to drive a time in the session had no significant impact as he had a starting place penalty for an engine change that put him at the end of the grid anyway.
Still, the Mercedes ban on the front row came as a shock to the Red Bull Racing team as it was a turn of fate at a track where the latter were the favorites.
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The current qualifying result is almost a similar scenario to Austin, where Mercedes were the favorites and Red Bull Racing the underdogs.
Edited by Sijo Samuel Paul
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