The top-3 of the qualifications
Qualifying for the Mexican Grand Prix surprisingly rewarded the two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. The Monegasque from Prancing Horse in fact achieved his fourth pole position of the season on the Mexico City track, the 22nd of his career. Behind him, trailing by a handful of hundredths, is teammate Carlos Sainz. The big favorite was only third, Max Verstappen, the only one among the first to improve in the last attempt, but not enough to oust the red duopoly from the leadership. Fourth place for a phenomenal Daniel Ricciardo, who brought the AlphaTauri to the second row, ahead of the home idol Sergio Perez, only fifth in the second Red Bull. However, numerous investigations are pending on several drivers, including Verstappen, by the commissioners who could redesign the starting grid during the night. James Hinchcliffe interviews the top three.
Charles Leclerc (1st, Ferrari)
“Pole? I didn’t think about it at all, I didn’t expect it. Now it’s the second weekend in a row that I’ve said it and people maybe don’t even believe it anymore, but it’s true. In the end everything aligned, we found speed and now I have to focus on tomorrow because pole is fine, but we have to win and it will be very difficult. We will have to focus on ourselves, we had good pace all weekend. Tomorrow will be a difficult race, but let’s see how it goes. We’re in first place, I don’t know if I was the best overall but I’m happy with today’s result. Let’s see how it goes tomorrow.”
Carlos Sainz (2nd, Ferrari)
“The session was very strange. In fact the whole weekend was. Suddenly I improved by a tenth and I struggled to understand why I was going slower before and then suddenly faster. It’s also difficult to understand the feel of the tyres, they were really strange. But in the end we managed to put ourselves in a good position for tomorrow. Competition? We are certainly not strong with a lot of fuel, we know we have the Red Bulls behind, but starting from the front is a good advantage. We will give our best.”
Max Verstappen (3rd, Red Bull)
“Making the perfect lap is very difficult, especially due to the altitude. When you try to push a little harder the car no longer responds well. In Q3 I struggled more than I would have liked, but we are still all very close. The race is long and that’s the beauty of it. Confident for tomorrow? Yes I am. Obviously I would have liked to start first, but I’m in a good position. We’ll see how the race goes tomorrow.”
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