I feel so grateful, that it is F1 weekend again! Round 18 brought the pinnacle of motor sport to Mexico City, which is known as the highest venue of the season. The circuit is situated 2.2 km above the sea level, which explains the challenges caused by thin air.
Coming to the weekend, the weather forecasts had predicted rain for the qualifying, but as the lights turned green for Q1, the risk was only 10 %. However, conditions had been damp in the last free practice session, so the track was still slippery, as the qualifying got underway. Albon showed excellent pace at the wheel of his Red Bull and went fastest on his first run. The pecking order of the top three teams was mixed in an exciting way, as Hamilton was second for Mercedes, followed by the Ferrari duo of Charles and Sebastian. Kimi, too had showed superb pace, as the Iceman was "the best of the rest" after his first attempt. Red Bull have been very strong at Mexico in previous years, and Verstappen stamped the energy drink team's authority at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez by clocking the fastest lap time. The top six didn't need to opt for second runs. First McLaren's Sainz jumped 6th, and a moment later the Spaniard was robbed of the 6th place by Toro Rosso's Kvyat. Kimi, too made it into Q2 by making it 11th. Racing Point's Stroll was the first driver to be eliminated from the second session. Alongside with the Canadian, both Haas drivers and both Williams drivers were knocked out of Q2.
It was well expected, that the top three teams -Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull- were going to come out on medium Pirellis in Q2. More of a surprise was the fact, that also both McLaren drivers and both Toro Rosso pilots opted for the medium compound as well. Bottas made a mistake at the stadium on his first flyer. Meanwhile, Sebastian went fastest, with Verstappen second, Charles third, Hamilton fourth and Albon fifth. The Finnish Mercedes ace managed to put together a decent lap on his second flyer, jumping fourth. Unfortunately Kimi was struggling with the performance of his Alfa Romeo in the second session. The Iceman was in tame P13 after his first run. McLaren and Toro Rosso were forced to switch to the soft compound at the end of the session. Sainz underlined McLaren's brilliant performance by jumping fourth on his last flyer. Hamilton and Bottas made a second attempt on the medium Pirellis; Hamilton made it on top of the time sheets, with his teammate second. Both Ferrari and Red Bull sent their drivers out on the red-walled soft compound, but neither one of the drivers improved his lap time. Home hero Perez was the first man in the knock-out zone unfortunately. The Renault duo of Hulkenberg and Ricciardo, who had both been excluded from the results of the Japanese GP due to a brake system infringement, were out, too. It wasn't much of a comfort, that Kimi out-qualified his teammate Giovinazzi, as both of them were out of the top ten.
The fight for pole came down to the final segment, which definitely didn't lack action. Last year Verstappen had lost pole to his teammate (Ricciardo) by 0.026s, so the Dutchman had decided to take his revenge this year. The flying Dutchman was untouchable on his first run. In spite of Ferrari's incredible straight line speed in sector one, Max took provisional pole by a tenth to Charles. Sebastian had set a staggering time for the first sector, but in spite of that he was left third on his first flyer, two tenths shy of Max. Hamilton was fourth, Albon fifth and Bottas sixth. The second runs were crucial. Charles made a mistake on his last run, and was therefore unable to improve. Something dramatic happened in the dying moments of the decisive last session. Bottas was pushing extremely hard on his crucial flyer; so hard, that he lost his W10 in the final corner! He crashed into the wall, and the left side of his Mercedes turned into a wreck. Double yellows were out, which meant no improvements. It was a shame for Sebastian especially, as he had been improving his lap time till the last sector. So Verstappen took his second career pole, with Charles second and Sebastian third! Hamilton had to settle for P4. Albon qualified 5th and Bottas 6th. McLaren locked down the fourth row (Sainz 7th, Norris 8th), and the fifth row belonged to Toro Rosso (Kvyat 9th, Gasly 10th). It was an extremely costly mistake for the Finn; if the team need to replace the damaged chassis with a new one, Valtteri will have to start to the race from the pit lane.
Mexico is extremely hard both on the brakes and on the cooling of the cars. So will all top six cars make it to the chequered flag tomorrow? The start will also play a thrilling role, as there's an extremely long straight into Turn 1. Sebastian and Charles might benefit from the tow, but will they be able to avoid contact with each other? Tyre degradation is also very high, so tyre management will also be a key factor for victory tomorrow. I think it takes huge effort to beat Max tomorrow, unless he screws up the start (which he has done a couple of times this season). Max is shining so bright this weekend! But the red threat behind him is definitely real!
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