Bottas on pole from Hamilton as Mercedes stun Red Bull

Valtteri Bottas took pole position ahead of Lewis Hamilton in an unexpected front-row lockout as Mercedes pulled off one of the turnarounds of the season to shock Max Verstappen and Red Bull in Mexico City GP qualifying.

Completely shifting the momentum Red Bull had built through two days of dominating practice, Mercedes bounced back in extraordinary fashion at a track that had seemingly suited their title rivals and topped all three segments in Saturday’s shootout, with Bottas storming clear in Q3.

The Finnish driver, who unlike Hamilton and Verstappen is not in championship contention, posted two laps that would have been good enough for pole and eventually beat his team-mate by a tenth of a second with his 1:15.875.

Title-leader Verstappen will start next to Hamilton on the grid but – contrary to form leading up to qualifying – not ahead of him, the Dutchman only third and 0.350secs off a pole he was the overwhelming favourite for.

“Honestly that first run in Q3 was one of my best laps,” said Bottas, while Hamilton added: “I really have no idea [what changed]. I’m just as shocked as everyone but we’ll still take it.”

Verstappen was hampered by a lack of grip, as well as a distraction on his last lap as his team-mate Sergio Perez and the AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda ran wide off track ahead of him. He blamed Tsunoda’s off for costing him pole but he is still optimistic for his chances in the race with the longest run-down to Turn 1 on the calendar at over 800 metres.

“Of course third is not amazing but I think it’s still better than starting second,” said Verstappen, who leads Hamilton by just 12 points with five rounds remaining, starting with Sunday’s race live on Sky Sports at 7pm.

Perez was fourth in the other Red Bull ahead of Pierre Gasly, who was aided by the slipstream provided by the grid-dropping Tsunoda.

McLaren also aimed to utilise the tow by using Lando Norris, another one of the five drivers with a penalty this weekend, to help Daniel Ricciardo, although the Australian still placed seventh behind Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari.

Sebastian Vettel qualified 11th but will start 10th thanks to Norris’ penalty, though his team-mate Lance Stroll had a much more disappointing day after a heavy crash at the start of Q1. He was already due to start from the back of the grid, but he may now be subjected to the pit-lane due to car damage.

Mexico City GP Qualifying Results – Top 10
1) Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes
2) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
3) Max Verstappen, Red Bull
4) Sergio Perez, Red Bull
5) Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri
6) Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
7) Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren
8) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
9) Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri
10) Lando Norris, McLaren

How did Mercedes overhaul Red Bull? Hamilton’s title boost vs Verstappen after Mexico turnaround

“That’s a very powerful statement from Mercedes. And an underperformance from Red Bull.”

Sky F1’s Martin Brundle aptly summed up Saturday’s qualifying and a pecking order refresh that not even the most optimistic of Mercedes fan could have predicted.

Red Bull, already favourites coming into the weekend, had a four-tenths advantage at the end of Friday while, just a few hours before qualifying, had extended that practice lead to well over half a second. Even Hamilton admitted Mercedes were already planning simulations on starting third and fourth for Sunday’s race.

But Red Bull did not even get close to sealing their first front-row lockout of the season and, while Verstappen had showed signs of pace through Q1 and Q2, his Q3 fell flat via one poor lap and one disrupted lap.

“We got Tsunoda’d,” said team boss Christian Horner. Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz suggested other reasons for the turnaround were increasing temperatures leading to a lack of balance, and rear wing issues – which the team were working on prior to and during the shootout.

Horner however insisted the Mexico City change-up was more down to Mercedes gains on a rapidly improving track than Red Bull falling back as the world champions turned the tables, just as the title challengers had done two weeks ago in the USA.

What it has done has completely revitalised the weekend and indeed the championship battle, with Hamilton now eyeing cutting Verstappen’s championship lead.

An epic run-down to Turn 1, and an epic race, awaits. Do not miss the next chapter of the 2021 season.