Valtteri Bottas sprung a surprise to claim pole position as Mercedes pulled out a shock 1-2 during qualifying for Formula 1’s Mexico City Grand Prix.
Red Bull had been fastest during second and third practice but Mercedes stepped up during qualifying to provide a potent threat.
Bottas surged to top spot with a time of 1:15.875s during the first Q3 runs with Lewis Hamilton second, leaving Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez third and fourth respectively.
None of the quartet improved on their second push laps while Perez’s effort was squandered when he went off at Turn 10 shortly after Yuki Tsunoda also ran wide at the corner.
Verstappen, following on track, backed off as he encountered the two cars off-track but was already down on his personal best times before the corner.
Gasly stars once more for fifth
Pierre Gasly has regularly slotted his AlphaTauri onto the third row of the grid in 2021 and he once more executed a stellar Q3 effort to take fifth.
Gasly was just a tenth down on Perez and held a gap of three-tenths back to sixth-placed Carlos Sainz, who recovered from a power issue that threatened to derail his session in Q1.
McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc claimed seventh and eighth respectively.
Tsunoda and Lando Norris made it through to Q3 but did not set representative times owing to the engine penalties that will relegate them to the rear of the grid.
Sebastian Vettel, who qualified in 11th place, will therefore move up to ninth spot for Sunday’s race.
Alfa Romeo had Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi 12th and 14th respectively and the Italian had a fortunate escape after swiping the barriers at Turn 12 in Q2.
Giovinazzi spun and had a side-on impact but was able to return to the pit lane without damage to the C41.
George Russell qualified 13th, splitting the Alfa Romeo drivers, but will drop down due to a gearbox penalty.
Alpine had a difficult day as its towing strategy backfired when Fernando Alonso was dumped out in Q1.
Team-mate Esteban Ocon made it through to Q2 at his expense but was slowest in that session amid his impending engine penalty.
Haas claimed 18th and 19th respectively, with Mick Schumacher in front of Nikita Mazepin, and both are set to move up several positions on the grid due to penalties elsewhere.
Stroll shunt causes delay
Lance Stroll’s session came to an early end when he crashed during the first push runs in Q1.
Stroll ran wide exiting the final corner, drifted onto the dusty run-off, and lost control of the Aston Martin AMR21, which spun into the barriers.
Stroll was already set to start towards the rear of the field owing to an engine change but his crash condemned him to last place.
The session was delayed by 25 minutes while the barriers were repaired at the exit of the final corner.
Sunday’s 71-lap Mexico City Grand Prix is scheduled for 13:00 local time
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