Max Verstappen sealed his second career pole position, ending Ferrari’s streak, as Valtteri Bottas crashed heavily during a dramatic denouement to qualifying.
Verstappen clocked provisional pole during the first Q1 runs, as just half a second covered the top six, and improved after to a 1:14.758s.
Ferrari’s streak of poles came to a close but Charles Leclerc secured second on the grid, within three-tenths of Verstappen, while Sebastian Vettel took third spot.
The major moment of the session came in the very closing stages as Bottas slid wide exiting the final corner and suffered a hefty impact with the concrete wall, before continuing and suffering a secondary hit into the TecPro barriers.
Bottas, who qualified sixth, was able to walk away from his Mercedes, which sustained substantial damage to the front-left.
Lewis Hamilton finished within a tenth of Vettel as he took fourth on the grid, with Alexander Albon fifth.
McLaren locked out the fourth row of the grid, with Carlos Sainz Jr. ahead of Lando Norris, while Toro Rosso captured a double Q3 spot, as Daniil Kvyat edged Pierre Gasly.
Local hero Sergio Perez was an agonising 0.008s away from making Q3 but starting from 11th gives him free choice of starting tyre, with his rivals ahead condemned to running the unloved Softs.
Renault, after its nightmare FP3, took 12th and 13th, with Nico Hulkenberg in front of last year’s pole-sitter Daniel Ricciardo, while Alfa Romeo finished as the slowest Q2 contender.
Kimi Raikkonen took 14th as he edged Antonio Giovinazzi by three-tenths of a second.
Lance Stroll fell at the first hurdle while Haas had a dismal session, with both Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean substantially off the pace.
Magnussen was over half a second away from making Q2 while Grosjean spun at Turn 1 and later slid wide exiting the stadium section, en route to 18th spot.
Williams once again picked up the wooden spoon though Haas’ travails allowed George Russell to get to within three-tenths of Grosjean.
Russell held a whopping 1.3s gap over struggling team-mate Robert Kubica, maintaining his unbeaten head-to-head record, as the Pole came closer to not qualifying than to Russell’s pace.
Sunday’s 71-lap Mexican Grand Prix will begin at 13:10 local time
