Daniel Ricciardo denied Red Bull teammate a place in Formula 1’s record books as he led a front-row lockout at the Mexican Grand Prix. Verstappen had looked odds on to become F1’s youngest polesitter in history but Ricciardo sprung up at the death to pip the Dutchman with a new Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez lap record.
The advantage Red Bull have enjoyed this weekend isn’t likely to be replicated in Brazil or Abu Dhabi, so Verstappen might have seen his last chance to eclipse Sebastian Vettel’s record.
Title rival Sebastian Vettel qualified in fourth behind Lewis Hamilton – the Ferrari man needs to win and hope Hamilton finishes outside the top seven in order to keep the fight alive.
Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen will line up on the third row, while Renault converted their impressive Friday place into a fourth-row lockout as they look to seal fourth place in the constructors’ championship ahead of Haas, who saw both cars go out in Q1.
Charles Leclerc and Marcus Ericsson took ninth and 10th, but Sauber’s decision to chase a Q3 spot cold come back to haunt them as they must start on the hypersoft tyres, while those just behind will be on more durable compounds.
The Mexican Grand Prix is live from 1:10pm local time (7:10pm GMT) on Sunday.
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