Lewis Hamilton misses huge opportunity as Max Verstappen takes Mexican GP pole

Max Verstappen took pole position for the Mexican Grand Prix, holding off the Mercedes cars which have suddenly emerged as contenders this weekend.

The last four pole-sitters in Mexico have failed to finish on the podium, so starting from the front is far from a guarantee of success in the race. Not that Verstappen will care – he will be delighted to have gone fastest on Saturday on a rare weekend where he is not the main man at Red Bull.

After all, Sergio Perez is the home favourite here. But he was not able to deliver the pole position that the home fans craved, and instead will start Sunday's race from fourth place, sharing the second row with Lewis Hamilton while George Russell was second quickest on the day the Silver Arrows finally looked capable of challenging the top cars for pace.

Those Mercedes drivers might have been able to snatch pole, had they not made mistakes in Q3. Russell described his final lap as a "disaster", while Hamilton complained over team radio of problems with his car after having a track time deleted.

Mick Schumacher was one of the casualties of Q1, despite thinking he had put in a time worthy of the top seven. But that lap was swiftly deleted by the stewards as video reviews clearly showed he had cut the corner by quite a large margin at Turn 2.

There was some good news for Haas, though, as Kevin Magnussen became the team's first ever driver to reach Q2 in Mexico. But his five-place grid penalty means he will be starting low down the field anyway.

After looking so far in the US last weekend, it was clear this circuit is much less suited to the Aston Martins. Both Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel were knocked out in Q1, with the latter particularly irked by just how slow his car was. Stroll will start the race last, owing to a three-place grid penalty which pushes up Williams duo Alexander Albon and Nicholas Latifi.

Max Verstappen took pole for the Mexican Grand Prix (Getty Images)

Magnussen finished bottom in Q2 so will also be at the back row on Sunday. Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda were also victims of the second part of the session, along with Zhou Guanyu and Daniel Ricciardo, who will start in 11th place having missed out on a place in Q3 by just 0.05s.

Alpine took the fifth row with Fernando Alonso slightly ahead of Esteban Ocon, and will be breathing down the neck of Lando Norris from the very start on race day. Valtteri Bottas was mightily quick throughout the session and will be pleased with sixth place in his Alfa Romeo.

The Ferrari's were a lot more off the pace than they have been in 2022 in qualifying sessions. Charles Leclerc had to settle for seventh place while Carlos Sainz could manage only fifth, with the Red Bulls sandwiching the two Mercedes cars in the top four positions.

Full 2022 Mexican Grand Prix qualifying results

1. Max Verstappen – Red Bull
2. George Russell – Mercedes
3. Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes
4. Sergio Perez – Red Bull
5. Carlos Sainz – Ferrari
6. Valtteri Bottas – Alfa Romeo
7. Charles Leclerc – Ferrari
8. Lando Norris – McLaren
9. Fernando Alonso – Alpine
10. Esteban Ocon – Alpine
11. Daniel Ricciardo – McLaren
12. Zhou Guanyu – Alfa Romeo
13. Yuki Tsunoda – AlphaTauri
14. Pierre Gasly – AlphaTauri
15. Kevin Magnussen – Haas (Five-place grid penalty to be applied)
16. Mick Schumacher – Haas
17. Sebastian Vettel – Aston Martin
18. Lance Stroll – Aston Martin (Three-place grid penalty to be applied)
19. Alexander Albon – Williams
20. Nicholas Latifi – Williams