Mexican Grand Prix | Bottas on pole ahead of Hamilton and Verstappen

(Mexico) Finland’s Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) surprised by taking pole position at the Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix on Saturday, 18^e round on 22, ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton and the Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull).

Leader of the world championship with 12 points ahead of Hamilton, Verstappen was the favorite given his previous results in Mexico and free practice dominated by Red Bull.

His Mexican teammate Sergio Pérez will accompany him in the second row Sunday at 1 p.m. local (2 p.m. ET).

French Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) and Spaniard Carlos Sainz Jr. will follow.

The fourth row goes to the Australian Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) and the Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari).

Ninth and tenth in qualifying, the Japanese Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) and the Briton Lando Norris (McLaren) will start at the back of the grid, penalized for having changed parts of their engine beyond the number authorized per season.

This will also be the case for Frenchman Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and Canadian Lance Stroll (Aston Martin).

Briton George Russell (Williams) is subject to a five-seater penalty for premature gearbox change.

Also to be remembered from these qualifications, an impressive accident for Stroll at the start of the session. The Mexican track, which had not been used by F1 since 2019 (the 2020 edition was canceled due to the pandemic), is indeed very slippery.

The Mexican GP is making its sell-out comeback, as before COVID-19, with more than 250,000 spectators expected over three days, including 130,000 on Sunday.