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Formula 1
Mexico City GP
F1 Mexico GP Live Commentary and Updates – Race
Minute-by-minute updates for the 2023 Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix
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Charles Leclerc leads an all-Ferrari front row from Carlos Sainz after the Italian squad pulled off a surprise in qualifying.
That pushed world champion Max Verstappen to third place on the grid for Red Bull, while another shock in the shape of AlphaTauri’s Daniel Ricciardo took fourth, ahead of home hero Sergio Perez in the sister Red Bull.
The Mexico GP gets under way at 8pm GMT.
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The formation lap is underway.
Tyres: everybody inside the top 13 is on the mediums. Norris has gambled on softs, while Albon and Ocon are the outliers on the hards.
Oh dear. Alonso is already in hot water before the formation lap has even started, with the stewards investigating him for speeding in the pitlane on his way to the grid!
We're just minutes away from the start now. Wherever you're watching from, we hope you enjoy the next 71 laps.
For a team like Alfa, does it split strategies in the hope of preserving its spot in the top 10? Bottas and Zhou start ninth and tenth, and every little counts as it seeks to make up a 10-point deficit to Williams in the constructors' championship.
As drivers get their helmets on, we'll soon get to find out what tyres they've elected to start with which will give us a first clue of how strategies should unfold.
Engineers are giving drivers last-minute information run-downs. And an opportunity for the drivers to request a delivery of their desired post-race beverage.
As Stefano Domenicali gets his customary round of high-fives, preparations to get going can begin in earnest soon. The timing screens helpfully inform us that there is no chance of rain to blight proceedings after the showers that arrived towards the end of FP2 on Friday.
It'll be an unforgettable day for the children who are performing the anthem of Mexico. Good on them.
National anthem time. Plenty of drivers are sporting umbrellas to shield them from the fierce sun.
The grid is one Aston light today, as Lance Stroll will start from the pitlane after extensive changes made to his car in parc ferme. In the FIA's decision document technical delegate Jo Bauer detailed that Aston changed the floor assembly, sidepod bodywork panels, rear beam wing, rear anti roll bar and front brake friction material as well as suspension set-up tweaks.
We're particularly enjoying the soulful sax-playing on the grid in the build-up. Quite why he's playing the Gini Wijnaldum song that used to be chanted on the Kop though, I'm not sure.
Alonso was boosted one position after Q2 by Alex Albon having his best lap deleted for a track limits infringement, which saw him tumble back from ninth to 14th. It wasn't what the Williams driver had hoped for after being only bettered by Verstappen in FP1 and FP3, leaving him frustrated at both a penalty call he questioned but also the car's drop-off in pace.
And it's a similar story for Fernando Alonso, who missed the cut in Q2 for Aston Martin and lines up 13th. So strong earlier in the season when the green cars were Red Bull's closest challengers, recent upgrades haven't had the desired effect for Aston, but Alonso insists that the disappointing performance in Mexico isn't just about the car. He said: "I was not doing a good job, this weekend, I felt always on the back foot, and I was always not trusting the car."
Norris has been in superb form of late, having finished on the podium in each of the past four races. But he will really have his work cut out today starting from 17th after a Q1 exit that he took the blame for after failing to get the best out of his tyres on his single soft run. Here's what he had to say on the matter: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/norris-f1-mexico-grand-prix-q1-exit-on-me-despite-mclaren-pit-call/10539596/
The colourful pre-race cermonies on the grid are well underway, giving those in the packed out grandstands plenty to watch. But some expected contenders have a worse view of the displays at the front of the grid than they would have anticipated, chief among them McLaren's Lando Norris.
Mexico's Grand Prix organisers are bullish their race will outlast Perez's Formula 1 career, with managing director Federico Rodriguez clear that his race's fate is not inextricably linked to their "superhero". You can read more on that here: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/mexico-f1-future-doesnt-depend-on-superhero-perezs-red-bull-fate/10539760/
For his part, Perez was non-plussed about being beaten in Q3 by Ricciardo's AlphaTauri, pointing out "I don't think it's just Daniel who wants my seat". But in front of his adoring home crowds, the Mexican will want to get a wiggle on and at the very least match his podium finishes from 2021 and 2022.
Notably, Ricciardo outqualified home hero Sergio Perez who is starting fifth today. It was the first real sign that Ricciardo is here to stake a claim for a return to Red Bull's A-team and in a season that has lacked narratives, the replacement for Nyck de Vries has certainly provided one. Adam Cooper takes a look: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/how-ricciardo-showed-first-glimpse-of-red-bull-f1-seat-claim/10539759/
Joining Verstappen on row two is Daniel Ricciardo, in a stunning display for AlphaTauri in only his second race back after the hand injury sustained at Zandvoort kept him out of five race meetings. The jovial Aussie remarked afterwards that he's feeling "a lot more like my old self".
Leclerc's pole position yesterday was the 22nd of his career, discounting sprints. It puts him level with two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, and two behind three-time champions Niki Lauda and Nelson Piquet. Needless to say, no other driver without a title has as many poles.
Cars are steadily arriving on the grid, and fresh from taking his helmet off Valtteri Bottas has already got his cool suit on. It's a warm day.
Other than Verstappen, the only other driver on the grid to have won in Mexico is Lewis Hamilton, who prevailed in 2016 and 2019. The seven-time world champion's second victory famously came after he'd taken damage to his floor in opening lap contact with Verstappen. He starts sixth today.
Verstappen's 2021 win was perhaps his most famous, and featured atop Alex Kalinauckas's ranking of the Dutchman's 10 greatest wins as he hit the half century last weekend. His ambush of the front row Mercedes pair to take the lead into the first corner was truly staggering - could he pull off a similar move on the Ferraris today?
Since the Mexico City track had its facelift courtesy of Hermann Tilke and rejoined the calendar for 2015, the grand prix has been won each time by either a Mercedes or Max Verstappen. The Dutchman's victories in 2017, 2018, 2021 and 2022 have put him above Jim Clark as the most successful driver ever in the Mexican GP (although the Scot's first win in 1962 came in a non-championship race and was shared with Trevor Taylor).
The cars are starting to make their way to the grid on their reconnaissance laps. Leclerc is on soft tyres, but of course that means precious little.
If we get a race anything like as good as 1990, we'll be in for a treat today. A few years back during the pandemic our team of journalists took turns in selecting their favourite races, and this very grand prix was the pick of Autosport's chief editor Kevin Turner. Here's what he had to say: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/why-one-of-f1s-best-overtakes-is-dismissed-by-the-attacker-4982814/4982814/
You have to go all the way back to 1990 for the last time a Ferrari won in Mexico, when Alain Prost led team-mate Nigel Mansell in another 1-2 for the Maranello team. If you've not seen it before, go and seek out a video of Mansell passing Gerhard Berger around the outside of the old Peraltada corner. You won't regret it.
As Sainz put it immediately after the session: "It was a very strange one. Honestly, the whole weekend I've struggled to put a lap together, and the first lap that I put together was Q3 run one." Indeed, on their second runs, neither Ferrari could improve but it was still enough to see off Verstappen.
Just 0.097s covered the top three on the grid in qualifying yesterday, as Charles Leclerc secured his third pole of the year ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen's Red Bull. It's fair to say that the result was something of a surprise, after Verstappen had topped all three sessions prior to qualifying.
Sun
It's 13:05 local time, and the weather is glorious. The air temperature is 24.5 °C, while track temperature is 47.2 °C.
Hello and welcome to Autosport's live text coverage as we build up to the Mexico City Grand Prix. The race will get going in around an hour's time, so settle in as we cover all of the talking points.
By: Autosport Staff
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