F1 Grand Prix qualifying results: Bottas takes Mexico pole
Valtteri Bottas took pole position for the Mexican Grand Prix at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, the 18th round of the 2021 F1 World Championship, ahead of Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
Bottas will start in front of Hamilton and Red Bull's Max Verstappen after the one-hour qualifying session, which is split into three segments with five cars each being knocked out in Q1 and Q2 before the top-10 shootout of Q3.
Mexican Grand Prix qualifying results: Bottas on pole from Hamilton
Cla | Driver | Time | Gap | km/h | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Valtteri Bottas | 1'15.875 | 204.209 | ||
2 | Lewis Hamilton | 1'16.020 | 0.145 | 203.820 | |
3 | Max Verstappen | 1'16.225 | 0.350 | 203.271 | |
4 | Sergio Perez | 1'16.342 | 0.467 | 202.960 | |
5 | Pierre Gasly | 1'16.456 | 0.581 | 202.657 | |
6 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | 1'16.761 | 0.886 | 201.852 | |
7 | Daniel Ricciardo | 1'16.763 | 0.888 | 201.847 | |
8 | Charles Leclerc | 1'16.837 | 0.962 | 201.652 | |
9 | Sebastian Vettel | 1'17.746 | 1.871 | 199.295 | |
10 | Kimi Raikkonen | 1'17.958 | 2.083 | 198.753 | |
11 | Antonio Giovinazzi | 1'18.290 | 2.415 | 197.910 | |
12 | Fernando Alonso | 1'18.452 | 2.577 | 197.501 | |
13 | Nicholas Latifi | 1'18.756 | 2.881 | 196.739 | |
14 | Mick Schumacher | 1'18.858 | 2.983 | 196.484 | |
15 | George Russell | 1'18.172 | 2.297 | 198.209 | |
16 | Nikita Mazepin | 1'19.303 | 3.428 | 195.382 | |
17 | Lance Stroll | 1'20.873 | 4.998 | 191.589 | |
18 | Yuki Tsunoda | 1'17.158 | 1.283 | 200.813 | |
19 | Lando Norris | 1'36.830 | 20.955 | 160.016 | |
20 | Esteban Ocon | 1'18.405 | 2.530 | 197.620 | |
View full results |
What happened in Q1?
Q1 was eight minutes old when Lance Stroll lost control of his Aston Martin on the dirty track surface at the exit of the Peraltada corner and spun into the barrier, smashing the left-front wheel from the car.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fastest before the red flag, with a laptime of 1m17.991s. After the session restarted his time was beaten in rapid succession by Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri at 1m17.746s, Hamilton’s 1m17.576s, Bottas’s 1m17.516s, Sergio Perez’s 1m17.451s and then Verstappen’s 1m16.788s.
The Mercedes duo stayed out, Bottas dipping into the 1m16s bracket in P2 with 1m16.959s, while Hamilton rose to third on 1m17.207s. Bottas ran again, lowering the P1 time to 1m16.727s as the chequered flag flew, and Leclerc was second quickest, just 0.021s slower.
Falling at the first hurdle were Fernando Alonso (Alpine), Nicholas Latifi (Williams), the Haases of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin, and Stroll.
Mexican Grand Prix Q1 results: Bottas fastest from Leclerc
Cla | Driver | Chassis | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | km/h |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 9 | 1'16.727 | 201.941 | ||
2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 9 | 1'16.748 | 0.021 | 0.021 | 201.886 |
3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 5 | 1'16.788 | 0.061 | 0.040 | 201.781 |
4 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 8 | 1'16.908 | 0.181 | 0.120 | 201.466 |
5 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 8 | 1'17.003 | 0.276 | 0.095 | 201.218 |
6 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 8 | 1'17.207 | 0.480 | 0.204 | 200.686 |
7 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 8 | 1'17.330 | 0.603 | 0.123 | 200.367 |
8 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | 9 | 1'17.502 | 0.775 | 0.172 | 199.922 |
9 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Ferrari | 9 | 1'17.517 | 0.790 | 0.015 | 199.883 |
10 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 7 | 1'17.569 | 0.842 | 0.052 | 199.749 |
11 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | 10 | 1'17.606 | 0.879 | 0.037 | 199.654 |
12 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 6 | 1'17.719 | 0.992 | 0.113 | 199.364 |
13 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 9 | 1'17.897 | 1.170 | 0.178 | 198.908 |
14 | George Russell | Williams | 7 | 1'17.958 | 1.231 | 0.061 | 198.753 |
15 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 7 | 1'18.126 | 1.399 | 0.168 | 198.325 |
16 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | 7 | 1'18.452 | 1.725 | 0.326 | 197.501 |
17 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 8 | 1'18.756 | 2.029 | 0.304 | 196.739 |
18 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | 9 | 1'18.858 | 2.131 | 0.102 | 196.484 |
19 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas | 9 | 1'19.303 | 2.576 | 0.445 | 195.382 |
20 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 3 | 1'20.873 | 4.146 | 1.570 | 191.589 |
View full results |
What happened in Q2?
Everyone started this session on the medium tyre, with Perez setting the bar at 1m17.055s before Verstappen smashed it with a lap of 1m16.483s. Hamilton then jumped to P2, just 0.016s off Verstappen.
AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda used soft tyres to vault up to P3, then Hamilton jumped to the top with 1m16.474s at the end of the session, pipping Verstappen by 0.009s.
Knocked out at this point were Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin), Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo), George Russell (Williams, who has a five-place grid penalty), Antonio Giovinazzi (who spun his Alfa Romeo entering the stadium section) and Esteban Ocon (Alpine, who will start near the back due to an engine change).
Mexican Grand Prix Q2 results: Hamilton fastest from Verstappen
Cla | Driver | Chassis | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | km/h |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 7 | 1'16.474 | 202.610 | ||
2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 6 | 1'16.483 | 0.009 | 0.009 | 202.586 |
3 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 5 | 1'16.701 | 0.227 | 0.218 | 202.010 |
4 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 7 | 1'16.864 | 0.390 | 0.163 | 201.582 |
5 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 8 | 1'16.955 | 0.481 | 0.091 | 201.343 |
6 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 7 | 1'17.034 | 0.560 | 0.079 | 201.137 |
7 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 5 | 1'17.055 | 0.581 | 0.021 | 201.082 |
8 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 5 | 1'17.092 | 0.618 | 0.037 | 200.985 |
9 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Ferrari | 8 | 1'17.248 | 0.774 | 0.156 | 200.579 |
10 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 7 | 1'17.473 | 0.999 | 0.225 | 199.997 |
11 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | 7 | 1'17.746 | 1.272 | 0.273 | 199.295 |
12 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | 8 | 1'17.958 | 1.484 | 0.212 | 198.753 |
13 | George Russell | Williams | 6 | 1'18.172 | 1.698 | 0.214 | 198.209 |
14 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 6 | 1'18.290 | 1.816 | 0.118 | 197.910 |
15 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 6 | 1'18.405 | 1.931 | 0.115 | 197.620 |
View full results |
What happened in Q3?
On the first runs, Perez set the benchmark at 1m16.342, which was eclipsed by Verstappen’s 1m16.225s. Then the Mercedes duo flashed over the finish line, with Bottas taking P1 with 1m15.875s, ahead of Hamilton on 1m16.020s, 0.145s off his teammate’s pace.
On the second runs, nobody improved as Perez went off in the Esses – distracted by Tsunoda running wide ahead of him – while Verstappen was also delayed, then had a moment in the stadium section and a big slide at Peraltada.
Bottas scored his 19th career F1 pole, ahead of Hamilton, Verstappen and Perez. Gasly was the best of the rest in fifth, ahead of Sainz, Ricciardo and Leclerc. Tsunoda and Norris were ninth and 10th, but both will start from the back after an engine change.
Mexican Grand Prix Q3 results: Bottas takes pole
Cla | Driver | Chassis | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | km/h |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 7 | 1'15.875 | 204.209 | ||
2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 7 | 1'16.020 | 0.145 | 0.145 | 203.820 |
3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 7 | 1'16.225 | 0.350 | 0.205 | 203.271 |
4 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 5 | 1'16.342 | 0.467 | 0.117 | 202.960 |
5 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 6 | 1'16.456 | 0.581 | 0.114 | 202.657 |
6 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Ferrari | 6 | 1'16.761 | 0.886 | 0.305 | 201.852 |
7 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 6 | 1'16.763 | 0.888 | 0.002 | 201.847 |
8 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 6 | 1'16.837 | 0.962 | 0.074 | 201.652 |
9 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 6 | 1'17.158 | 1.283 | 0.321 | 200.813 |
10 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 5 | 1'36.830 | 20.955 | 19.672 | 160.016 |
View full results |
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Related video
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments