Max Verstappen 'super annoyed' to miss out on first F1 pole in Mexico

Verstappen comfortably topped Q2 and was a quarter of a second clear after his first runs in the final qualifying segment.

But he couldn't improve on his second run and was denied by Vettel in the dying seconds of the session, the German going 0.086s quicker.

"I am super annoyed," Verstappen conceded after qualifying.

"You always try to go for pole position and Q2 was looking really good, in Q3 I couldn't switch the tyres on and couldn't go faster.

"This track is really slippery. For me, the front tyres were not working, a bit of understeer - in this track you need to turn quickly in the low-speed corners.

"Second is still a good place but after Q2 I had hoped for more.

"I gave it all - today [that] wasn't enough. I really wanted that pole position, but at least we have a good start position."

Had he held on to first place, Verstappen would've become F1's youngest polesitter, snatching the record from Vettel.

Bottas incident 'not my problem'

Verstappen's front row was briefly provisional, however, as he was under investigation for having potentially impeded Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas on his first run in Q3.

However, he was cleared by the stewards, meaning he will take up his front row start on Sunday.

Bottas was on his first flying lap in Q3 when he came up on the slowing Red Bull on approach to the Turn 13 left-hander, the Finn locking up at the corner a consequence.

In the aftermath, Bottas hit out at Verstappen for ruining his lap - but the Red Bull driver insisted he hadn't done anything wrong.

Asked about the Bottas incident, he replied: "Which incident? I was on the inside, he was doing his line, and he locked up - so there is no incident.

"That's not my problem. I'm not in his way there."

In response to there being an investigation, Verstappen - who was highly critical of the FIA stewards last weekend after a penalty denied him a United States Grand Prix podium - added: "There can be [an investigation]. But for me there was no incident."