The excitement of the championship in Formula 1 continues in the Mexican GP after the US GP. Mercedes’ Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas took the pole position in the Mexican GP qualifying round, which started at 23:00 on Saturday night. It was a big surprise that Red Bull, who was better than Mercedes in both practice and other sessions, lost the pole.
Formula 1 taking place this week in Mexico. In Mexico, home of Sergio Perez, Red Bull is the more favorite as a team than Mercedes. Red Bull and Verstappen, who cannot tolerate losing points in the championship race, are expected to return from Mexico with a double.
Before qualifying rounds After McLaren driver Lando Norris, AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda and Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll, Alpine driver Esteban Ocon also decided to switch to the new power unit. As it is known, the pilots who switched to the new power unit last row start penalty taking. Williams driver George Russell was handed a five-place grid penalty for changing the gearbox.
training degrees
In the first training session The Mercedes team took the top two places with Bottas and Hamilton, while Red Bull’s Verstappen took the first place in the second practice session. In the last training session, Red Bull; He achieved the first two places with Perez and Verstappen.
Red Bull’s team order rumor
All week long with Lewis Hamilton for Max Verstappen in the championship race It was debated whether Red Bull would give Sergio Perez a team order. As a matter of fact, it is estimated that the Mexican pilot Perez wants to win at home, but Red Bull will want to bring Verstappen forward with the team order, who can not bear to lose points for the championship.
Qualifying session 1 (Q1): Stroll’s crash and Alonso’s disappointment
From Aston Martin in the 10th minute in the first episode Lance Stroll crashed and decided to stop the session. given. Although the Canadian pilot survived the accident unscathed, his vehicle became unusable and said goodbye to the first session early. It was seen that Stroll lost control with two counterattacks in a row as he started accelerating from the crash position. After a 25-minute break with the cleaning of the track, the first session continued.
Valtteri Bottas finished the first session in the first place; Bottas was followed by Leclerc and Verstappen. While Alonso, Latifi, Schumacher, Mazepin and Stroll were eliminated in the first session; Alpine driver Fernando Alonso was eliminated from the disappointment of the first session. First session due to Stroll’s accident 50 minutes while driving; Another remarkable detail was that all pilots preferred soft tires.
Qualifying session 2 (Q2): Hamilton and Tsunoda surprise
13 out of 15 pilots in the second session medium rubber tire only Tsunoda and Ocon used soft rubber. In this session, Hamilton made the best lap of the track, while Verstappen and Tsunoda followed Hamilton.
Vettel, Raikkonen, Russell, Giovinazzi and Ocon bid farewell to qualifying in this episode. Four-time world champion Vettel and the successful name of Saturdays Russel were eliminated, while Tsunoda took the 3rd place as a surprise.
Qualifying session 3 (Q3): Mercedes outstrips Red Bulls
In Q3, the scene of a breathtaking final episode, Mercedes; He showed a performance that no one expected and took the first two places. by taking, took a big advantage for Sunday’s race. The final moments of Q3 were marked by Perez’s overflow and Verstappen’s blockade. Finnish pilot Bottas took the pole position by a wide margin; Hamilton, Verstappen and host Perez de Bottas followed suit.
Now the eyes turned to the race that will be held on Sunday at 22:00 CEST. In Mexico, where Red Bull is the favourite. He is expected to try to hunt down Mercedes using the air corridor effect on Sunday.