00:01The Aston Martin of Lance Stroll. Exiting the final corner, the Peraltada had quite a big impact with the barriers.
00:09Are you okay, Lance?
00:11Yeah, I'm okay.
00:13Around the Peraltada, he's fighting it all the way, isn't he?
00:17Yeah, he just got a little bit wide and tried to stick with it.
00:21So he's got wide, now he's on the dirty part of the track, can't get it back onto line and
00:27straight to the scene of the accident.
00:29There is an incident involving Kimi Räikkönen. There's a single waved yellow.
00:34Ah, he crossed, he crossed to come into the pits and then went back out again.
00:40I think he did the pragmatic thing in terms of not getting a penalty for crossing the line, didn't he?
00:45It seems we have a power unit issue for Carlos Sainz that's just trundling along in first gear at the
00:51moment.
00:51No power, no power.
00:54You need to ride up, rides up.
00:57Vamos.
00:58Here we go.
00:58We're away.
01:00You ride the kerb on the left.
01:02Now you've got to get into the early apex.
01:04More understeer from the Ferrari as he wants to head towards the wall.
01:08He comes over the line and goes P5.
01:11Took a shortcut to the line there.
01:12So whilst he's doing that, his teammate Charles Leclerc has just set the fastest first sector.
01:17This is Nikita Mazepin.
01:19His teammate Mick Schumacher currently 16th fastest and out of qualifying.
01:24Checkered flag is waving.
01:26This is Mazepin's last effort in this qualifying weekend.
01:29And once again is out qualified by his teammate.
01:32Goes 17th fastest as Yuki Tsunoda jumps into the top five.
01:36Behind him, Nicholas Latifi trying to make his way out of the bottom five.
01:39Just fails.
01:41Sadly for him, he's about two and a bit tenths behind Sebastian Vettel.
01:45As Pierre Gasly goes second fastest.
01:48Honda engine working well here.
01:50Verstappen, Gasly, and also Perez and Tsunoda all Honda powered in the top seven.
01:55As Leclerc goes fastest overall by four one hundredths of a second from Max Verstappen.
02:00And George Russell gets himself out of the bottom five.
02:02He's got a five-place grip penalty, but he's made it into Q2.
02:06Kimi Raikkonen goes tenth fastest.
02:08We'll have to see the stewards after this session,
02:10but he's actually made it out of Q1.
02:12Giovinazzi twelfth fastest.
02:14Ocon is now at risk as Vettel goes eighth fastest.
02:17And Valtteri Bottas with Mercedes going for another run on the same set of soft tires goes quickest overall.
02:23Mazepin, Schumacher, Latifi, and Alonso putting their feet up all out of qualifying.
02:30Lando Norris before making his way round that final corner.
02:34We'll see a bit more track evolution potentially.
02:37No, still stays in tenth place, Lando Norris.
02:41His temperatures are going up.
02:43It might be a reason why we didn't see any extra pace from him.
02:49Sebastian Vettel goes eleventh fastest.
02:52Lewis on a very quick lap as well if he can keep the tires together through the final sector.
02:56And Gasly had a good toe from Yuki Tsunoda, his teammate, wrestling the car through the exit.
03:01And some of them taking a shorter run to the line.
03:04Gasly then surely just breaking under that 1.17-0 mark.
03:08And that is very close to the barriers.
03:11Antonio Giovinazzi's kept the engine running, but there's yellow flags.
03:15And that surely did make the barrier, but nice and square on.
03:20He's got some time to make up as Russell had only done one personal best during the course of this
03:25lap.
03:26Hits the line 13 fastest ahead of Giovinazzi, who is out, and Esteban Ocon 2.
03:31Kimi Raikkonen also out of qualifying, Sebastian Vettel.
03:35So Lando Norris does make it through despite not going faster on his second run.
03:40Bottas and Hamilton make their way down that long main straight.
03:44Oh, that was a moment for Max Verstappen.
03:47Yeah, that cost him time because this is a fast sector as well, but way too much oversteer there.
03:53A bit ambitious on the throttle.
03:56Valtteri Bottas does a 27-0 through the first sector.
04:00Lewis Hamilton, his teammate, matches him.
04:02Both Mercedes two tenths up on Verstappen, who's gone quickest overall through the middle sector.
04:07But was there time lost when he had that moment?
04:10So far, Gasly leads Ricciardo.
04:12Perez crosses the line to take provisional pole with a 1.16-3.
04:16No Mexican driver has ever been on pole in Formula One.
04:20Their home race, they never stood on the podium either.
04:22But Verstappen now takes that 1.16-2.
04:25He's a tenth up on Perez and claims the provisional pole off him.
04:29But Bottas absolutely flying on track at the moment.
04:32As Leclerc goes fourth fastest just ahead of Daniel Ricciardo.
04:36Bottas crosses the line and it's provisional pole for Valtteri Bottas.
04:40And quite a long way ahead of Max Verstappen.
04:43Lewis Hamilton, a tenth and a half down.
04:45We're expecting a front row lockout here.
04:48Provisionally, it's the Mercedes, not the Red Bulls.
04:5227-1 for Perez, 27-1 for Verstappen.
04:55Yeah, now Max might just be a touch too close through this next sector.
05:00But what can he do? Turn six is where he had the big oversteer last time around.
05:04This time it's hooked up a treat.
05:0727-2 through the first sector for Charles Leclerc.
05:09The two Mercedes coming next.
05:11Bottas, best first sector of all so far.
05:14He's finding pace there as Perez goes off the track.
05:16That's ruined his qualifying lap.
05:18And the Alpha Tower of Yuki Tsunoda gets caught up there too.
05:22Hamilton, 27-0 through the first sector.
05:25The Mercedes have pace over the Red Bulls.
05:28And dude, I don't think there was any yellow.
05:30And he's locked up in the hairpin.
05:31I don't think there are any yellow flags out there to hurt Max's lap.
05:35But exactly what I was talking about.
05:37Somebody has a problem in front of you.
05:38You've got a problem.
05:39Still, the car's fishtailing over the line.
05:42And it's not good enough.
05:43It's second row.
05:44He could not find the grip.
05:46The man who has dominated pole positions in 2021.
05:51And who leads the World Championship.
05:53Can do no better than third on the grid here in Mexico City in 2021.
05:58Valtteri Bottas on pole.
06:00Unless his teammate Lewis Hamilton can do something to deny him.
06:04Mercedes haven't had a front row lockout all season long.
06:08They've done it here in Mexico City on the weekend.
06:12And everyone said it was about Red Bull's pace.
06:14While Mercedes, so far, have proved that they have got an answer to it.
06:18And that's pole position.
06:20Oh, yes!
06:22Viva Mechtel!
06:24Ah, look, he got distracted.
06:26Whoa!
06:26No!
06:27It was Sonoda who went off first.
06:29And that, of course, then did not help Verstappen at all.
06:31He comes across the pair of them.
06:33Look, he had to.
06:34He had to have backed off a little bit.
06:36Unbelievable.
06:37Such a dumb idiot.
06:40Mercedes on the front row.
06:42Second row for Red Bull.
06:43And then Gasly ahead of Sainz, Riccardo, Leclerc, Sonoda and Norris.
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