Lewis Hamilton may be set to claim his 5th world championship but if he wants to win the Mexican Grand Prix, he’s going to have to fight his way past two very impressive Red Bull cars to do so. Daniel Ricciardo surprised many as he denied his teammate, Max Verstappen, pole position for the Mexican Grand Prix.
The Red Bull’s, benefitting from the altitude, proved that their chassis is in top kit as the power at this elevation is slightly neutralized in Mercedes and Ferrari’s performance. This left the Red Bull duo battling for pole position.
Lewis will start on the second row alongside his only possible competitor, Sebastian Vettel, who typically gets decent starts in his Ferrari. Can traffic, attrition or concerns over a too-hot engine see Vettel survive for one more race or will Lewis be celebrating another championship in Mexico come Sunday night?
| Pos | Driver | Car | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | 1m14.759s | – |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull/Renault | 1m14.785s | 0.026s |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m14.894s | 0.135s |
| 4 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1m14.970s | 0.211s |
| 5 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1m15.160s | 0.401s |
| 6 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1m15.330s | 0.571s |
| 7 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1m15.827s | 1.068s |
| 8 | Carlos Sainz | Renault | 1m16.084s | 1.325s |
| 9 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m16.189s | 1.430s |
| 10 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m16.513s | 1.754s |
| 11 | Esteban Ocon | Force India/Mercedes | 1m16.844s | – |
| 12 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Renault | 1m16.871s | – |
| 13 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 1m17.167s | – |
| 14 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso/Honda | 1m17.184s | – |
| 15 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren/Renault | 1m16.966s | – |
| 16 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas/Ferrari | 1m17.599s | – |
| 17 | Lance Stroll | Williams/Mercedes | 1m17.689s | – |
| 18 | Romain Grosjean | Haas/Ferrari | 1m16.911s | – |
| 19 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams/Mercedes | 1m17.886s | – |
| 20 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso/Honda | – | – |
