Max Verstappen beats George Russell and Lewis Hamilton to take pole position for Mexican Grand Prix

Max Verstappen beat the Mercedes pair of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton to take pole position for the Mexican Grand Prix.

Both of Verstappen’s laps in Q3 were good enough to take pole but his final effort of a 1:17.775 was stunning as he went 0.304 seconds faster than Russell.

A mistake from Russell at Turn 12 on his final run ruined his chances of stealing top spot, whilst Hamilton had to overcome a deleted lap from his first lap in Q3 to qualify third.

“The team deserved more today,” said Russell. “They produced a really great car this weekend.

“It’s testament to them for the hard work they have been putting in for so long.

“It was just a terrible lap from my side but at the end of the day there are no points for qualifying. I’ll be going it for sure [tomorrow] so let’s see what’s possible.”

Home hero Sergio Perez will start from fourth in what should be a very exciting run down to Turn 1, with the Red Bull and Mercedes drivers locking out the first two rows.

Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas produced a great lap to split Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc in sixth.

Lando Norris was eighth for McLaren, in front of the Alpine pair of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon.

Daniel Ricciardo missed out on a place in Q3 by 0.053 seconds, while Zhou Guanyu failed to join team-mate Bottas in the final part of qualifying.

The AlphaTauri pair of Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly will line-up on row seven, whilst Kevin Magnussen will drop to the back of the field due to a grid penalty for an internal combustion engine.

Mick Schumacher had a lap time that was good enough to get into Q2 but it was deleted because he cut Turn 2, going outside of the track limits.

It meant he was knocked out in Q1, along with the Aston Martin pair of Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll.

Considering Aston Martin’s recent form, that result will be a major disappointment for the team, with Vettel showing his frustration by saying: “We are so slow!”

Alex Albon had a big moment at Turn 8 which ruined his final Q1 run whilst Nicholas Latifi was last.