After three practice sessions for the Mexican Grand Prix as he struggled to catch up, he mistakenly missed several laps and sent more than one frustrated radio message to his race engineer as he struggled with Red Bull. Verstappen instead of securing pole position?
The world champion’s sixth pole of the year may have come at the end of a hectic triple practice session, but it was little surprise to see him top of the time at the end of qualifying time. Now, he is in the best position to take his 14th victory, and in doing so set a new F1 record for most wins in a single season.
After complaining about his grip on Friday and Saturday at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez was able to draw from the track surface as he struggled with the clutch around the circuit’s 17 corners, Verstappen and his Red Bull team managed to coax the car once again. It is best at the most important point of the weekend.
“I think every session was a little bit better,” said the pole vaulter. “I think in Q3, we can finally push a little bit with the car and [do] Two good rounds.
In the year Despite being the most successful driver in Mexico since the race returned to the calendar in 2015, this is the first time Verstappen has secured pole at the venue. He would have started three years ago but was penalized for ignoring a yellow flag.
“It was really hard to pin a lap,” he said during the session. “It’s very low and there are a few joints you have to hit right to get the timing. So it’s not always the easiest fit. But in Q3, we seem to be under control.
The records will forever show that Verstappen led Mercedes’ George Russell by three tenths, but the margin should have been much tighter. Ruhl’s final lap was a fraction of the time until he braked at the entrance to the stadium at 12 – but his braking overshot the point, eventually giving him the chance to take pole – which he made no secret of his frustration.
“I really tried hard to make up for it in Sector Three,” Russell explained. “I’m sad because I feel the team deserved a spot today. The car is doing well but at the end of the day the points will be counted tomorrow and we will go for the win in that race.
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Rousseau’s team-mate Lewis Hamilton secured third on the grid, plagued by a track limit violation on his first run and an engine sway problem that interfered with power delivery. Nevertheless, Mercedes took advantage of Ferrari’s relative lack of performance to overtake both cars in the first three stages. Carlos Sainz Jnr is in fifth place, his team-mate Charles Leclerc is able to manage the 12th round and the seventh after losing 15 km/h and two tenths of the stadium class on his fastest lap.
“There was something weird or wrong with the engine,” Leclerc explained. Losing a lot of time on the straight from FP3 to Q3. It’s not comparable to Red Bull or Mercedes because that’s been happening since FP1 and we know that, but there was something strange.
“Cheko! Czecho!” The first two days of the weekend didn’t provide much excitement from the grandstands, with a large number of fans in Mexico wanting to see Sergio Perez put in a strong performance in today’s race. But he would start fourth behind the two Mercedes after a “messy” qualifying session where electrical faults left the car uninformed.
“P4 is not where I want to be, we could have gone much higher,” Perez said. “P3 was ideal.
“We have to look forward to tomorrow and try to have a perfect race, the atmosphere is amazing and we have to come back even stronger. I need a big start but I still believe it is possible tomorrow.”
Speed is just as important as getting off the line and accelerating at top speed for nearly 900 meters down the grid into turn one. That will give Verstappen a boost of confidence as, again, he’s added to the speed trap in qualifying, meaning Mercedes will be hard-pressed to beat him at the start unless Red Bull’s start is disastrous.
“It’s always important to get a good start around here,” Verstappen explained. “I think our top speed is not too bad to defend, at least when people are in the draft.
“We just have to focus on that. Honestly, if we have a good run rate, I think it will be a good fight anyway. But, of course, we try to keep up.
The world champion knows a good start can’t be taken for granted – remember how far off the line he was in Singapore four weeks ago. But if he takes the lead out of the first chicane, it’s hard to imagine the chasing Mercedes already taking him. Even Hamilton recognizes the advantage Verstappen can hold over them in terms of sheer speed and sheer speed.
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“It’s naturally always a tough race around here with the track temperatures and the tires,” Hamilton said. “These guys are fast all year. Even though we were at our best this weekend, we are still losing them in straight line pace.
“For sure it will be difficult to get by them tomorrow, but we will give it our best. And one turn is an opportunity. So here we go.”
Mercedes will be eager to repay Verstappen for the way they won at this track last year. The team unexpectedly locked up the front rows of the grid, but both drivers passed Verstappen for turn one and took control of the race from there. Verstappen can expect Hamilton and Russell to come at him today as a more vulnerable opponent.
Another driver who needs a particularly good start is Valtteri Bottas. The Alfa Romeo driver surprised many with a solid sixth on the grid, but it’s no stretch to say the team has a history of poor starts this season. Bottas knows he can’t afford to drop points on a poor break as Aston Martin starts to drop to the back of the field.
“It’s a calculated risk, but I’ve had a lot of bad laps this year, so it’s good to have a good start and one lap, even for confidence,” Bottas said. “I think the target is to at least try and keep the position. If we can get it, obviously, yes. But without a big risk.”
One aspect that will help Mercedes is the high temperatures this weekend. Mercedes, which has struggled with tire overheating all year, will take solace from Pirelli chief engineer Simon Berra’s comments that the softer tires will be a viable option in the race.
“While C4 [soft] It gives a good level of grip, the warm-up is really good, the consistency and balance is even,” Berra explained. “We had some wear and tear on the rear axle, but the damage is manageable, so it looks like a tire for Sunday’s race. In my opinion, in general, all the compounds are working well, but especially the softer compounds.
Although most drivers stopped once last year, starting from medium and switching to hard, Pirelli predicts a two-stop strategy will be the best strategy for Sunday, starting on the soft and stopping twice for the medium. But only drivers with fresh enough sets of those compounds could consider that route, and the softer tires were used by many on Saturday.
But despite the lack of long-term data due to the second practice testing next year’s compounds, Verstappen knows he has reason to be confident of breaking that record for most wins in a season in Mexico.
“We don’t know because we’ve been on these development wheels, so it’s a little difficult to say,” he said. But I think I expect the car we have today to be good.
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Full eligibility periods
PositionNumberDriverTeamQ1 timeQ2 time (from Q1)Q3 time (from Q2)11Max Verstappen Red Bull1’19.2221’18.566 (-0.656s)1’17.775 (-0.791s)263Georg’159Mercedes10.19’1’17.775 (-0.791s)263Georg’159Mercedes18. ) 344Lewis Hamilton Mercedes1’19.1691’18.552 (-0.617s)1’18.084 (-0.468s) 411Sergio Perez Red Bull1’19.7061’18.615 (-1.091s)1’1’18.084 (-0.468) 1.006s)1 (18.3) -0.209s)677Valtteri BottasAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’19.5231’18.762 (-0.761s)1’18.401 (-0.361s)716Charles Le15’rc19.5’Charles Le153’519.5′ s)84Lando NorrisMcLaren-Mercedes1’19.8571’19.119 (- 0.738s)1’18.721 (-0.398s)914Fernando AlonsoAlpine-Renault1’20.0061’19.272 (-)303014s 9.19 -Red Bull1’19.9071’19.589 (-0.318s)Missed 0.317s1410Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri-Red Bull1’20.9071’19.589 (-0.318s) s)Missed by 0.400s1520Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1’20.2931’19.833 (-0.460s)Missed by 0.561s1647Mick SchumacherHaas-Ferrari1’20.419Missed by 0.126s175Sebastian VettelAston Martin-Mercedes1’20.419 በ 0.126s1818ላንስ ስትሮል አስቶን ማርቲን-መርሴዲስ1’20.520የጠፋ 0.227s1923አሌክሳንደር Albon Williams-Mercedes 1’20.859 lost by 0. 566s206NicholasLatifiWilliams-170.706NicholasLatifiWilliams-Mercedes177
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The times of the sector
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Speed trap
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2022 Mexican Grand Prix
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