Valtteri Bottas claimed his third pole of the 2021 F1 season with the Finnish driver leading Mercedes‘ first one-two in qualifying this season after pipping his teammate Lewis Hamilton by over a tenth of a second at the circuit Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
Max Verstappen will start third despite the Red Bull driver’s superior pace during the weekend’s second and third practice sessions, with his teammate and home hero Sergio Perez qualifying fourth.
AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly will start fifth, ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo. Sainz’s teammate Charles Leclerc will start eighth with Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel and Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen were promoted to ninth and tenth respectively after a host of drivers were hit with grid penalties.
George Russell is the first of the aforementioned penalized drivers with the Williams man starting 16th after a gearbox change. Other casualties include AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, McLaren’s Lando Norris, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll with the four drivers starting at the rear of the grid after changing elements on their power units.
Mexican GP Full Starting Grid
| Pos. | Driver | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull |
| 4 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull |
| 5 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri |
| 6 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari |
| 7 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren |
| 8 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari |
| 9 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin |
| 10 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo |
| 11 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo |
| 12 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine |
| 13 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams |
| 14 | Mick Schumacher | Haas |
| 15 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas |
| 16 | George Russell | Williams |
| 17 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri |
| 18 | Lando Norris | McLaren |
| 19 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine |
| 20 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin |
Grid Penalties
George Russell = Five place penalty for a gearbox change.
Yuki Tsunoda = Required to start from the back of the starting grid – Additional power unit elements have been used.
Lando Norris = Required to start from the back of the starting grid – Additional power unit elements have been used.
Esteban Ocon = Required to start from the back of the starting grid – Additional power unit elements have been used.
Lance Stroll = Required to start from the back of the starting grid – Additional power unit elements have been used.
