© Getty ImagesMax to start P5 in Mexico with Yuki in P10There was no qualifying miracle in Mexico City for Max or Yuki, as Practice struggles on the slippery surface translated into a tricky Qualifying.
On Friday, FP2 presented the Bulls with a mixed bag – quick on the C5 Soft but struggling for grip and pace on the C4 Medium – and Saturday’s final hour of practice appeared to offer little more in the way of clarity.
The duo’s early runs on Medium tyres looked solid, with Max taking an early P1 and then holding on to third for the first half of the session, and with Yuki looking competitive as he ran hundredths of a second off his teammate.
As the session continued, Max slotted into P4 but was later shuffled back, ending up in sixth place at the flag. “No grip, front or rear,” he lamented. Yuki, meanwhile, earned P9 with his opening flyer and stayed in that position until the end of the session.
Yuki earned P9 with his opening flyer© Getty Images
In the opening runs of Q1, Lando Norris set the early benchmark at 1:17.147, with Mercedes’ George Russell in P2, a little over five hundredths off the McLaren driver. Max’s first run of 1:17.306 put him in P4, behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, while Yuki’s opener of 1:17.669 left him in P9. Lando then put in a quick-fire second run to lower the bar to 1:16.889 and he was followed to the flag by Charles, who crossed the line 0.125s off the McLaren driver.
With a little over five minutes left on the clock, Max and Yuki headed out for their second runs. With improvements flowing in, both slipped down the order, and as they started the final flyers, Max lay in ninth, while Yuki slid all the way to 17th. Both put in solid laps, however, and at the flag, Max’s 1:17.076 was 0.373 off top spot and good enough for ninth place, while Yuki’s lap of 1:17.234 saw him through to Q2 in P13.
At the top of the order, VCARB’s Isack Hadjar posted a good final lap of 1:16.733 to take P1 ahead of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and George, while Lando, who cruised around his final lap, was fourth ahead of late Haas improver Esteban Ocon.
Ruled out at the end of Q1, from P16 back, were Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto, Williams’ Alex Albon, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and, in last place, Franco Colapinto in the other Alpine.
Max’s first run of 1:17.306 put him in P4© Getty Images
Lando again set the early pace in Q2, with the British driver posting a lap of 1:16.252 to take top spot ahead of Charles and surprise P3 man, Carlos Sainz. Max improved to 1:16.824 to slot into fourth place ahead of Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg, while Yuki crossed the line in 1:17.019, just two tenths behind his teammate and in P6. Isack then put in an early second run to shuffle both Bulls back a place ahead of their final attempts.
Max’s final lap of 1:16.605 was again strong, and the Dutchman made it through to Q3 in fourth place, a little over three tenths off Lando’s run one time, which kept him in P1 ahead of Lewis and George.
One of the last out on track, Yuki found himself down in P12 as he started his final flyer, but a string of personal best mini-sectors suggested he had the pace to make it into the top 10. But though his lap of 1:16.816 put him 10th, championship leader Oscar Piastri was just about to cross the line, and when the McLaren driver climbed to seventh, Yuki slipped out of the session in P11, just 0.012s behind 10th-placed Isack. Also ruled out behind our Japanese driver were Esteban, Nico, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and VCARB’s Liam Lawson.
Max to start P5 in Mexico© Getty Images
Max was first out on track at the start of the top 10 shootout, and the Dutchman once again found an improvement over previous sessions, posting a lap of 1:16.455.
Lando was finding more time, however, and he went 0.285 clear to take the top spot. But just as it was beginning to look like the McLaren driver would have an untroubled run to the front of the grid, Charles became the first man below 1m16s, and he stole provisional pole by just under eight hundredths of a second. Lewis slotted into third to push Max out to fourth ahead of the final runs.
During his final run, the Dutchman made a big gain, finding more than four tenths of a second to end the session on 1:16.070. However, Lando found more time, and with an improvement of six tenths of a second, the McLaren driver took pole with a lap of 1:15.586, ahead of Charles, Lewis and George, who beat Max by just under four hundredths of a second to hand the champion P5 on the grid.
Following on from the Singapore Grand Prix, Carlos will take a 5-place grid penalty, pushing him out of the top 10, meaning Kimi will start sixth for Mercedes with Oscar moving up to P7. Isack gets promoted to P8, Haas’ Ollie Bearman moves up to P9, and Yuki starts in P10.
