Mercedes lock out the front row as Bottas’ blistering pace sees him claim pole position ahead of the 2021 F1 Mexican Grand Prix

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Valtteri Bottas continued his dominant form as he secured another pole position with the Finn joined by his teammate Lewis Hamilton on the front row of tomorrow’s grid.

The two Red Bull’s of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez will start from the second row as the duo look to bring the fight to the Mercedes pair ahead of them.

Q1

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Nicholas Latifi was the first driver out of the pitlane as he was joined by the two Haas’ of Schumacher and Mazepin on the track.

The Canadian went out for one lap before returning back to the garage with Schumacher setting the first lap time of the session. However, his time was deleted as Kimi Raikkonen claimed first with a 1:19.108.

As the session went on, the drivers started to set competitive lap times as Charles Leclerc went quickest ahead of Sebastian Vettel in second and Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz in third.

Moments later, the session was halted as the red flag was waved. Lance Stroll went into the barrier on the exit of the final corner. The Canadian had a back of the grid start anyway but his Aston Martin crew will have a job on their hands in repairing his car ahead of the race.

The AlphaTauri’s of Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly were out of the pitlane first as a stampede of cars followed them back out onto the circuit.

Sainz looked in trouble as his car lost power but his team reacted quickly and gave him instructions that solved the problem.

Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton set their first competitive lap times to claim the top two spot before the Red Bull’s of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez went quicker than the Mercedes duo.

However, Bottas was able to set the quickest lap time of the session as he finished Q1 in first ahead of Leclerc in second and Verstappen in third.

The drivers eliminated from Q1 were Fernando Alonso, Nicholas Latifi, Mick Schumacher, Nikita Mazepin and Lance Stroll.

Q2

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Red Bull and Ferrari set their driver pairings out first as they started their out laps on the medium tyres. Perez set the first lap of the session with a 1:17.055 before Verstappen eclipsed his teammate’s time as he went over five-tenths quicker.

Hamilton and Bottas moved into second and third as they flexed their muscles ahead of an important showdown for pole between Red Bull and Mercedes.

Tsunoda, who was on the soft tyres, set a lap time that was only two-tenths slower than Verstappen’s fastest time as the AlphaTauri driver moved up to third.

With five minutes to go, Verstappen’s lap time saw him top of the timing screens ahead of Hamilton and the soft tyre running Tsunoda.

In the dying embers of the session, Hamilton was able to go quicker as he moved into first and dropped Verstappen down to second.

The drivers eliminated from Q2 were Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen, George Russell, Antionio Giovinazzi and Esteban Ocon.

Q3

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McLaren’s Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo came out of the pits first as the battle for pole position got underway.

The Aussie set a 1:16.960 but his time was quickly eclipsed by Gasly before the two Red Bull’s went quicker. However, the two Mercedes, fronted by Bottas, locked out the front row.

With five minutes to go, Bottas was on provisional pole ahead of Hamilton in second and Verstappen in third.

The drivers reappeared out of the pits with three minutes to go as the decisive Q3 runs began. Perez and Tsunoda both went off the track which subsequently disrupted Verstappen’s final lap.

Therefore it allowed Bottas to claim pole position with Hamilton in second and Verstappen in third. Perez followed in fourth, Gasly in fifth, Sainz in sixth, Ricciardo in seventh, Leclerc in eighth, Tsunoda in ninth and Norris in 10th but the McLaren driver will start from the back of the grid due to component changes.

What’s Next?

It is advantage Mercedes ahead of the Mexico City showdown. Max Verstappen will look to use his Red Bull power and prevent Lewis Hamilton from closing the championship gap with a few rounds to go.

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