Three Honda-Powered Cars Start In The Top Five In Mexico #F1
All four Honda-powered cars once again made it through to the final part of qualifying in Mexico City, and three will start in the top five on Sunday. This is the third consecutive race in which all four of our drivers have been among the ten fastest in qualifying.
The first section of qualifying was delayed for over 20 minutes following a crash for Lance Stroll at the final corner, with the driver thankfully OK but barrier repairs required. Once the session resumed, Max comfortably advanced in third place with just one run, ahead of Pierre in fourth, Sergio in fifth and Yuki in seventh.
Q2 saw Max setting the pace on the medium tyre to ensure he would start the race on that compound, with his first lap again enough for him to advance. Sergio similarly made it through with one timed effort on the same compound in seventh, while Pierre’s final lap was a strong one after a tow from Yuki allowed him to secure the fifth fastest time, also on mediums.
As Yuki already had a grid penalty for a planned power unit change, his approach to Q2 was slightly different to the rest as he advanced on the soft compound tyre with the third fastest time.
The final part of qualifying was a little more tricky for Red Bull Racing as Max and Sergio went out quite late for a final run in Q3. Yuki drove completely off the track at Turn 10 to ensure he did not block either of them, but unfortunately Sergio went off also and then Max backed off seeing the cloud of dust thrown up by his team-mate. The Dutchman still managed to secure third on the grid, Despite that incident, Sergio still starts alongside Max from fourth place, while Pierre put together a very strong final attempt to secure fifth position.
Yuki was classified ninth, meaning he will start from 17th ahead of three other drivers taking power unit penalties.