Sebastian Vettel took pole at the F1 Mexican Grand Prix beating Red Bull’s Verstappen’s time by 0.086 seconds! Hamilton will start 3rd.
Starting on pole will provide a slim support to Vettel’s dwindling championship winning hopes, but Hamilton will only need to finish fifth to become the 2017 F1 Driver’s Champion. Hamilton though outclassed in qualifying will look to win his driver’s championship with nothing less than a win. Verstappen though wouldn’t make life easy for both Vettel and Hamilton.
Their teammates though are off-colour though, except for Bottas who managed to keep his teammate Hamilton in sight, starting alongside him from fourth. The number 7 Finn will start fifth and 0.75 seconds off the pace of his teammate on pole. Ricciardo though had an even poor outing and will start in seventh, behind the Force India of Esteban Ocon. The two Renaults are bunched together at eighth and ninth, with Hulkenberg leading ahead of Sainz. Home boy Perez will start 10th.
Next comes the two Williams of Massa and Stroll followed by Brendon Hartley who got elevated courtesy of many engine penalties for Alonso and Vandoorne. The two Saubers of Ericsson and Wehrlein are 14th and 15th, and not standing from the back of the grid for a change. Haas boys had a bad outing with Magnussen and Grosjean starting 16th and 17th. Pierre Gasly had a terrible outing with engine issues preventing him from setting a time at all.
| Pos | Driver | Team | Engine | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Sebastian Vettel |
Ferrari | Ferrari | 1’16.488 | |
| 2 |  Max Verstappen |
Red Bull | TAG | 1’16.574 | 0.086 |
| 3 |  Lewis Hamilton |
Mercedes | Mercedes | 1’16.934 | 0.446 |
| 4 |  Valtteri Bottas |
Mercedes | Mercedes | 1’16.958 | 0.470 |
| 5 | Kimi Raikkonen |
Ferrari | Ferrari | 1’17.238 | 0.750 |
| 6 |  Esteban Ocon |
Force India | Mercedes | 1’17.437 | 0.949 |
| 7 |  Daniel Ricciardo |
Red Bull | TAG | 1’17.447 | 0.959 |
| 8 | Nico Hulkenberg |
Renault | Renault | 1’17.466 | 0.978 |
| 9 |  Carlos Sainz Jr. |
Renault | Renault | 1’17.794 | 1.306 |
| 10 |  Sergio Perez |
Force India | Mercedes | 1’17.807 | 1.319 |
| 11 |  Felipe Massa |
Williams | Mercedes | 1’18.099 | 1.611 |
| 12 |  Lance Stroll |
Williams | Mercedes | 1’19.159 | 2.671 |
| 13 |  Brendon Hartley |
Toro Rosso | Renault | ||
| 14 |  Marcus Ericsson |
Sauber | Ferrari | 1’19.176 | 2.688 |
| 15 | Pascal Wehrlein |
Sauber | Ferrari | 1’19.333 | 2.845 |
| 16 |  Kevin Magnussen |
Haas | Ferrari | 1’19.443 | 2.955 |
| 17 | Romain Grosjean |
Haas | Ferrari | 1’19.473 | 2.985 |
| 18 | Fernando Alonso |
McLaren | Honda | ||
| 19 | Pierre Gasly |
Toro Rosso | Renault | ||
| 20 |  Stoffel Vandoorne |
McLaren | Honda |
