Verstappen will start ahead of the Mercedes cars of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton after the one-hour qualifying session, which is split into three segments with five cars each being knocked out in Q1 and Q2 before the top-10 shootout in Q3.
Mexican Grand Prix qualifying results: Verstappen on pole from Russell
What happened in Mexican Grand Prix Q1?
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc set the early pace at 1m19.505s before Verstappen beat him by 0.283s with 1m19.222s. Valtteri Bottas was next up for Alfa Romeo, 0.004s ahead of Hamilton.
Hamilton ran again and improved the quickest time to 1m19.169s, 0.053s faster than Verstappen.
Falling at the first hurdle were Mick Schumacher (Haas, who lost a top-six laptime due to exceeding track limits by chopping the apex kerb at Turn 2), the Aston Martins of Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll (who has a three-place grid drop), and the Williams duo of Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi.
Mexican Grand Prix Q1 results: Hamilton fastest from Verstappen
What happened in Mexican Grand Prix Q2?
Hamilton set the bar at 1m18.552s, with Russell just 0.013s behind as Mercedes went for it on new softs from the start of the session.
In the final runs, Sainz jumped to P2, 0.008s off Hamilton, with Verstappen behind Russell in fourth – the top quartet covered by just 0.014s.
Knocked out at this point were Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo), the AlphaTauris of Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly, and Kevin Magnussen (Haas, who has a five-place grid penalty).
Mexican Grand Prix Q2 results: Hamilton fastest from Sainz
What happened in Mexican Grand Prix Q3?
On the first runs, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez set the benchmark at 1m18.153s that was smashed by Verstappen on 1m17.947s, with Russell taking second, 0.132s in arrears, ahead of Hamilton – the latter then losing his lap time for exceeding track limits at the apex of Turn 3. Perez was two tenths down in fourth, with both Ferrari drivers having moments on their opening runs.
On the final runs, Verstappen went even faster with 1m17.775s to underline his pole position, three tenths clear of Russell – who went wide on the entrance to the Foro Sol. Hamilton salvaged third with a 1m18-flat, just 0.005s off the front row, while Perez improved but could only manage fourth.
Sainz will start fifth, ahead of Bottas, Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), Lando Norris (McLaren) and the Alpines of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon.
Mexican Grand Prix…
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