Q1 saw the expected front runners make early and successful bids for progression to the second session. Hamilton took P1 with a time of 1:19.447, just over a tenth clear of Raikkonen. Ricciardo was third ahead of Vettel, Verstappen and Rosberg.
At the rear of the order, just five cars would be eliminated from the session as before Q1 Renault had discovered a crack in the chassis of Jolyon Palmer’s car and he would not take part. Daniil Kvyat also hit trouble. Midway through the session the Toro Rosso driver reported a power loss. The Russian managed to limp his car back to the pits but he would take no further part and he began to slide down the order. He would eventually qualify in P18.
It was Pascal Wehrlein who dug himself out of danger at the death. Haas’ Esteban Gutierrez might have thought he’d done enough with a lap of 1:21.401 but in the final moments of Q1 Wehrlein powered his Manor to a time of 1:21.363 to bump the Mexican into the drop zone and out of qualifying. Behind Gutierrez and Kvyat, 19th place went to Sauber’s Felipe Nasr. The Brazilian was followed by Esteban Ocon in the second Manor and Haas’ Romain Grosjean in P21.
As has become habitual this season, Mercedes made the first move in Q2 with Hamilton and Rosberg emerging on the soft tyre. They were joined in that gambit by Vettel, Raikkonen and Bottas, though the Williams driver would eventually move to supersofts to ensure passage to Q3. Red Bull Racing opted for the supersofts straight away and Max Verstappen soon claimed P1 with a time of 1:18.972. Hamilton, on soft tyres, followed in P2 with a lap of 1:19.137, while Vettel also made it through on softs with a time of 1:19.385 ahead of the supersoft-shod Daniel Ricciardo in the second Red Bull.
Nico Rosberg was the only other driver to make it to Q3 on the soft tyre. The championship leader finished in fifth place ahead of Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg and Raikkonen. Ahead of the final runs of Q2 the target man was McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, who had a P10 time of 1:20.794. As the clock wound down that time was swiftly bettered by Jenson Button and Sergio Perez. Alonso though was pushing hard and he reclaimed P10 with a time of 1:20.282. Carlos Sainz was going even quicker in his Toro Rosso, however, and as the chequered flag came out the Spaniard crossed the line in 1:20.169 to deny his compatriot the final Q3 berth.
Hamilton sealed the 10th pole of the season and the 59th of his career to date with his first run in Q2. His time of 1:18.704 set a tough benchmark, especially for Rosberg who sat in fourth place after the first hot laps, 0.559 adrift of his team-mate. Hamilton didn’t improve on his final lap but Rosberg managed to pull it out of the fire, improving by three tenths to steal P2 from Verstappen who improved marginally on his final flying lap. Ricciardo finished fourth, while Hulkenberg put in a superb Q3 performance to finish just over four hundredths of a second ahead of Raikkonen. Vettel was seventh, five hundredths of a second behind his team-mate, while Bottas was eighth for Williams ahead of team-mate Felipe Massa and Sainz.
2016 Mexican Grand Prix – Qualifying
P. DRIVER TEAM TIME GAP
1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG 1:18.704
2. Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG 1:18.958 + 0.254
3. Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:19.054 + 0.350
4. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:19.133 + 0.429
5. Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:19.330 + 0.626
6. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:19.376 + 0.672
7. Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:19.381 + 0.677
8. Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:19.551 + 0.847
9. Felipe Massa Williams 1:20.032 + 1.328
10. Carlos Sainz JR. Toro Rosso 1:20.378 + 1.674
Q2 Fastest Time: Max Verstappen 1:18.972
11. Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:20.282 + 1.310
12. Sergio Perez Force India 1:20.287 + 1.315
13. Jenson Button McLaren 1:20.673 + 1.701
14. Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:21.131 + 2.159
15. Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:21.536 + 2.564
16. Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:21.785 + 2.815
Q1 Fastest Time: Lewis Hamilton 1:19.447
17. Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:21.401 + 1.954
18. Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:21.454 + 2.007
19. Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:21.692 + 2.245
20. Esteban Ocon Manor 1:21.881 + 2.434
21. Romain Grosjean Haas 1:21.916 + 2.469
22. Jolyon Palmer Renault / /
107% time: 1:25.008
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