In a record-extending weekend, Max Verstappen dominated proceedings during the Mexico City Grand Prix as he claimed a 16th Formula 1 win of the season.

Despite his dominance on Sunday, there were several other drivers who presented performances worthy of competing for top honours in Motorsport Week’s driver ratings.

Max Verstappen – 9

Qualified: P3, Race: P1

Verstappen may have topped every single practice session for the Mexico City Grand Prix but was unable to sweep the weekend after qualifying third.

Ultimately, that didn’t matter as it gave him a powerful tow on the approach to Turn 1, where he escaped the tangle that ended his team-mate’s race. From there, he was able to run away from the pack and build a comfortable lead.

The well-oiled machine that is the Verstappen-Red Bull partnership was truly in a class of its own and the near 14-second winning margin could have been far greater without the minor inconvenience of the red flag.

Sergio Perez – 2.5

Qualified: P5, Race: DNF

While there were scenes of jubilation on one side of the Red Bull garage, home hero Sergio Perez faltered on his biggest weekend of the year.

Mexico provided the perfect stage for a drive to reassert his claim to that second Red Bull seat. And while he was a respectable 0.160s off Verstappen in qualifying, the irony of them being split by Daniel Ricciardo wouldn’t reduce the growing pressure on his position.

Perez got a blistering getaway off the line and would challenge for the lead alongside Verstappen and Charles Leclerc. What followed was an epitomic case of ‘You can’t win a 71-lap race at the first corner’. Turning in on Leclerc, who was unable to make his car disappear, Perez’s desperation superseded talent and racecraft.

He later attempted to justify the move as the option his compatriots in the grandstand would have chosen over caution, but the true cost is greater than failing to finish his home race. Instead, he heads to Brazil with yet another massive blow to his confidence.

Lewis Hamilton – 9

Qualified: P6, Race: P2

Lewis Hamilton managed to recover from a sub-par P6 grid spot to drive to a second-place finish, providing some solace after forfeiting that same result in the United States through a breach of the technical regulations.

Hamilton was the far stronger Mercedes driver over the course of the weekend and he displayed great pace and determination after the red flag.

That determination was embodied in his dispatch of Leclerc for P2, also snatching the bonus point for the fastest lap on the final lap of the race.

George Russell – 5.5

Qualified: P8, Race: P6

George Russell was unable to match the seven-time champion in Mexico despite feeling strong behind the wheel. Compromised too by a lowly grid spot given the evident pace of the W14, Russell was unable to get to grips with the tyres during the race.

He made some forward progress after the restart, but that was halted when he was asked to address his overheating brakes and lost temperature in his tyres.

He then fell into the clutches of Norris and almost slipped further to seventh, crossing the line half a second ahead of a charging Ricciardo.

Charles Leclerc – 9

Qualified: P1, Race: P3

Leclerc claimed a 22nd career pole on Saturday, but while his poor streak of converting superior one-lap pace into a race win continues, was there really any answer for Verstappen?

The long run to Turn 1 saw him swamped and caught between the Red Bulls, but the Monegasque was a faultless victim in the opening lap carnage.

Despite picking up damage in the tangle, Leclerc was still able to keep Verstappen in his sights, only denied finishing second by the red flag resetting proceedings.

Carlos Sainz– 7

Qualified: P2, Race: P4

Sainz was able to join Leclerc on the front row but the Spaniard was still no match for his team-mate despite piloting an unwounded Ferrari.

Sainz too struggled with tyre degradation but was able to hold off Russell well in the latter stages of the event.

Even with the struggles, P4 secures a solid points haul Ferrari managed to outscore a resurgent McLaren outfit for the first time since Singapore.

Lando Norris – 8.5

Qualified: P19, Race: P5

Qualifying was a disaster for Norris as the Briton aborted his two early runs in Q1. That left him with no representative time and a spin by Fernando Alonso saw him eliminated.

Someone of Norris’ calibre should have been better prepared for the situation, particularly after being left with no real banker lap time and he was caught out.

Norris joked that his mistakes forecasted a more entertaining race. His recovery to fifth was emphatic. He carved through the field on an offset strategy, which will leave him ruing a compromised Saturday which cost him yet another podium finish.

Oscar Piastri – 6

Qualified: P7, Race: P8

The sole McLaren in Q3, the rookie showed some decent pace on Sunday and found himself in plenty of battles throughout the day.

One of those involved a coming together with Yuki Tsunoda, although the AlphaTauri driver was probably more to blame for the incident.

Again, Piastri’s struggles with tyre management limited his progress and saw him fall backwards in the latter stages of his stints.

Daniel Ricciardo – 9.5

Qualified: P4, Race: P7

As Perez floundered, Ricciardo delivered a stellar weekend almost effortlessly and, in doing so, cranked up the pressure on the Red Bull driver greatly.

He split the Red Bulls in qualifying with inferior machinery with a lap time that was within 0.25s of pole.

While the Perez comparison was erased at Turn 1, Ricciardo backed up his Saturday statement with some sturdy defence against the two Mercedes’ and McLarens.

While he eventually lost positions to Hamilton and Norris, Mexico showed flashes of the Ricciardo of old as he fought back to recoup those places, almost nabbing P6 from Russell.

Yuki Tsunoda – 4

Qualified: P15, Race: P12

Tsunoda qualified 15th after assisting Ricciardo to Q3 with a tow in Q1 and Q2, having sat out FP1 for Isack Hadjar. A grid penalty for new engine components already sentenced him to a back-of-the-grid start.

As Ricciardo proved, points were more than capable for AlphaTauri on Sunday and the same was true for Tsunoda.

That was at least the case until he twice made contact with Piastri at the opening complex. The second incident with Piastri saw him clumsily pitch himself into a spin at Turn 1 which jeopardised any chance of points after looking set for P8 behind Ricciardo.

Alex Albon – 8

Qualified: P14, Race: P9

Albon had twice placed second in practice for the Mexico City Grand Prix this weekend but was unable to carry the same pace into qualifying on the hotter track.

Still, he should have appeared in Q3 after having his final Q2 run deleted for a questionable track limits decision. However, he would further consolidate seventh in the standings for Williams as he picked up two important points with ninth place in the FW45.

Albon blamed the red flag for ruining his race slightly, but P9 still represented the expected maximum for the Anglo-Thai driver.

Logan Sargeant – 4

Qualified: P20, Race: DNF

The American faced a mountain to climb on Sunday if he wanted to emulate his team-mate’s success after consolidating his back-row start with a 10-place grid penalty for yellow flag infringements in qualifying.

Sargeant showed a solid pace early in a more encouraging Sunday when compared to his Friday and Saturday running.

A fuel pump issue led to retirement on the last lap as Williams sought to prevent any unnecessary damage to the engine.

Esteban Ocon – 6

Qualified: P16, Race: P10

Ocon looked comfortable in the Alpine, although there was an apparent lack of pace for the Anglo-French marque which resulted in a Q1 elimination. He was then promoted to 15th after the application of Tsunoda’s grid penalty.

It looked to be a pretty anonymous weekend for Ocon at first when he lost three places on the opening lap following the decision to start on the Hard tyre.

The timing of the red flag afforded a free pit stop and brought Ocon right back into contention as he passed team-mate Pierre Gasly and Nico Hulkenberg on his way to the final point.

Pierre Gasly – 6

Qualified: P11, Race: P11

It just seemed to be one of those weekends for Gasly, who was unfortunate to lose out on points given he had been the faster Alpine over the course of the weekend.

He ran in the top 10 early on, but in contrast to Ocon, he was hampered by the timing of the red flag which saw a chance at a small points haul slip away through no fault of his own.

Nico Hulkenberg – 6.5

Qualified: P12, Race: P13

Hulkenberg was surprised to have dragged the Haas to P12 on the grid, but the natural order seemed to be restored as soon as the Haas started to devour its tyres.

With plenty of retirements through the field, an unlikely point was lost after attempting to stretch the Medium compound to the end from the red flag.

Kevin Magnussen – 5

Qualified: P17, Race: DNF

Magnussen lagged behind Hulkenberg in qualifying again, but he had sat out FP1 for Ferrari junior Oliver Bearman and lost on FP3 running due to a wheel issue.

A rear suspension failure caused by overheating brakes triggered a red flag at the halfway stage after he found the walls in a high-speed off in the second sector.

His VF-23 was destroyed, but Magnussen clambered out unhurt and under his own power. Moments before, he had fallen to 17th behind Sargeant.

Guanyu Zhou – 4.5

Qualified: P10, Race: P14

Alfa Romeo sprung a surprise in qualifying with both cars advancing to the Q3 shootout, Zhou helped by the deletion of Albon’s final Q2 lap time due to track limits.

The pace disappeared thereafter creating a frustrating day for Zhou who said his race was destroyed by the red flag. Zhou suffered as a result of a tyre advantage and killed all hopes of progress. That was until a promotion from 15th to 14th by virtue of a time penalty for team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

Valtteri Bottas – 4

Qualified: P9, Race: P15

Bottas was dropped from 14th to 15th as a result of a coming together with Lance Stroll in the stadium section.

The Finn had stopped just before the red flag which dropped him well down the order and he was not able to recover from there despite an impressive qualifying.

Lance Stroll – 6.5

Qualified: P18 (Pitlane start), Race: DNF

Stroll was unable to find grip during qualifying but his race performance showed quite the improvement on recent form, despite the end result.

The Canadian started the race from the pits after reverting back to the pre-Austin package.

He was quick to catch and pass his veteran team-mate, Fernando Alonso, and held P14 until the late nerf from Bottas led to Aston Martin calling time on his day.

Fernando Alonso – 5

Qualified: P13, Race: DNF

It was another disappointing weekend for the two-time champion, who was unable to extract anything of note from his Aston Martin in the race.

P13 in qualifying, he quickly began to slip backwards after picking up damage from debris left behind by Perez’s Lap 1 incident.

The pace difference to Stroll was enough to mean Alonso would let the Canadian by early on. The car was retired shortly after being passed by Sargeant post-red flag.

Haas have confirmed that the suspension failure which dumped Kevin Magnussen out of the Mexico Grand Prix was triggered by a “heat issue” with the Dane’s brakes.

Magnussen’s VF-23 suddenly snapped and pitched the Dane straight into the TecPro barriers at Turn 9 on Lap 32, triggering a red flag for the clean-up operation and barrier repairs.

Magnussen was able to remove himself from the car unaided just moments before a fire erupted at the rear of the heavily damaged Haas.

Replays showed that Magnussen had suffered a rear left suspension failure as he traversed the high-speed esses after running in 17th.

Prior to the incident, Magnussen had been under pressure from Logan Sargeant and had shifted his brake balance rearwards in an effort to fend off the American.

Sargeant found his way past Magnussen a few corners before his eventual accident, which was caused by heat from the brakes leading to a suspected track rod failure.

Haas Team Principal Guenther Steiner told Autosport: “It was a heat issue which caused a suspension failure. It was heat from the brakes.

“Kevin was defending, and it tipped over. It was just because of the high temperatures here. We just need to manage it better. Nico’s car was OK.”

On his return to the paddock, an unharmed Magnussen said: “Yeah, suspension gave up. I haven’t seen the team yet so perhaps they have some more information, but the rear left specifically, lost a lot of grip a couple of laps before and then it gave up.

“I think it was going alright. At the beginning of the race it was better and suddenly I fell off more than the others and then the suspension gave up. So I don’t know if it’s related, maybe there’s something there but I need to talk to the guys.

“It happened in a bad place and I hit the wall, so I got a knock on my hands and they hurt a little bit, but they’re fine.

One lap before the crash, Magnussen was seen running over the astroturf and kerbs at the exit of the final corner having spent much of his afternoon in traffic.

“Before that, it was going okay, I was stuck in traffic for a long time and cooked my tires, but I don’t know if whatever caused the failure had an impact for a while beforehand,” he added.

Haas team-mate Nico Hulkenberg looked to contend for points but had to settle for 13th at the chequered flag after struggling to hold onto his tyres.

“Nico was in a good position to get points, but then with the red flag, which we caused ourselves, we couldn’t keep the tyres in the last stint,” Steiner conceded.

“Our car can’t keep life in the tyres as other cars. We could fight for almost the whole distance, but almost isn’t good enough. Otherwise, it seems like the whole team performed well and Nico drove fantastically to try and get something.”

The failure to score points means that Haas now dropped to the bottom of the Constructors’ standings as a P7 finish for Daniel Ricciardo saw AlphaTauri draw level with Alfa Romeo.

Sergio Perez’s Mexico City Grand Prix came to an abrupt end after contact on the opening lap with Charles Leclerc at the first corner when he “risked it all for the win”.

From fifth on the grid, Perez found himself jostling for the lead of the race with team-mate Max Verstappen and polesitter Charles Leclerc on the approach to Turn 1.

Perez sought a way around the outside of the Ferrari but the move backfired as he attempted to maintain control of the race at the earliest available opportunity.

Leclerc found himself pinched in between both Red Bulls as the trio reached the braking zone three-abreast, resulting in inevitable contact that launched Perez into the air.

Perez was able to limp back to the pits, but the severity of the damage sustained to the sidepods, floor and rear suspension was such that time was called on his race.

Asked whether he could have afforded Leclerc more space in the race-ending move, the 33-year-old argued: “Definitely yes. But I was not expecting Charles to brake that late.

“I was already ahead of him and he was in the middle, so there’s a lot less room to manoeuvre.

“Once you’re committed to the braking zone at those speeds, it’s just too late. With these wide cars, three cars into Turn 1, it’s not going to end up well.

“But if you decide to take a risk, I decided to take it, and I paid the price.”

Asked whether he would make the same move again, the Red Bull driver simply stated: “Yes, I would.”

Perez had high hopes entering his home race and had aimed to deliver a memorable performance for the tens of thousands of compatriots in attendance.

Instead, he was left reeling one of the ‘saddest’ days in his entire motorsport career.

“I’ve had some really sad moments in my career, but certainly this is as a race, the saddest one, because of the end result,” he conceded. “But at the end of the day, this is just racing. I go home very sad, but I also go very proud of my time or myself.

“We gave it all. I knew that today, a podium was not enough for me, and I really wanted to go for the win. I saw the gap and I went for it.

“It’s a weekend where I risked it all to go for the win. The pace was there. But it just didn’t happen. This is just how racing is.

“I’ve been here long enough to understand that. You have days like this. What makes me feel proud is that I gave it all. And that’s it.”

During a red flag triggered by a sizeable accident for Haas driver Kevin Magnussen at half distance, it was noted that many fans in attendance appeared to leave the circuit early.

With expectations high for Perez’s return, the Mexican denied that he felt he had let those in the grandstands down: “I felt to be honest I would have let them down more if I didn’t go for it.

“If I’m honest. I saw the gap and I went for it. I decided to take a risk, I knew it was going to be very risky, and I ended up paying the price. Yeah. Risk, reward, it was pretty high risk to take, but it was worth taking it.”

Max Verstappen has led calls for FIA intervention to prevent incidents of impeding in the pitlane following qualifying for Formula 1’s Mexico City Grand Prix.

Verstappen, Fernando Alonso and George Russell all faced stewards’ investigations for potentially impeding competitors in the pitlane during Q1 on Saturday.

All three drivers were later cleared without punishment, allowing Verstappen to take up his third-place starting berth for today’s race.

However, the Dutchman has been left bemused by the logic behind the introduction of a minimum lap-time which he feels has contributed to the issue.

Verstappen faced an investigation for an almost identical incident in Singapore for which he received a reprimand for his actions. The stewards later backed the decision in Japan as the practice is not explicitly banned but called upon the FIA to consider introducing such a regulation.

After a trial in Monza, as of the Japanese Grand Prix, the FIA now enforces a maximum lap-time delta for all laps completed during qualifying which further complicates the issue.

“I think it’s all imperfect at the moment. So, we need to come up with something else, but it’s hard,” Verstappen said of the latest incident in Mexico.

“The thing I don’t understand is like everyone is trying to make a gap now in the pit lane, which is the only place where we can do so. I don’t really understand how you can be impeding someone.

“That’s basically what everyone has been doing, so I’m surprised. I don’t think I did anything weird or wrong. I think we have to be a little bit more lenient with that, knowing that it’s a safe environment.

“I mean, we’re driving really slow, it’s the only place where we can make a gap because we drive out of the box and, of course, we are in the beginning of the pitlane, we didn’t know what other people are doing.”

“It’s just that we need that gap, the six to eight seconds. That’s why now it’s moved to the pit lane instead of the track, which in most cases, of course, is a safer scenario but clearly it still brings some kind of problems as well.”

On grounds of safety, the FIA agreed with Verstappen’s complaints and admitted that the maximum lap-time delta was partly to blame for the pit-lane fiasco on Saturday.

Maximum lap-times are measured between the two safety car lines, the first of which is at the end of the pit exit.

McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella also weighed in on the discussion calling for “immediate action” to be taken.

“I think immediate action needs to be taken. It’s not a good spectacle. It makes the operations very difficult,” Stella asserted.

“You send your car and you actually don’t know when your car is going to get on track.  It puts all drivers too much at the mercy of the other drivers. And this for me starts to be unfair.

“We need to create policy aspects and ruling aspects to control the situation, which I think is just inappropriate.”

Alfa Romeo Team Representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi has set both of his drivers the “sole target” of converting top-10 starts into points at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

For only the second time this season, both Alfa Romeo drivers managed to advance into the final stage of qualifying.

Despite missing out on an hour of running as he vacated his seat in FP1 for Theo Pourchaire, Bottas was quick out of the blocks in FP2, setting the fourth fastest time.

The Finn has not left the top 10 since and earned himself a ninth-place starting grid spot for Sunday’s race.

“Coming into this weekend I was always expecting more than from Austin, and it seemed like it since first practice,” Bottas reviewed.

Last weekend, Alfa Romeo suffered by having to raise the car at the bumpy Circuit of the Americas, which proved “more penalising” for the Hinwil-based outfit than its competitors.

A return to a smoother asphalt surface at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, however, has allowed the team to maximise its package.

Meanwhile, the lower air density at an altitude has also served to negate the inherent drag problem Alfa Romeo’s C43 charger has carried throughout this season.

“We have been in the top ten in terms of pace all weekend, and that’s why it’s really good to get both cars in Q3,” Bottas continued.

“The only annoying thing today is that on my last lap, I had a lockup in the last sector so a bit of time lost, but still we take this result because it allows us to fight for decent points on Sunday.”

Alfa Romeo currently occupy eighth in the standings, 10 points behind Williams, with just six points the difference to bottom-placed AlphaTauri.

Bottas has insisted the Italian marque must take advantage of its promising qualifying, unlike in Hungary earlier this year.

“Really important [to capitalise] now. We have both Williams behind us, so to get some points against them tomorrow would be really good.”

“Of course Daniel [Ricciardo], he is in a really good place so it’s going to be an interesting day tomorrow. It’s quite a grid so I’m looking forward to it.”

After the chequered flag fell in Q2, it was announced that Alex Albon had breached track limits, promoting Guanyu Zhou into the top-10 shootout.

Although he was unable to make any further gains with his best attempt, the Chinese driver asserted that his focus has been directed more towards race pace this weekend.

“I think we made a very good step in improvements, just the whole weekend,” Zhou said.

“Compared to Valtteri, we know how strong he is on this track with his driving style but to close the gap from sixth tenths, four tenths to less than a few hundredths – we made a good step so I’m happy with that.

“Yesterday we tried some different things [to Bottas]. Today we went a bit closer in direction which worked. To have the one lap pace [as well], I was just happy.

“Yeah, it’s going to be a long one, there’s going to be a lot of focus on that [Constructors’ battle with AlphaTauri, Williams]. Let’s see how everything goes, but we have two cars [in the top 10] so maybe we can work together and catch the AlphaTauris.”

With the difference in prize money awarded between each position in the Constructors’ order worth millions of dollars, Alunni Bravi stressed the importance of converting a strong Saturday into a double points haul on Sunday.

“The result we have achieved today definitely represents a solid starting point for tomorrow’s race. We are delighted for both cars to have made it into Q3, and we must pay tribute to our drivers, to everyone trackside, as well as the team back home in Hinwil,” he said.

“We were able to properly maximise our package today, and I reckon we have a real chance to add points to our tally tomorrow.

“It wasn’t easy out there, but both Valtteri and Zhou did a solid job, having been able to extract the maximum from their cars and from their own performance. 

“The job is only halfway done, and our sole target must be converting these favourable starting positions into two points finishes. Today has been a good day for the team, but tomorrow is when we must be at our best and achieve good things.”

Sergio Perez believes that a strategy call during qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix “really hurt” the Red Bull driver’s hopes of pole position on home soil.

Perez was 0.257s off the benchmark set by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc as the Scuderia claimed a surprising front-row lock out at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

Meanwhile, Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen qualified third, 0.097s slower than Leclerc.

The Mexican will start his home race from fifth on the grid, but behind the AlphaTauri of Daniel Ricciardo, who will line up fourth.

While Perez said he was not necessarily shocked to see Ricciardo put on such a strong performance, he believes the outcome of Saturday’s qualifying session would have been vastly different if he had managed to avoid using an extra set of tyres in Q2.

Asked whether he was expecting AlphaTauri to split the two Red Bulls, Perez said: “Yes, and the Ferrari as well, but it is what it is.

“Our progression in Q3 wasn’t great, we ended up losing one set that potentially we didn’t need to, but, obviously, you only know that after qualifying.

“I think that really hurt us in the progression we had in Q3, when you are talking about one tenth and a half or two tenths, that would have changed our life completely, so this is the way it is.”

“Daniel did a tremendous lap,” the 33-year-old said when pressed on whether the Australian’s achievement added further pressure on his future with reigning champions Red Bull.

“I don’t think it’s just Daniel who wants my seat. Let’s say there is a lot of other drivers that want to be in that seat, and it’s great. If it’s what they deserve then [I’m] happy for them.  

Since the Singapore Grand Prix, Perez has recorded a string of poor race results, starkly contrasting with Verstappen’s indomitable form in 2023.

However, Perez regards a fourth-place finish in Austin last weekend as positive progress and is expecting to build on that result this weekend despite his qualifying troubles.

“Yes, we already made the progress in Austin, we are also making progress here, so I think we are on a good level with the car,” he noted.

“But today was very difficult. Every single set of tyres I had today performed differently, so it’s a track that is difficult to get the most out of it. 

“I don’t want to go too much into detail but certainly I’ll say that we got lost on a few weekends with the set-up and we took a reset and I think for us, it’s looking better.

“[We are] starting set-ups a lot closer and just diverging through the weekend on things that we want to achieve differently.”

Looking to improve on his previous best result of third at the Mexico City venue (2021, 2022), the Red Bull driver is expecting this afternoon’s race to prove a challenge.

“It’s going to be very tricky tomorrow but there is a long race ahead,” he added. “I will try to pull something special for tomorrow and see what happens.

“I will try [to win]. It’s a track that’s difficult to overtake but we will try to make progress early on.”

Charles Leclerc will head a Ferrari front-row for the 2023 Mexico City Grand Prix after claiming a 22nd pole-position in his Formula 1 career.

Max Verstappen qualified third, alongside the AlphaTauri of Daniel Ricciardo followed by Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton however Verstappen, Hamilton and George Russell are all amongst a series of drivers currently under investigation by the Stewards.

Read More: F1 2023 Mexico City Grand Prix – Qualifying Results

Track evolution has been a hot topic so far this weekend and with track temperatures reaching 46 degrees Celsius, any mistake or disruption due to traffic would prove costly.

In Q1, Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari all gambled by sending their cars out on circuit on the Medium compound early on.

Red Bull meanwhile played it safe with the Softs, enabling Verstappen to pick up the day where he left off. A 1:18.099s lap-time returned the reigning champion to the top of the pecking order.

Verstappen was followed by the AlphaTauri of Daniel Ricciardo who dragged his AT04 within three-tenths of the Dutchman’s pace.

Ricciardo’s pace seemed indicative of the track evolution present, prompting all cars, with the exception of the Australian to run again despite any strategic gambles.

In the final minutes of the first stage of the session, two separate queues formed behind Verstappen and George Russell. Both will be investigated after the session for impeding.

The result was a train forming in the stadium section featuring the majority of the field as the seconds ticked down.

There was trouble for Fernando Alonso who span in Turn 3 bringing out a yellow flag ahead of those in the train.

Alonso advanced in P10, but it was disaster for Lando Norris who was caught in the traffic and ultimately abandoned his lap. Norris, who looked a serious contender for pole, was eliminated 19th as Logan Sargeant failed to set a valid lap-time.

Also eliminated from the session were Esteban Ocon, Kevin Magnussen, Lance Stroll and Logan Sargeant. Lewis Hamilton will be investigated after the session for a potential failure to slow for the yellow flags triggered by Alonso’s spin.

With 15 minutes back on the clock for Q2, Red Bull wasted no time in sending its drivers back out on track, perhaps taking note from the chaos that ensued at the end of Q1.

Verstappen clocked a 1:17.625 right off the bat before returning to the pit-lane. Oscar Piastri slotted into second, a quarter of a second behind and closely followed by Ricciardo.

There was another mess at the end of the pitlane nearing the end of Q2 as again, drivers queued front wing to gearbox and side by side as some trundled back onto the racetrack, and others formed another traffic jam at the pit exit.

Verstappen, confident in his benchmark, was the only driver to not return to the track as Yuki Tsunoda, who will start tomorrow’s race from the rear as a result of a power unit change, towed Ricciardo for a final tour.

For the first time this weekend, Verstappen failed to finish a session on top as Hamilton found an extra half-a-tenth.

After being mightily impressive all weekend, Alex Albon initially scraped his way into Q3 but his lap-time was deleted for track limits after the chequered flag.

Accounting for Albon’s misfortune, Pierre Gasly, Nico Hulkenberg and Alonso were eliminated. Albon drops to 14th and Tsunoda was the last driver in the drop zone but will start the race from the rear.

With Verstappen, Russell and Hamilton all under investigation for various incidents, the door was wide open in the squabble for pole.

Verstappen’s first effort was slightly compromised when he took too much kerb at Turn 8, with the time loss enough to afford a provisional front-row lockout to Ferrari, headed by Leclerc on a 1:17.166s. Verstappen held third, 0.120s slower than his rivals again closely shadowed by Ricciardo.

On their final attempts, neither Ferrari was able to find time in the first two sectors, leaving it all to play for. Ricciardo also failed to improve, as all eyes turned to Red Bull.

Verstappen, however, had fund gains in the first two sectors but the three-time champion lost the advantage in the final corner dashing his hopes of pole.

Perez and Hamilton were both able to improve, but not enough to challenge for pole setting meaning Ferrari held onto the front-row as Leclerc claimed a 22nd career pole.

Verstappen and Ricciardo will share row two, followed by Perez who will start his home race from fifth.

Hamilton occupies sixth followed by Piastri, Russell and the Alfa Romeo duo headed by 2021 polesitter Valtteri Bottas.

The caveat remains that Verstappen, Russell and Hamilton – and others – are all currently under investigation for incidents picked up during the session.

The Mexico City Grand Prix gets underway at 14:00 local time on Sunday.

Max Verstappen will go into qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix the favourite for pole position after going fastest in final practice in the capital.

The Dutchman was again narrowly shadowed by Alex Albon who went second fastest, just 0.070s shy of Verstappen’s 1:17.887s best. Home hero Sergio Perez as third fastest, 0.139s off the pace of his Red Bull team-mate.

Read More: F1 2023 Mexico City GP – FP3 Results

It was a quiet start to the session as few cars took to the circuit in the opening ten minutes. Those that did take to the track in the early stages were confronted with a green circuit lacking in grip partly due to the effects of the altitude in Mexico City, and partly due to higher track temperatures than Friday.

Pierre Gasly suffered a spin after losing the rear at Turn 12 on a fresh set of Mediums. The Alpine driver was able to keep the car out of the barriers but he was not the only driver to struggle with the conditions.

All drivers would complain about sliding their way around the Autodromo Hermanos Rordriguez. In the high speed segments, the increasing track temperature would only exacerbate the issue and will continue to do so approaching qualifying later this evening.

Red Bull waited some 20 minutes before sending Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez out on track, allowing for competitors to lay down some rubber before taking to the track.

Max Verstappen controlled proceedings on Friday and showed no signs of letting up in FP3 as he initially returned to the top of the pile with a 1:18.429s to jump Russell, followed by Perez at the halfway mark.

At that stage, Kevin Magnussen was the only driver yet to set a time in the Haas after reporting a handling issue with his car.

Upon further inspection, Haas confirmed damage to his left rear wheel which could no longer be used. That left the Dane with just one set of tyres for the remainder of the session and he lost a large amount of track time as a result.

With 20 minutes to go, Williams were the first team to bolt on a second set of Soft compound tyres to begin the final round of qualifying simulations.

Alex Albon set purple sectors all round to usurp Verstappen by almost half-a-second, admitting he could have gone faster after being distracted by a lock-up for Esteban Ocon into Turn 1.

Verstappen almost inevitably regained the top spot, but he was only able to find 0.070s on the Williams. Despite complaints of traffic from the three-time champion, Perez was unable to join his team-mate and the Williams in the 1:17s, but slotted into third 0.139s adrift of the benchmark.

There were a couple of close calls for Ferrari in the dying minutes of the session. Firstly, Charles Leclerc found the unaware Kevin Magnussen in the esses, causing him to about his final qualifying attempt.

Carlos Sainz too found traffic on his final effort in the form of the dawdling Lance Stroll, also in the second sector’s esses. Sainz pitched into a spin and narrowly avoided collecting the Aston Martin before expressing his frustration with the Canadian. The incident will be investigated the session.

As a result of the close calls, Leclerc and Sainz place 13th and 15th respectively.

As the chequered flag fell, Max Verstappen’s 1:17.887s remained unbeaten, meaning the Dutchman heads into qualifying having topped all three practice sessions.

Alex Albon maintained second for Williams, and again looks set for a strong qualifying performance later today. Team-mate Sargeant managed 11th.

Sergio Perez placed third, followed by George Russell. Oscar Piastri was the leading McLaren in fifth ahead of Valtteri Bottas, Yuki Tsunoda and Lando Norris. Daniel Ricciardo and Lewis Hamilton completed the top ten in what is shaping up to be a difficult weekend for the seven-time champion.

Qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix gets under way at 15:00 local time.

The Haas Formula 1 team’s Trackside Engineering Director Ayao Komatsu was unable to fault Oliver Bearman after his FP1 debut in Mexico City with the team.

The 18-year-old Ferrari Driver Academy member has made a name as a breakthrough talent in his rookie Formula 2 campaign this season, notching up four victories.

Bearman was still racing karts in 2020, before making the step to the ADAC and Italian Formula 4 championships the same year. He won both titles the following year.

In 2022, third in his rookie Formula 3 campaign with Prema earned a graduation to F2 for 2023 where he currently holds sixth in the standings with one round remaining.

Now just under four years from his transition from karting to cars, Bearman’s maiden appearance during an F1 session marks another major milestone in his career.

F1 regulations require each team to field a rookie, a driver who has started no more than two grands prix, in two FP1 sessions across the season – once per car.

Stepping in for Kevin Magnussen, Bearman placed 15th in the session, only two-tenths adrift of the experienced Nico Hulkenberg in the sister VF-23 car.

When asked to sum up his first impressions of the rookie, Komatsu was full of praise for the youngster.

 I don’t think you can fault him: he’s done really well. But all the way from the initial preparation, he’s been very professional, very, very easy to deal with in every single process, I have nothing to complain [about],” Komatsu commended.

Bearman completed 30 laps of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, the most of any of the five rookies that made guest appearances during the session.

“And then today,” Komatsu continued. “With the calmness, procedures he understood, he understood the objectives of every single run.

“He didn’t put a foot wrong, really. I mean, he didn’t maximise the Soft tyre. That lap-time difference you talked about, Nico’s lap wasn’t great either so you can’t read too much into it, but in terms of his feedback, it was really good, engagement with his engineers, really, really good job. Really impressed.”

On his debut, a best lap time of 1:21.313s saw him end his outing a respectable 1.5s off the benchmark set by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

“Once he was in the car and out on the track, he understood all the objectives, what we needed to achieve on each run, each lap and how to  use the tyres,” added the engineer, who joined Haas ahead of its inaugural season in 2016.

“The surprise is how well he managed everything, really. Honestly, I can’t pick a moment from all the way through that preparation where something was frustrating or difficult, including his management.

“It’s been a really smooth process. It’s been a pleasure to work with him and his management team.

“I don’t think you can expect much better. And then yeah, certainly, better than my expectations were. Not that my expectation was low. But that was so professional and he didn’t put a foot wrong.

“The communication and the feedback were really good as well. So really, I’ve got nothing to complain about. It was really impressive FP1.”

Komatsu was asked to compare Bearman’s performance with that of current Ferrari ace Charles Leclerc, who participated in four FP1 sessions with the American outfit in 2016.

“I think it’s a bit difficult to make a direct comparison, really,” Komatsu posited. “But honestly, if I just think about today, he’s done so well. Really, really, well.

“I really can’t fault him today. So, we got another session planned with him in Abu Dhabi. So really looking forward to that. And then yeah, hopefully more sessions next year as well. So it’s very promising.”

Speaking after the session, Bearman was pleased with his efforts but he is acutely aware that there is still plenty of room for improvement.

“I mean my first goal was to just have a clean session and we did that which is the main thing so I’m really happy to have just delivered a clean session to start with,” the Briton said.

“I got up to speed quite fast I felt, I had a really good confidence in the car. More or less I’m happy. There’s always a few things, it was my first time doing everything. My first time on the Soft tyre, my first long runs… I would do better the second time, but for a first time, I was very happy.

“I spoke with them and they just said good job. We knew what the main goal was, pretty much just bring the car home. [But to do that and end] in a pretty decent position comparing to the guys around us is an added bonus.

“I think the main thing was that we built up very cleanly and had a clean session and not many big mistakes.”

The Ferrari prospect will again perform FP1 duties with Haas in Abu Dhabi – the same weekend as the Formula 2 finale.

Asked what his plans are until then, he responded: “Set a timer! It’s a long way away. It’s a bit unfortunate, it [FP1] was over so fast. Now I’m just going to be back on the sim, back preparing for Abu Dhabi.

“Obviously my main focus is F2 and this is just an added bonus on top to do the FP1s so the same preparation as I did for this race.”

There is little optimism for Ferrari’s Mexico City Grand Prix weekend as Charles Leclerc warns it will be a ‘huge surprise’ to see a scarlet car challenge for pole on Saturday.

Leclerc enters the Mexico race weekend off the back of a pole position in Austin, but the Monegasque is doubtful over the possibility of repeating last weekend’s qualifying result.

Despite his concerns, Leclerc enjoyed a rather straight-forward day of running on Friday which saw him fifth fastest in FP1.

The Ferrari ace later improved to third in FP2, only 0.266s slower than pacesetter Max Verstappen in the Red Bull.

Lando Norris split Leclerc and Verstappen after the conclusion of FP2, with Leclerc fearing that the SF-23 won’t be able to prove a match for some of its nearest competitors.

“We still have a lot of work to do because the McLaren seems to be extremely strong, obviously the Red Bull and Max seem to be very very strong,” the 21-time polesitter said.

“Mercedes are a bit more difficult to read into for now but focusing on ourselves, we know what are the areas we need to work on and hopefully that will help us take a step forward tomorrow.

“It will be a huge surprise if we do pole position tomorrow, but never say never. It’s a tricky track, it’s very difficult to put a lap together but I feel this weekend we are a bit too far away.”

Things were less straight-forward on the opposite side of the Ferrari garage as Carlos Sainz suffered a hydraulics issue early in FP1, which cost him some valuable running.

“It’s been a tricky day for us to be honest,” conceded the Spaniard, who is still recovering from an illness which saw him skip Thursday’s media duties.

“I think we expected to be a bit more competitive but for one reason or another, we didn’t seem to nail the balance.

Amid the set-back, the 29-year-old echoed his team-mate’s concerns, admitting that it could be an uphill battle for the Italian marque to challenge at the top on Sunday.

“Over one lap especially we seem to struggle quite a lot with rear grip and that’s our main point of focus for tomorrow [Saturday],” he added.

“That soft tyre is quite soft and overheats pretty quickly and gets you in trouble. Now we are going to focus and see if we can improve our one lap pace. The field seems to be really tight so I think it’s going to be tough fights in Q1, Q2 and Q3.”

Sainz was only able to manage 11th fastest in the slightly-drizzly FP2 session, three tenths shy of Leclerc’s best.

But having experienced illness and then missed out on some track-time, the ex-McLaren driver hopes for better fortunes over the remainder of the weekend.

“Maybe today I was not 100% although I was feeling okay. I should only get better through the weekend,” Sainz concluded.