Leclerc takes surprise pole as Ferrari lockout front row, Ricciardo shines

Leclerc shaded Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz by just 0.067s with a brilliant opening lap of Q3, while Max Verstappen narrowly missed out as he took third, 0.097s off pole. 

• F1 Mexico City Grand Prix 2023 - Qualifying Results

The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez served up an unpredictable qualifying with Ferrari unleashing surprisingly impressive pace when it mattered most to beat Verstappen, who looked the odds-on favourite after topping all three practice sessions. 

However, the session was dominated by a series of investigations that has seen a host of drivers summoned to the FIA stewards’ office, including Verstappen and the Mercedes duo of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.

Verstappen and Russell are being investigated for pit lane impeding incidents, while Hamilton is among several drivers under scrutiny for allegedly failing to slow sufficiently under yellow flags. 

Daniel Ricciardo, in just his second race since returning from a broken hand, starred as he grabbed a superb fourth in his AlphaTauri with a lap that was just 0.216s off Leclerc’s benchmark. 

Home-favourite Sergio Perez was one of the few drivers who improved on their final laps of Q3 as he claimed fifth, ahead of Hamilton, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, and Russell. 

The Alfa Romeo pair of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu completed the top-10 order in Mexico City. 

Towards the bottom of the timesheets, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll suffered his sixth consecutive elimination in the first part of qualifying. 

McLaren’s Lando Norris, who was tipped to potentiality challenge for pole, was the big name to fall in Q1, after aborting his final flying lap when Fernando Alonso spun ahead of him. 

Williams driver Logan Sargeant was 20th after having both of his laps deleted for track limits. 

But it will be Yuki Tsunoda who starts Sunday’s race from the back of the grid due to exceeding his power unit allowance.