Lewis Hamilton took his 59th career pole position – his first at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez and 10thof the 2016 season so far. Nico Rosberg completed a 12th Silver Arrows front row lockout of the season in P2.
Lewis completed a single run in Q1 (SuperSoft), and Q2 (Soft), another two runs in Q3 (SuperSoft / SuperSoft). Nico completed a single run in Q1 (SuperSoft), two runs in Q2 (Soft / Soft) and another two runs in Q3 (SuperSoft / SuperSoft).
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was third.
Lewis Hamilton
“It’s been a really solid weekend so far. Q3 was actually not great for me. Even though I got pole, it wasn’t a great lap. I had a pretty serious delta throughout the session before that but then lost quite a lot of time on my first Q3 lap and then more again on my second lap. I just didn’t put three sectors together in either of them. If I’d put them all together, I think there was probably another three or four tenths in there. In terms of the race, it’s a long, long run down to turn one so the start will be important. But our long run pace has looked really strong and we’re on the better tyre, so the signs are good.”
“Red Bull might have a slight advantage off the line on the SuperSoft – but it looks like that tyre will grain quite badly. As always, our strategist has done a fantastic job there. Looking after the soft tyre, avoiding lockups and flat spots will give us a challenge. But the car has been great this weekend, so I hope that continues through tomorrow. This is a race I haven’t won yet and I’d love to tick it off the list in front of this amazing crowd, who have been really spectacular all weekend.”
Nico Rosberg
“This weekend it took a bit longer to find my rhythm. At the end of Qualifying I was quite happy with how I felt in the car and managed to pull out a good lap – but Lewis was just a bit quicker. I’m not happy to have missed out on the pole position. But, on the other hand, starting from second place here is not that bad. There are a lot of opportunities, as the straight down to turn one on the first lap is very long.”
“We’ve seen a few times this year that pole is not so important. It will be a challenging race and we need to have an eye on the Red Bull. I think the Mexican fans will have an exciting Sunday. It was so great to see so many of them out there today. They are so full of passion and it feels really great to see that when you’re out there on track.”
Max Verstappen
“I am very pleased with the way qualifying went, we have put ourselves on the second row again which means we are in an ideal position to fight from the start. All weekend we have had a good car. We are still just a little down on top speed which makes it hard to compete with the Mercedes in qualifying, but we are still pretty close so that is a good achievement. My Q2 lap was really good and felt quick but I just couldn’t find the same grip levels in Q3 which meant I was slightly slower. I struggled in sector one which is usually my best sector, that shows how the grip can change in a matter of minutes.”
“It’s still a hard lap out there, everyone is in the same position and has to adapt to the slippery conditions. It’s fun, but a different kind of fun. At some tracks you can have a perfect lap but here it is so hard. It is a long run into Turn 1 and we start on the supersoft compound so our chances of making progress straight away is high. Race pace looked strong which means we are looking forward to tomorrow.”
PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION (END OF QUALIFYING): @MercedesAMGF1 title rivals set for front row duel at the #MexicoGP ?? pic.twitter.com/pqiKugF8VN
— Formula 1 (@F1) 29 October 2016
