Max Verstappen may not have pole position for the Mexican Grand Prix but he has broken the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez track record – by a tiny margin.
A three-place grid penalty for failing to slow for yellow flags relegated Verstappen to fourth place on the grid. However the lap time he set by accelerating flat-out past Valtteri Bottas’s wrecked Mercedes still stands.That lap – a 1’14.758 – is just one-thousandth of a second faster than the previous record for the circuit, set by Daniel Ricciardo in a Red Bull last year.
It makes Red Bull one of just three teams to have lapped quicker at the Mexico City track this year than they managed 12 months ago. This will be due in part to F1’s official tyre supplier Pirelli bringing a harder range of compounds this year.
For the 10th time in the last dozen races, McLaren are the most-improved team of the year at this track, having gained eight-tenths of a second. But apart from them, Red Bull and Toro Rosso, every other team is slower in Mexico this year.
Worst of all are Haas, who are 1.2 seconds slower than they were last year. This is the third time this year they’ve been the least-improved team. It was not, however, a surprise: Romain Grosjean suggested their form so far this season and at this track in previous years indicated they’d qualifying around “26th or 27th” before the race weekend even began.
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2019 Mexican Grand Prix
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- 2019 Mexican Grand Prix Star Performers
- Mercedes: Lost ‘wouvre panel’ cost Hamilton seven seconds
- Horner defends Verstappen’s driving after Hamilton’s “torpedo” criticism
Jose Lopes da Silva
27th October 2019, 9:40
Thank God I didn’t watch the qualifying. Aside from the usual pack of cars racing together, of which we only watch one of them, this time we had the natural offshoot of this system – a crash in the “2nd general attempt” meant qualifying was effectively over.
This qualifying system is flawed, but 66% of the fans say it’s the best, so it won’t change.
I’m looking forward to a great race.
Jere (@jerejj)
27th October 2019, 14:02
@Jose Lopes da Silva That’s because it’s working adequately well, so definitely not flawed as you claim.
erikje
27th October 2019, 13:19
Madness, getting a penalty but not losing the time.
Jere (@jerejj)
27th October 2019, 14:01
@erikje Why should he? The grid-drop penalty is enough.
Only Facts!
27th October 2019, 16:40
Jules Bianchi died! This is no joke! Yellow means “slow down so you can react in time”.
Case is that Max could see Bottas and his judgment was “no danger present so keep going”.
Feel sorry for him! Incredible time compared to what Albon and the others could do.