Sensational Sainz lands pole as shocks strike Mexican qualifying

Carlos Sainz ended a 13-month pole drought to land the top spot on the grid for a Mexico City Grand Prix qualifying that was laden with shocks.

The most significant saw Oscar Piastri and Sergio Perez eliminated in Q1, leaving the McLaren and Red Bull drivers set to line up alongside one another on the penultimate row of the grid.

Another followed after the first runs in Q3 when Max Verstappen initially set the fastest lap, and ended up second quickest behind Sainz, but had it deleted after blatantly cutting Turn 2.

That placed pressure on Verstappen to deliver again on his second outing but he could not match the sensational Sainz as the Ferrari driver delivered a second stunning lap to beat Verstappen by almost a quarter of a second.

Sainz finished with a time of 1:15.946s, and was the class of the field, ahead of Verstappen, with McLaren's Lando Norris third, but over three-tenths of a second adrift of his former team-mate, with the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc in fourth.

It is Sainz's first pole since last year's Singapore Grand Prix, a race he went on to win.

Behind the leading quarter, Mercedes locked out the third row, with George Russell ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

Haas duo Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg start seventh and 10th, with Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon in his Williams, sandwiched in between.

Piastri and Perez suffer humiliation

With track temperatures 10 degrees Celsius hotter than at the end of final practice, the opening 18 minutes of qualifying were fast and furious as track evolution was rapid, with no shortage of surprises.

The most startling of those saw Piastri and a deeply under-pressure Perez knocked out in Q1.

After several drivers set opening laps on the medium tyres, it quickly became apparent all had to switch to the softs, and on his first flying lap on the red-striped rubber, Piastri set first and second sector times that would easily have seen him through.

But into Turn 12, the opening corner on the approach to the stadium complex, Piastri ran wide, exceeding track limits that resulted in his lap being deleted.

Rather than pit to take on a second set of softs, and time would have been tight in any case to do so, Piastri set off on a second lap on the now-worn initial set of softs. The fact he will start 17th says it all about McLaren's decision to keep him on track.

It is the first time this season Piastri has failed to make Q3. Up until this point, he had been the only driver to do so.

As for Perez, the Mexican is a driver shorn of confidence and the question marks over his future grow ever larger.

At no stage did he look comfortable with his RB20, and as a result, he will start an embarrassing 18th, with only Alpine's Esteban Ocon and Zhou Guanyu in his Stake behind him.

The quartet were joined in the early exit by Williams' Franco Colapinto, who also made an error on his prime qualifying lap, with the Argentinian set to start 16th.

It was a session topped by Norris with a 1:16.505s, almost three-tenths of a second clear of Sainz.

Tsunoda red flags Q2

In the 15-minute Q2, Norris was the first to shine with a 1:16.301s, 0.328s faster than Verstappen, albeit aided by a slipstream from Hulkenberg at the start of his lap.

It was a time that remained unbeaten through to a red flag that emerged around 30 seconds before the conclusion.

On his final hot lap, Yuki Tsunoda locked up into T12, sliding off the track and into a barrier, meaning he will start 11th.

Tsunoda's accident prevented team-mate Liam Lawson from improving after setting a personal best in the first sector, although it is fair to suggest that with a time of 27.5s, it is unlikely he would have progressed into the top 10. The New Zealander will start 12th.

Aston Martin duo Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were just about to start their final hot laps when they were forced to abandon, leaving them 13th and 14th on the grid, whilst Stake's Valtteri Bottas is 15th after failing to make it into Q3 in Mexico for the first time.