Verstappen thought he could play for pole before falling on Tsunoda and Pérez

As in 2018 and 2019, the two previous editions of the Mexican Grand Prix, Max Verstappen seemed very well on course to take pole position at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico. As in 2018 and 2019, the Dutchman was beaten to the post.

Arch-dominator in free practice, the driver Red Bull still showed good performances in Q1 and Q2, even if the Mercedes had already narrowed the gap considerably.

And then came Q3, contested with a soft compound which visibly did not favor the Red Bulls.

« Throughout the qualifying session, the balance of the car wasn't great, whispered Verstappen after the session.

It wasn't too bad in medium but when it was time to assemble the tenders, the mayonnaise didn't set. My first lap was really bad because the grip was very precarious.

We were really slow in Q3, which is a mystery.

I managed to straighten out the shot on my second attempt and thought I would be able to get close to Valtteri's time (Bottas, poleman of the day, Editor’s note).

Everything happened so quickly, I didn't have time to immediately understand what was happening. I saw dust, I thought someone had crashed. With the new yellow flag rules, I knew I had to take it easy no matter what.

I got trapped right here in 2019 (Verstappen was the fastest in Q3 but he did not slow down sufficiently under the yellow flag and thus lost pole on the green carpet, editor's note).”

Starting behind Sergio Pérez to benefit from his aspiration, Verstappen actually came across two off-track cars in the middle of his final attempt: the Red Bull of his Mexican teammate, himself surprised by theAlpha Tauri de Yuki tsunoda.

« Even without having ideal balance on the car, I thought I had the means to grab pole position, added “Mad Max”. It's not great to start 3rd but it's still better than being 2nd on the grid because you're on the clean side of a very dusty track.

Qualifying didn't please us but we don't use these tires (the tender ones, Editor’s note) in the race so we still have our chances ».

Verstappen will start behind the Mercedes of Bottas and his title rival Lewis Hamilton, and alongside Pérez.

This promises an explosive start, especially when you know the long period of full load and the possibilities of taking up suction which exist before the first braking.