Rosberg takes pole in Mexico City
Four poles in a row for Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg, who will start Sunday’s Gran Premio de México - the country’s first race in 23 years - in first place, ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
Nico Rosberg (Mercedes, Car 6)
Qualifying: 1st
"I just felt good all weekend. I’ve been quick in all different sessions and I found a good balance in qualifying. I was able to push and got a really good lap in; it’s a good start starting from pole. It’s going to be a long run down to Turn One, so it’s going to be an exciting battle."
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes, Car 44)
Qualifying: 2nd
"Nico has been quick this weekend, I’ve been chipping away; There are some areas I could improve my driving and also my set-up. We have quite different set-ups - maybe mine wasn’t good for qualifying but I'm sure it will be for the race."
Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari, Car 5)
Qualifying: 3rd
"We were hoping for it to be a bit closer, but in the end they were just a sniff too quick; Who knows what happens tomorrow. It is a fun circuit, should be exciting for all of us."
Ferrari’s Vettel took third a was the closest man to the Mercedes team, ahead of the two Red Bulls of Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo, the two Williams of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstappen, and both Force India’s. Home hero Sergio Perez qualified 9th under unbelievable support from the local fans.
A bit further down were Carlos Sainz just outside the top ten, both Lotuses with Romain Grosjean ahead of Pastor Maldonado, Marcus Ericsson and Kimi Raikkonen. For the Ferrari Finn, it was particularly complicated as he suffered brake issues and could only be 15th. He will start further down as he faces a 5-place grid penalty.
For McLaren, Fernando Alonso qualified 16th, though he suffers a 10-place grid penalty for Sunday, and his team-mate Jenson Button couldn’t take part in qualifying as his team couldn’t manage to get his car ready, and now they focus on the race. Sauber’s Felipe Nasr, Alex Rossi and Will Stevens complete the grid.