00:00Sainz and Leclerc with the fastest time. This medium tyre is a very good tyre, not just for racing, but maybe for qualifying in these stages as well.
00:09Lando Norris, I know it says soft on the graphic, it's not. That's the medium tyre that he's on, and he goes fastest with a 1.17.2.
00:17Has he had a problem somewhere?
00:19He's heading down to Turn 4. There's the little right Nippo's telling you about.
00:24And he locks up the inside. That puts him then out of position for 5. You'll lose time all the way through there.
00:31So, an unforced error, shall we call that?
00:34Verstappen, though, on the soft tyre, has gone purple and then purple. Fastest in Sector 1, fastest in Sector 2.
00:41Little bit skittish coming out of the final corner, but goes quickest by two tenths of a second.
00:46Yuki Tsunoda, in an RP that at times has looked competitive, goes third fastest himself. Very good last sector of Yuki Tsunoda.
00:54So, at the same time, he's got to go faster.
01:00Braking has been a major issue in that Red Bull all weekend long. Hülkenberg goes second fastest.
01:06That's the end in front of 26,000 people.
01:09Yeah, it's great for viewing, but it's not necessarily the high-speed section we all like to see.
01:14Russell goes fourth fastest, with a 1.17.1.
01:19Here comes Lewis Hamilton, around what is now what used to be called the Peraltada.
01:23It's now the Nigel Mansell Curve. Hamilton goes eighth fastest.
01:27Yes, you've got to leave a margin of at least a tenth of a second, and that might put Russell and Hülkenberg and Gasly into that margin as well.
01:33Piastri crosses the line. That is not a good lap from Oskar Piastri.
01:38Oh dear, oh dear. Not what he wants him at all.
01:42And it's been deleted.
01:44So, his misery continues. Norris crosses the line. 1.65. He goes fastest.
01:49Negative. Negative.
01:52All the pressure is on this young man from Melbourne now, and this is the result of it.
01:57This is the track limits at Turn 12.
02:00That lap is deleted for track limits Turn 12.
02:05Yeah, he won't be surprised to get that message.
02:08So, but the trouble is, you can only refuel by backing the car into the garage.
02:12You can't refuel in the pit lane, so how much fuel has Piastri got on board?
02:16Can he go again? This is not a cracking lap.
02:1929.9 middle sector is not spectacular at all.
02:22Can he do anything through the final few corners to move him up?
02:25Only just. It's a 1.17.5.
02:28That might not be enough for Oskar Piastri.
02:31Sergio Perez gets out of the bottom five, but that might only be temporarily as well,
02:35because Charles Leclerc is on a flyer here.
02:37He's in the bottom five. He is about to go third fastest, and does.
02:41Sergio Perez is back in the bottom five again.
02:45Joe Guainu is out. Perez is out. Piastri is out.
02:48Colopinto is out. Can Lance Stroll survive here?
02:52Or is Esteban Ocon going to kick him out of qualifying?
02:54No, he's not. Stroll survives, gets through.
02:572.Q2, and that, this track, is actually quite a relief for him.
03:02Out in Q1 at the last five Grands Prix in Mexico,
03:06he's made it out into Q2 by the skin of his teeth.
03:10We're on board with Charles Leclerc now, going along.
03:13Pretty nice to see Leclerc in the first sector,
03:15but a big difference between Verstappen and Leclerc in the middle part of this lap.
03:20And as he crosses the line, well, by the end of it,
03:24there's a one-second difference between Verstappen and Leclerc.
03:27Is that just new and used tyres?
03:28Yeah, I think so. Yeah, Verstappen's showing new on the computer,
03:31so is Leclerc inside.
03:33So I think what you're seeing there is not comparing apples with apples.
03:40I think these are definitely new tyres for Max Verstappen.
03:45That's the bit I was saying.
03:47When I was out there yesterday, I was doing an FP2,
03:50and the drivers are really jockeying their cars through this hugely fast section.
03:55They like to dip a tyre over that kerb if they can.
03:57It's like a railway line.
03:59Rear tyres were a bit tricky.
04:01Sick to the teeth.
04:02What does that mean, Max?
04:04It's low grip.
04:06Use the kerb on the left to contain the car.
04:09Slowest parts on the way into that penultimate corner.
04:13And then you want to stay slightly right for the shortest run to the line.
04:17And he's two tenths up on his quickest Q1 time.
04:21And importantly there, three tenths up on Max Verstappen too.
04:24George Russell also into the 1.16s.
04:27Crosses the line. He too has improved.
04:29And Carlos Sainz slots in just behind him.
04:32Let's have a look at Charles Leclerc again.
04:33This is Turn 2, where you reckon he's been a bit cheeky, Martin.
04:37Yeah, he's going to go hard left here, isn't he?
04:39Well, yep.
04:41Right there.
04:42Yep.
04:43Absolutely banged right, officer.
04:46Meanwhile, patrolling the pit lane, Karun Chandhari.
04:50Yeah, thanks, Dr.
04:51You know, I was saying before how it's fully getting really hot here.
04:55Well, the clouds have come over.
04:56And remember last year, Crofty, in Q3,
04:58that cloud cover was what was crucial for Ferrari uncovering some pace.
05:03Charles Leclerc just getting on with it here.
05:06He dropped a couple of tenths to Lando Naira's shoe in the middle centre.
05:09This is his run for Q2.
05:12And a 1.16.6, which should be OK to make his way through into the final part of qualifying.
05:18And his teammate Carlos Sainz crosses the line and produces roughly the same time.
05:23Well, you have to place enormous trust in your fellow drivers at that moment,
05:28which I'm sure Kevin Magnussen did.
05:301.17.0.
05:31Eight fastest hats have never reached Q3 in Mexico.
05:35And we've got a yellow flag, and it's Yuki Tsunoda in the final sector.
05:39We've got a red flag, and it's Yuki Tsunoda.
05:41And it's Yuki Tsunoda into the barriers.
05:43That's it.
05:44Qualifying 2 is over.
05:48And Yuki Tsunoda going into the barriers has denied him a shot at getting out of Q2
05:55and his teammate a shot at getting out of Q2.
05:58And it has cost Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll and Valtteri Bottas too.
06:02Let's have a look at what happened there to Yuki Tsunoda.
06:05Oh, he lost it on the way in, actually.
06:07He didn't make the kerb.
06:08He lost the back end on downshift and turning and braking.
06:14And he's lost it.
06:16So what he did then, he locked the left front initially.
06:19That then got him too deep into the corner.
06:22And he hadn't taken enough speed off.
06:24And that was it.
06:26Just carrying way too much speed at that point.
06:29And the car will not stick.
06:31So it was actually a left front lock that began the problem.
06:36Are you OK?
06:38Yeah, sorry.
06:40Verstappen with a 29.3 through the middle sector.
06:43That was pretty decent too.
06:45It's a 1.16.3, the time that they've all got to beat.
06:48Verstappen on provisional pole.
06:50And here comes Lando Norris now, who on this lap has been lagging behind a touch.
06:55Maybe by about half a second by the time he crosses the line.
06:58And as he does cross the line, it's 6.10.
07:01The Ferrari wagging its tail, short run to the line.
07:04And he goes up onto the front row for now.
07:07Second fastest for Charles Leclerc by a matter of four one-hundredths of a second.
07:11Max Verstappen's had his lap time deleted for track limits
07:14as Carlos Sainz goes onto provisional pole for Ferrari.
07:18What a swing around and what a turnaround here.
07:21Verstappen, excellent lap, but it's not going to count.
07:24And has he got another set of new tyres to try and get back up there?
07:28Russell goes third fastest.
07:30High drama here in qualifying as Lewis Hamilton goes fourth fastest.
07:35Here we go, and you'll see that he cuts hard across the curve here.
07:42I think he did it in three as well, to be honest.
07:46So we'll see it from another angle.
07:48This is the one I was looking at.
07:50It's such a flash as they go across that.
07:52It's really hard at full speed to judge it.
07:55But I think he cut two and three, actually,
07:57which is how it looked at high speed.
08:00But that's indisputable, I'm afraid.
08:04Oh, dear. Poor Max Verstappen.
08:06And Sainz still looking the stronger of the two.
08:09He's still fighting the back of the car, going to the line.
08:12And it's not fast enough. It's a quarter of a second shy.
08:16And Sainz will go faster.
08:17He was almost drifting around the final turn.
08:19Sainz cuts to the line, takes the shortest run
08:24and goes into the 1.15s to take provisional pole.
08:28Watch Norris.
08:29Norris has gone faster to the middle sector.
08:31Verstappen's only lap puts him on the front row.
08:34And he separates the two Ferraris.
08:36But can Lando Norris now, through the final few corners,
08:40deny Ferrari and Red Bull the chance for a front row?
