Horner full of confusion after qualifying: 'Even they were surprised!'

Leclerc takes pole in Mexico

Verstappen was the man to beat in Mexico, and for a long time, it looked like that was not going to happen. Until Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz set a tremendously fast lap at the start of Q3. Verstappen was over a tenth slower than both Ferrari drivers and managed to improve on his second fast lap, but it was not enough for a better place than third position, despite Leclerc and Sainz not going any faster.

Horner congratulates Ferrari

After qualifying, Red Bull Racing's team boss congratulated the Italian team. "Yeah, I think even they were surprised. So in Q2 and Q1, it looked like a struggle for them, and then that first run in Q3, both their cars put in a really strong time, and then they couldn't better it on the second one, and we went a little bit quicker on the last run, but it wasn't quite quick enough. So congratulations to them. They were very quick in a very confusing session, but also good to see both Daniel in P4 and Checo in P5," Horner told Viaplay.

Horner reckons that if both Red Bull drivers stay out of trouble at the start, a good result is still possible. "That's fine for him [Perez], and I think we've got a good race car, so as long as they stay out of trouble on the first lap..."

Will Ferrari do something interesting at the start?

It's a huge stretch to the first corner after the start at the Mexican Grand Prix, often resulting in a huge slipstream fest. "It [pole] is not arguably a position you really want to be here on that huge run down to turn one, but it'll be interesting to see if there's some formation driving or not for Ferrari. It's a pretty wide track, we saw that a couple of years ago, so it'll make a really exciting race."

Horner expects no penalty for Verstappen

Max Verstappen is being investigated by the stewards for exiting the pits too slowly, but the team boss does not expect the Dutchman to receive a penalty for this. "I'm not surprised by anything that's happened with that. I mean, certainly, Max is still moving. It's not ideal, and I think that he's got to the root cause for why the drivers wanted to be so slow in the pit lane, but they're all in together, so there'll be a hearing between all of them at the same time," Horner concluded.