Max Verstappen beats both Ferraris to pole as Bottas has massive crash!

Bottas was unharmed despite suffering a big impact, as the 30-year-old impeded a lot of flying laps from finishing as the yellow flags were waved. He qualified in sixth but might have to take a big penalty ahead of the race, which could play into teammate Lewis Hamilton's hands as the Brit could become champion on Sunday depsite only qualifying fourth.

Charles Leclerc beat Sebastian Vettel to the second place on the front grid next to Verstappen, with Ferrari's streak of pole positions since the summer ending with Verstappen's 1:14.7.

Verstappen will try to make it three race wins in a row in Mexico tomorrow, with the Dutchman needing a big result following his struggles and bad luck in recent races.

Q1

The first of the three sessions started with a harmless spin from Romain Grosjean on his first timed lap as the Frenchman went onto the grass at the first corner. It's a circuit where Grosjean typically struggles and it was the case this year yet again, although teammate Kevin Magnussen wasn't doing much better either.

Magnussen and Grosjean ended Q1 in 17th and 18th respectively in another frustrating outing for Haas, with the American outfit only beating Williams drivers George Russell and Robert Kubica, with Kubica yet to beat the rookie on a Saturday. For Grosjean, it was the 4th consecutive Q1 exit in Mexico. Lance Stroll completed the list of eliminated drivers as the Canadian ended in P16.

At the top of the pack, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing set the pace with Verstappen leading Alexander Albon, with the Dutchman two-tenths clear of the Thai. Two more tenths separated Albon from third-placed Leclerc.

Q2

In the second of the three sessions, a lot of teams took the gamble of running on medium tyres with an eye on the race on Sunday, with slower laps as a consequence in the first run. Vettel set the pace early-on as he was the only driver to dip into the 1:15's. Besides the top three teams, the Toro Rosso cars and Carlos Sainz were the only others to run on medium tyres, although they weren't able to get into the Q3 places while doing so.

Mercedes stuck to their guns in the final run as Ferrari and Red Bull did eventually switch back to the soft tyre, as did Sainz and the Toro Rosso's. The Silver Arrows didn't feel comfortable enough with their times on the mediums to make it through and they took the fastest two times, with Hamilton's 1:15.7 proving the quickest time. Ferrari and Red Bull went out on the soft tyre for the final run but backed off at the end of their laps, as they saw they were safe to go through anyway on their previous times.

In the elimination zone were home driver Sergio Perez, who beat teammate Stroll by five places, as well as both Renaults and Alfa Romeos, with Nico Hulkenberg and Kimi Raikkonen beating their respective teammates as Raikkonen beat Antonio Giovinazzi for the first time since Italy. Toro Rosso made it through to Q3 with both cars despite Pierre Gasly's health issues earlier on Saturday.

Q3

In the first of the two runs in the final shoot-out, it was Verstappen who beat them all as the 22-year-old dipped into the 1:14's for the first time this weekend. He kepr Leclerc and Vettel at bay in that order, with Hamilton, Albon and Bottas following in that order. He led by a tenth of a second but knew it probably wasn't going to be enough to secure pole position, as his race engineer called it a "good bank lap".

However, in the final run of the afternoon in Mexico, a spanner was thrown into the works because of Bottas' massive shunt, as the Finn clattered into the barriers at the final turn of the circuit on the same place where Stroll had done so in FP1.

Most importantly, Bottas was okay and climbed out of his car despite the massive shunt, but it also meant a lot of laps had to be aborted, and although he improved his initial lap time, Verstappen's initial time would have been enough for pole position anyway, even if it were to be scrapped.

Leclerc beat Vettel to P2 as the two Ferraris will start behind the Dutchman, and Hamilton, Albon and Bottas will start in that order, assuming Bottas takes no penalty.

Behind the Big Three teams, Carlos Sainz was once again best of the rest as he beat Lando Norris, Daniil Kvyat and Gasly in that order to complete the top ten.