Formula 1 2022 World Champion Max Verstappen continued to lay on the throttle this season taking the pole position at the Mexico City Grand Prix a week after winning the US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas about 1000 miles north of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, Mexico.

The Mexico City Grand Prix pole was a first for the Belgian-Dutch Red Bull driver and two time World Champion.

"It was a good qualifying," said Verstappen. "It was a close one but I think after FP3 we made a few adjustments and the car got into a better rhythm."

"For me at least, it is very hard to nail a lap," said Verstappen. "It's a very low grip and there are a few kerbs that you have to perfectly hit to actually gain time. So it's definitely not the easiest of qualifyings."

Verstappen's teammate and crowd favorite, Mexico-native Sergio Perez, qualified P4.

Between the two Red Bulls, qualifying second and third, respectively, were the Silver Arrows of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.

Russell had to abort his final lap, when he was matching pole-sitter Verstappen, due to a lock-up at Turn 12. Hamilton qualified five thousandths behind his team-mate after seeing his first timed lap in Q3 deleted for a track limits violation.

"All the way through the session, we couldn't really match Verstappen in the stadium section, but George's lap was zero to him on the final run until the lock up at Turn 12," said Mercedes Team Principal, Toto Wolfe.

"We brought our final upgrade to Austin, which is working well, and we have been at our best in high downforce configuration this year - so slowly but surely, we are creeping back to the front." added Wolfe, who is also the CEO of Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1.

Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz took fifth – over half a second off pole.

Valtteri Bottas, who took the pole in last year's Grand Prix, split the Ferrari's, taking sixth ahead of Charles Leclerc, while McLaren's Lando Norris qualified eighth.

Leclerc is making his 100th F1 Grand Prix start at Mexico City this weekend.

Alpine Racing drivers Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon qualified ninth and 10th, respectively.

Russell and Hamilton had two quickest times in the Free Practice session ealier in the afternoon.

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QUALIFYING RESULTS
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Pos	Driver		Team		Time		Gap

1	Verstappen	Red Bull	1:17.775	123.772 mph
2	Russell		Mercedes	1:18.079	0.304
3	Hamilton	Mercedes	1:18.084	0.309
4	Perez		Red Bull	1:18.128	0.353
5	Sainz		Ferrari		1:18.351	0.576
6	Bottas		Alfa Romeo	1:18.401	0.626
7	Leclerc		Ferrari		1:18.555	0.780
8	Norris		McLaren		1:18.721	0.946
9	Alonso		Alpine		1:18.939	1.164
10	Ocon		Alpine		1:19.010	1.235
11	Ricciardo	McLaren		1:19.325	
12	Zhou		Alfa Romeo	1:19.476	
13	Tsunoda		AlphaTauri	1:19.589	
14	Gasly		AlphaTauri	1:19.672	
15	Magnussen	Haas		1:19.833	
16	Schumacher	Haas		1:20.419	
17	Vettel		Aston Martin	1:20.419	
18	Stroll		Aston Martin	1:20.520	
19	Albon		Williams	1:20.859	
20	Latifi		Williams	1:21.167	

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FP3 RESULTS
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Pos	Driver		Team		Time		Gap

1	Russell		Mercedes	1:18.399	122.787 mph
2	Hamilton	Mercedes	1:18.543	0.144
3	Verstappen	Red Bull	1:18.876	0.477
4	Leclerc		Ferrari		1:19.123	0.724
5	Perez		Red Bull	1:19.241	0.842
6	Sainz		Ferrari		1:19.301	0.902
7	Norris		McLaren		1:19.317	0.918
8	Bottas		Alfa Romeo	1:19.390	0.991
9	Tsunoda		AlphaTauri	1:19.882	1.483
10	Albon		Williams	1:19.917	1.518
11	Ocon		Alpine		1:19.960	1.561
12	Zhou		Alfa Romeo	1:20.019	1.620
13	Alonso		Alpine		1:20.037	1.638
14	Ricciardo	McLaren		1:20.139	1.740
15	Gasly		AlphaTauri	1:20.330	1.931
16	Stroll		Aston Martin	1:20.477	2.078
17	Schumacher	Haas		1:20.598	2.199
18	Latifi		Williams	1:20.848	2.449
19	Vettel		Aston Martin	1:20.986	2.587
20	Magnussen	Haas		1:21.271	2.872

(image provided by Aston Martin F1 Media)