Formula One Qualifying got under way this Saturday afternoon at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City for the Grand Prix of Mexico. In the last eleven Grand Prix's, Mexico has seen 11 different pole sitters.

At qualifying end, Scuderia Ferrari locked out the front row of the grid. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz each put in an impressive lap on their first run in Q3, setting times that were out of reach of the rest of the field.

"I did not expect to take pole position today. After FP3, it seemed as though we were on the back foot but once we put it all together in Q3, it went well," said Leclerc.

The Scuderia has previous form for this in Mexico, also locking out the front row back in 2019 with Charles and Sebastian Vettel. This is Ferrari's 248th pole, its 69th one-two in qualifying.

For Leclerc, this is his second pole in a row, his 22nd, which puts him one behind Niki Lauda in the Scuderia's record books. Sainz has also taken two in a row this year in Monza and Singapore.

"Performance this afternoon was mainly driven by the tyres because there was the risk that if you pushed too hard at the start of the lap, you would have killed the tyres at the front or the rear towards the end of the lap," said Frederic Vasseur, Ferrari Team Principal. "We managed things very well during Q1 and Q2 and we had the advantage of having two new sets of Softs for Q3 for both Charles and Carlos and the first flying laps proved to be the best."

The Grand Prix this weekend is Leclerc's 100th driving for Ferrari.

The Red Bull's of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez qualified third and fifth, respectively.

In between the Red Bull's, AlphaTauri's Daniel Ricciardo, will start an unanticipated fourth on the grid.

"I'm very pleased. P4 is a little higher than we expected within the top 10, but the pace has been there from the start of the weekend," said Ricciardo.

Ricciardo's teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, will start at the rear of the grid on Sunday due to a Power Unit change.

"It's been hard to take for Yuki, knowing he starts from the back on a weekend in which the car is performing so well," said Jonathan Eddolls, AlphaTauri Chief Race Engineer. "Thanks to him from the whole team for giving Daniel the tow, which was instrumental in today's result."

"The performance this weekend has been the best of the season so far, but there are no points for today, so we need to remain focused on the job at hand, which is turning our strong qualifying performance into points tomorrow," added Eddolls.

Mercedes Racing drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell qualified sixth and eighth, respectively.

In between the Silver Arrows, McLaren rookie driver Oscar Piastri will start seventh. Piastri's teammate, Lando Norris, who was second quickest in FP2 and FP3, did not make it out of the first qualifying session.

"Today's result is obviously not what we wanted. An issue with the car on the first run meant we didn't set the banker lap we needed," said Norris. "I made a mistake on my second run, and didn't get a chance to complete my third lap due to the yellow flag."

Alfa Romeo had an impressive Saturday with both drivers making it into the final qualifying session.

Zhou Guanyu was initially relegated to P11 after Q2 but was bumped back up one spot into Q3 after William's driver, Alex Albon, had his quickest Q2 lap time deleted due to exceeding track limits.

"An issue with the car on the first run meant we didn't set the banker lap we needed," said Albon. "I made a mistake on my second run, and didn't get a chance to complete my third lap due to the yellow flag."

"The result we have achieved today definitely represents a solid starting point for tomorrow's race," said Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Alfa Romeo Team Representative. "We are delighted for both cars to have made it into Q3, and we must pay tribute to our drivers, to everyone trackside, as well as the team back home in Hinwil."

Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu will start ninth and tenth, respectively, for Sunday's Grand Prix in Mexico City.

Pos	Driver		Team		Time		Gap

1	Leclerc		Ferrari		1:17.166	124.770 mph
2	Sainz		Ferrari		1:17.233	0.067
3	Verstappen	Red Bull	1:17.263	0.097
4	Ricciardo	AlphaTauri	1:17.382	0.216
5	Perez		Red Bull	1:17.423	0.257
6	Hamilton	Mercedes	1:17.454	0.288
7	Piastri		McLaren		1:17.623	0.457
8	Russell		Mercedes	1:17.674	0.508
9	Bottas		Alfa Romeo	1:18.032	0.866
10	Zhou		Alfa Romeo	1:18.050	0.884
11	Gasly		Alpine		1:18.521	
12	Hulkenberg	Haas		1:18.524	
13	Alonso		Aston Martin	1:18.738	
14	Albon		Williams	1:19.147	
15	Tsunoda		AlphaTauri	No Time	
16	Ocon		Alpine		1:19.080	
17	Magnussen	Haas		1:19.163	
18	Stroll		Aston Martin	1:19.227	
19	Norris		McLaren		1:21.554	
20	Sargeant	Williams	No Time	

Pos	Driver		Team		Time		Gap

1	Verstappen	Red Bull	1:17.887	123.615 mph
2	Albon		Williams	1:17.957	0.070
3	Perez		Red Bull	1:18.026	0.139
4	Russell		Mercedes	1:18.248	0.361
5	Piastri		McLaren		1:18.392	0.505
6	Bottas		Alfa Romeo	1:18.437	0.550
7	Tsunoda		AlphaTauri	1:18.450	0.563
8	Norris		McLaren		1:18.480	0.593
9	Ricciardo	AlphaTauri	1:18.499	0.612
10	Hamilton	Mercedes	1:18.522	0.635
11	Sargeant	Williams	1:18.718	0.831
12	Zhou		Alfa Romeo	1:18.917	1.030
13	Leclerc		Ferrari		1:18.970	1.083
14	Stroll		Aston Martin	1:19.094	1.207
15	Sainz		Ferrari		1:19.293	1.406
16	Hulkenberg	Haas		1:19.320	1.433
17	Alonso		Aston Martin	1:19.471	1.584
18	Gasly		Alpine		1:19.509	1.622
19	Magnussen	Haas		1:19.573	1.686
20	Ocon		Alpine		1:19.839	1.952

(image Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake)