Dutchman Max Verstappen claimed a brilliant pole position on Saturday at the Mexican Grand Prix, however he was demoted to fourth for Sunday's race after the stewards penalised him for ignoring a yellow flag.
His Aston Martin Red Bull Racing team-mate Alexander Albon will start fifth with Scuderia Toro Rosso duo Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly ninth and 10th respectively.
QUOTES
Aston Martin Red Bull Racing
MAX VERSTAPPEN - Position: 1st (starts fourth following three-place grid penalty)
"It's been a very good weekend so far and we have improved in every session. I enjoy driving here but of course everything needs to be working well together to get a good performance which it was today. I'm very happy to get pole and with the recent form of Ferrari I didn't expect it to be honest but the car was working really well. I have to say a big thank you to the Team because the last three races have been a little more tricky for us but everyone kept pushing hard and never gave up on trying to understand what we could do better. This weekend we really showed that the hard work paid off and we have a very good car. It is very disappointing to be handed a grid penalty for the race and Ferrari will be very quick tomorrow so tyre life will be important but we have a really good race car so it should be a close fight."
ALEXANDER ALBON - Position: 5th
"Qualifying P5 was not great but not bad either. Considering the crash in FP2 yesterday, I’m quite happy and I think it was a good comeback. We didn’t have many laps in FP3 so I only really had FP1 to learn the track which meant it was going to be difficult coming into qualifying. I’m obviously happy for the Team and Max to get pole but I left a bit on the table on my side. Max proved the car is better than P5 but I’m there fighting with the guys, I would have just liked to be a bit closer, but let’s see what we can do tomorrow. I think it should be a good one and there’s a long run into Turn 1 so anything can happen. Max’s race pace looked very good yesterday and the car is quick so I’ll do some homework tonight and study the data. We saw yesterday that the tyre degradation is really high so let’s see how tomorrow unfolds. I think a lot of tyre management will be needed and hopefully we can make up some positions."
CHRISTIAN HORNER - Team Principal
"Max put in a phenomenal performance throughout qualifying. He was quickest in Q1, second quickest in Q2 and quickest in Q3 to achieve his second pole position of the season. It is a great shame that Max has lost pole position and will now start from fourth place on the grid following a penalty for being found to not slow sufficiently following Bottas’ incident. For Alex, after losing it in FP2 yesterday and reducing his track time on his first visit here it was a great recovery from him to qualify P5 and very close to Lewis ahead. We have some strong grid positions for tomorrow’s Grand Prix and track position is important here because it’s very difficult to overtake and follow another car at this circuit. Now let’s see what tomorrow brings."
Scuderia Toro Rosso
DANIIL KVYAT - Position: 9th
"I’m pretty happy with today's performance and all of my laps were quite competitive. I haven't been super confident in Qualifying lately, as we've been having some problems, but now it's good to be back in shape over one lap again. Only McLaren was in front of us today, so it's been a good result and it's great when you can put everything together. I think it will be a tricky race for everyone tomorrow, so we will see how things pan out. I hope we can make good use out of our starting position in the race and stay inside the top 10."
PIERRE GASLY - Position: 10th
"Overall, I'm pretty happy with my performance to make it through to Q3 for the second time in a row after Suzuka and I think we can be quite pleased with that. The car worked well the whole weekend so far and it's been quite a good day. It's not been an easy day though as I haven't been feeling great, but I'll rest up tonight and feel as good as I can tomorrow. It's going to be tricky to start on the Softer compound with Sergio right behind us on presumably the Prime, but we still have a chance to score some points tomorrow."
GUILLAUME DEZOTEUX - Head of Vehicle Performance
"Qualifying has been strong for the team, with both cars in Q3. We tried to qualify on the Medium tyre in Q2, but we were just not fast enough and only the top six cars were actually able to pass through on the yellow tyre. Both drivers kept improving on the Softs, run after run, to finish close to the McLarens on the last attempt. The race will be challenging for the PU, tyres and brake management, as is always the case here in Mexico. Some of our direct competitors are close to us on the grid with a free tyre choice, so we will review all the options tonight to defend our positions and bring home some good points."