Lewis Hamilton remained fastest in Q1 and Q2 during Saturday’s qualifying at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. For a change, it looked like Mercedes would finally take the P1 in Mexico. However, George Russell, who was faster than his teammate, faltered in his final hot lap and missed out on P1.

Although he apologized to his team, Toto Wolff was unimpressed as their best chance to win a Grand Prix this year seems to be fading away.

After finishing the first two sessions of qualifying the fastest, Lewis Hamilton was pipped by his own teammate to go fastest by just 0.005 seconds.

Mercedes would have been a happy camp as Red Bull drivers were unable to match their pace in the sessions before. The joy was, however, short-lived and the hopes of P1 and P2 were crushed when Max Verstappen pulled off another brilliant lap while George Russell faltered.

Toto Wolff unhappy with George Russell despite P2

Max Verstappen on his final hot lap took the provisional pole with pace he was missing in previous sessions. George Russell was, however, looking like he would retake P1 from the Dutchman as he maneuvered beautifully for the first few corners. It was not to be, though. Russell lost out to the Red Bull champion for the pole position after a bad exit in turn 12.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff expressed his disappointment after qualifying. He said, “I’m annoyed about not being on pole, because it would have ticked a box, but then equally having Max with his top speed advantage behind us would have been a problem tomorrow.”

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Given the latest changes to the car and the track conditions, Toto Wolff feels the Mexican GP is their best chance to register a win. “The good thing is that, in our simulations, we had [this track] on the radar as being the best race, so that is good that the virtual world correlates with the real world.”

George Russell apologizes to his team for missing out on the pole position

Continuing the impressive run from Q1 and Q2, Lewis Hamilton registered a great first hot lap in Q3. The 7-time world champion, however, had his lap time deleted as he went wide in turn 3. His teammate later beat him by a small margin but snatch pole.

Speaking after the race, Russell apologized to his team. “The team deserved more today. They’ve produced a really great car this weekend and it’s testament for them for the work they’ve been doing for so long.”

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As the former Williams driver will go out against Max Verstappen in the front row, he said, “it’s great to be back on the front row. I’ll be going for it at the start tomorrow for sure. Let’s see what’s possible.”