Daniel Ricciardo snatched pole position for the Mexico Grand Prix ahead of practice pacesetter Max Verstappen, as Red Bull secured its first front row lock-out in five years.
Ricciardo had looked second-best to Verstappen throughout practice and the opening segments of qualifying, but pulled out a mega final lap to usurp the 21-year-old and take his first pole since Monaco earlier this year.
Verstappen wasted no time in leaving his mark by leading after the first Q3 runs with a blistering 1m14.785s tour, a time nearly two-tenths clear of Sebastian Vettel’s own 1m14.970s effort.
Lewis Hamilton was close behind in third just ahead of Ricciardo, with Bottas and Raikkonen fifth and sixth early on.
Raikkonen was the first to set his final flying lap, but failed to improve his time, as did team-mate Vettel.
Ricciardo then vaulted to top spot with a 1m 14.759s lap to grab provisional pole away from Verstappen by just 0.026s – a time the Dutchman was unable to eclipse on his own final effort.
Hamilton was the only other frontrunner to improve, the championship leader moving ahead of Vettel into third in the closing seconds.
Fernando Alonso managed to escape Q1 thanks to a late effort, after his initial time was deleted due to a track limit infringement.
His hard work was in vain, however, as the Spaniard could only manage 12th fastest between the two Force India cars of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez, both deciding to use the slower ultrasoft in Q2 and will start 11th and 13th as a result.
Toro Rosso failed to translate their rapid practice pace into qualifying, Brendon Hartley missing the top ten shoot-out by six-tenths in 14th despite looking competitive in Q1.
Pierre Gasly chose not to complete representative running in Q2 with his incoming engine penalties meaning that he will start tomorrow’s race from the back.
Haas continued to struggle in Mexico with both cars failing to escape the Q1 cut off, Romain Grosjean setting a time just under seven-tenths quicker than team-mate Kevin Magnussen for 16th, the Dane 18th.
Splitting the two American machines was Stoffel Vandoorne’s McLaren, once again outqualified by team leader Fernando Alonso, while the Williams pair of Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin locked out the back row of the grid in 19th and 20th respectively.
