Nico Rosberg will start on pole position for today’s Mexican Grand Prix after edging out Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
Rosberg was 0.188 seconds faster than Hamilton while Sebastian Vettel will start from third for Ferrari.
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Hamilton, who secured the world championship last Sunday in Austin, has now gone five races without taking pole.
Rosberg has endured a torrid week after his late mistake in the United States Grand Prix handed Hamilton the title.
But the German, who blamed a gust of wind for the championship-ending error, bounced back in emphatic fashion on Formula One’s return to Mexico to seal his fourth pole in a row.
He was fastest in the second and third practice sessions here and carried his impressive form through to qualifying.
The German, who has converted only two of his last 10 poles into victories, said: “I have felt good all weekend. I was able to push and I got a really good lap.
“It is a good to start from pole and it is going to be a long run down to turn one, so it is going to be an exciting battle.”
Rosberg now has 20 poles to his name which is the most for any driver in Formula One history without a world title to their name but will hope to convert this one to a win.
The Mexican Grand Prix has been won from the front row in five of the last six races, the exception was Alain Prost winning the race from 13th on the grid in 1990. Lewis Hamilton, though, has won the last three races from second on the grid.
Yesterday, Hamilton, who has now not been on pole since the Italian Grand Prix in September, was made to rue two errors. The first, where he locked up on his opening run in the top 10 shootout, and the second on his final effort after he ran off the track in the stadium section.
He said: “There were a couple of moments when the car felt pretty spectacular but there are a few places I could improve.
“I am quite happy with my spot and the races have always proven to be quite good ones for me so I am excited for tomorrow.”
Sergio Perez is only the third Mexican to take part in a Formula One grand prix in his homeland and every move was greeted by cheers from this most patriotic of crowds.
“Checo, Checo” – the Force India driver’s nickname – and “Mexico, Mexico” were raucously chanted in scenes which would not have looked out of place at a football stadium.
And fortunately Perez made it through to the final phase of qualifying before finishing ninth fastest ahead of his Force India team-mate Nico Hulkenberg.
Elsewhere in the top 10, Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo qualified fourth and fifth for Red Bull. The Williams duo of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa, who clocked the speed gun at an incredibly quick 226mph, will start sixth and seventh. The ever-impressive Max Verstappen will start eighth in his Toro Rosso.
#YEAH #POLE #MexicoGP #QUALI #F1 #TeamNR6 @MercedesAMGF1 pic.twitter.com/XL12UWeOut
— Nico Rosberg (@nico_rosberg) October 31, 2015
The McLaren pair of Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso both finished in the points last time out. But it was back to business as usual in Mexico City with both drivers failing to progress beyond the first qualifying phase.
Button, who will already serve a 50-place grid penalty due to Formula One’s complicated engine rules, did not even take part in the session.
The 2009 world champion was stranded in the McLaren garage with a problem on his engine. Button will prop up the grid today and he will be joined there by Alonso. The Spaniard qualified 16th but will be demoted to the back row after changes to elements within his Honda engine.
Kimi Raikkonen, the third world champion to be handed a grid penalty this weekend after he changed his gearbox, spun at turn one and parked his Ferrari with a brake issue. He qualified 15th but will start 18th with his penalty.
