Mexican F1 Grand Prix 2017 Qualifying: Sebastian Vettel Takes Pole

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel took pole position for Sunday's Mexican F1 Grand Prix for the 50th of his career, while Max Verstappen finished in second place and championship leader Lewis Hamilton in third.

Verstappen had been the man to beat in qualifying, but Vettel came up with the goods late by 0.086 seconds. Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen ended in fifth.

Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas make it an all-Mercedes second row. Vettel needs to win the race and hope Hamilton does not finish in the top five on Sunday if he is keep his title hopes alive.

Formula One provided Saturday's final results from Mexico City:

Recap

There was no Pierre Gasly for qualifying. The Frenchman managed just two laps in the final practice before engine trouble forced him to stop, per F1 on NBC Sports:

That meant four drivers missed qualifying for Q2—Haas drivers Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean and Sauber drivers Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein.

Brendon Hartley was the next to go, handing team Toro Rosso further misery after he lost power early in Q2 and was forced out of the session.

Meanwhile, Max Verstappen was setting the pace, going a half-second quicker than his rivals with a stunning lap, as BBC Sport's Andrew Benson highlighted:

At the other end of the standings, Williams duo Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll and McLaren's Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne were all out in Q2.

The Formula One Twitter account provided the standings at the end of the session:

Verstappen was again the man to beat in Q3, going quicker than Vettel and Hamilton to take provisional pole. 

However, drama followed, as the 20-year-old went under investigation for blocking Valteri Bottas, per Sky Sports F1:

Mercedes were happy to give their view of the incident:

There was more excitement to follow. Vettel snatched pole at the end of the session with a brilliant lap that impressed commentator Jonathan Legard:

Mercedes may have been surprised by the pace of the Red Bulls, but Vettel showed he is unwilling to give up the title fight just yet.

Hamilton may not be too disappointed to be third, knowing that a top-five finish will be enough to secure the championship if Vettel wins on Sunday.