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Mexican F1 Grand Prix 2019 Qualifying: Saturday's Results, Times, Final Grid
October 26, 2019
Red Bull's Max Verstappen has been stripped of his pole position for Sunday's Formula One Mexican Grand Prix after being given a three-place grid penalty for failing to slow for yellow flags at the end of qualifying:
Verstappen had snatched top spot with a time of one minute, 15.949 seconds to secure just the second pole position of his career but will now start the race in fourth place on the grid.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc is promoted to pole position for Sunday's race, and he will be joined on the front row by team-mate Sebastian Vettel.
Championship leader Lewis Hamilton qualified in fourth but moves up to third and will win his sixth world championship if he finishes 14 points ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas on Sunday.
Here is a look at the standings after the final qualifying session in Mexico City:
BBC Sport's Jennie Gow showed the revised order after Verstappen's penalty:
Verstappen produced a stunning lap to secure pole, beating Leclerc by 0.266 seconds to put himself on course to win the Mexican Grand Prix for a third year in a row.
Yet the 22-year-old was summoned by stewards after the session for failing to slow under waved yellow flags after Bottas crashed heavily, as shown by Rachel Brookes at Sky Sports:
The two Ferraris showed their pace throughout practice, and Leclerc topped the standings ahead of Vettel in Saturday's final session. The team could not match Verstappen in qualifying, but the Red Bull driver's penalty means the team have now claimed their sixth consecutive pole position.
Neither Ferrari could beat Verstappen late in the session because of Bottas' crash. The Mercedes driver hit the barrier at the final corner, which brought out yellow warning flags:
Bottas managed to walk away from the crash and was taken to the medical centre for a check-up after the session. Mercedes announced he was later given the all clear:
McLaren duo Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris will start behind Bottas, while the Toro Rosso pair of Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly complete the top 10.
Further back, it was another disappointing day for Daniel Ricciardo and Renault. Ricciardo took pole position in last year's race while with Red Bull, but he starts in 13th behind team-mate Nico Hulkenberg. Kimi Raikkonen is behind Ricciardo in the Alfa Romeo, with team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi alongside him in 15th.
Williams and Haas saw both of their drivers eliminated in the first qualifying session along with Racing Point's Lance Stroll. Robert Kubica was over 1.3 seconds behind team-mate George Russell as the Williams team failed to make it into Q2 again.