Mexico (AFP)

Max Verstappen (Red Bull-Honda) made his way to the Ferrari on Saturday, taking pole position for the Mexican GP ahead of Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel while Lewis Hamilton and the Mercedes stalled.

Hamilton will leave him in 4th position. He must score 14 points more than his teammate Valtteri Bottas on Sunday at the Rodriguez Brothers circuit in the Mexican capital to be crowned world champion for the 6th time.

However, he had a better qualifying session than Bottas, who destroyed his car in the final seconds by hitting the safety wall. He should start 6th, if his car is repaired without incurring penalty, on the same line as Verstappen's teammate Alexander Albon.

This accident could seriously jeopardize his last chances of beating Hamilton at the world championship.

The Finn was transported to the circuit medical center after his accident. "He's fine," however, assured his stable, while stating that the damage on his car was "very important".

"The track was very slippery and it was very difficult to get the tires working properly," said Verstappen after his feat.

Asked whether Bottas' accident had caused him to lift his foot in the last lap, he replied ironically, "that does not seem to have been the case".

Presented as the favorites of this Grand Prix, the 18th of the season out of 21, the Ferrari suffered the law of the Dutch and its Red Bull, decidedly very comfortable on this circuit where they have already won in 2017 and 2018.

"Max was just too fast for us today," said Leclerc. The Monegasque is tied for points with Verstappen at the world championship, behind Hamilton, Bottas and Vettel and the two young drivers have had some strong muscular passes in the last events.

"The race is tomorrow (Sunday) .We have a good speed and we should be able to take advantage of it," he hoped, while conceding that "we did not expect them to (Verstappen and Red Bull) are so strong. "

- Rain possible -

The rain could be inviting at the Grand Prix, which would considerably change the course of qualifying that took place in dry weather.

The Mexican circuit is the highest of all the season at more than 2,200 meters of altitude and the rarefaction of the air modifies the behavior of the cars as well as their aerodynamic supports.

Behind the three advanced teams, it is still the McLarens who have done well. Powered by a Renault engine, they achieved the 7th and 8th time with Carlos Sainz Jr. and Lando Norris, reinforcing their claim to be this year " the best of the rest in fourth place in the constructors' classification, already won by Mercedes in the last GP of Japan.

The Toro Rosso-Honda also made a group shot in 9th and 10th positions with the Russian Daniil Kvyat and the French Pierre Gasly.

This good performance could allow them to threaten the Renault for the 5th place in the constructors' ranking, where the French cars are only 6 points ahead of the "Junior team" of Redbull Racing, after their disqualification at the end of the GP of Japan for non-compliant braking system.

The Renault have had a difficult qualifying session on Saturday after being hampered by problems with the hydraulic circuit during free practice in the morning and will only occupy the 12th (Nico Hülkenberg) and 13th (Daniel Ricciardo) places on the starting grid Grand Prix starting at 13:10 local time (20:10 French time).

© 2019 AFP