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Lewis Hamilton will start on pole for the Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix on Sunday. It's yet another front row lockout for Mercedes, who have already secured the Constructor's Championship for the season, as Nico Rosberg lines up next to his teammate on the grid.
Calling them teammates at this stage is a bit of a misnomer, as the two are competing for the Driver's Championship, for which Rosberg has a narrow 26-point lead going into Mexico. Sunday's race will be carried by NBC in the United States, with a live stream available online via NBC Sports. The race will get underway from the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez at 3 p.m. ET.
Hamilton broke a five-race skid of no wins by taking the United States Grand Prix last week. Hamilton dealt with starting issues and other car problems in the previous races, four of which were won by Rosberg. Only Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull was able to secure a win for a non-Mercedes team in that stretch.
Ricciardo will start fourth on the grid on Sunday, behind Hamilton, Rosberg and teammate Max Verstappen. This was a surprise to Ricciardo, who thought he would have qualified in a worse position due to his car feeling bad throughout the weekend.
"I don't know how we're so close to pole," Ricciardo told reporters in Mexico. "I think four-tenths or something. I guess everyone just had handling issues out there. I thought it was terrible balance."
Behind the two Red Bull drivers is Nico Hulkenberg of Force India, surprisingly. Hulkenberg finished ahead of both Ferrari drivers. He said that his car simply felt great, and that it only got better throughout the session.
"It's obviously not a low-downforce track but due to the altitude it's quite low-downforce," Hulkenberg said after qualifying on Saturday. "Track evolution just seemed to help the car and pick up the balance and the pace for us. And perhaps we did a good job as well understanding the tires, getting them into the sweet spot."
Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel take the spots behind Hulkenberg. After starting the season looking like the only team that would push the Mercedes, the Ferraris have faded fast. Their pace has been good throughout the races, but they are unable to actually push Mercedes and are now struggling against Red Bull.
Vettel called his session "horrible" while guiding his car back to the pit lane at the end of the qualifying session. He was also concerned by the fact that Ferrari cars did better on the soft tires than on the super soft tires, when the inverse should be true for the tire compounds. The softer the tire, the quicker the degradation but the faster it's supposed to run.
"We were just not quick enough," Vettel said. "Struggling on the super-softs."
Behind Vettel are the Williams cars of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa. Carlos Sainz rounds out the top 10 for Toro Rosso, just ahead of the McLaren of Fernando Alonso. After getting points in their home race last week, the American-owned Haas team definitely under-performed in qualifying for Mexico.
Esteban Gutierrez starts on the ninth row while Romain Grosjean will start in the back row, ahead of only Jolyon Palmer. Below is a full lineup and starting grid for Sunday's race, which again will be broadcast on NBC, with a live stream online available via NBC Sports here and a start time of 3 p.m. All that info, including links, will be posted below as well.
Full starting grid for Mexican Grand Prix
Position | Driver | Team | Lap time |
1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:18.704 |
2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:18.958 |
3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:19.054 |
4 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:19.133 |
5 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:19.330 |
6 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:19.376 |
7 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:19.381 |
8 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:19.551 |
9 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:20.032 |
10 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:20.378 |
11 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1:20.282 |
12 | Sergio Pérez | Force India | 1:20.287 |
13 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:20.673 |
14 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault | 1:21.131 |
15 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:21.536 |
16 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor | 1:21.785 |
17 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas | 1:21.401 |
18 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1:21.454 |
19 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1:21.692 |
20 | Esteban Ocon | Manor | 1:21.881 |
21 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1:21.916 |
22 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | No time |
How to Watch the F1 Mexican Grand Prix on Sunday
Time: 3 p.m. ET
Location: Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City, Mexico
TV: NBC
Online Streaming: NBC Sports