"Honestly didn't think that would be possible" - Max Verstappen on his performance at the Mexican GP qualifying

Max Verstappen was jubilant after qualifying in P2 for the F1 Mexican GP. The Red Bull driver had a poor start to the race weekend, where he hardly had any running in the car on Friday, October 25. As a result, he was coming into qualifying unsure of what he could achieve in the car.

All of it changed, however in Q3, when Verstappen took things up a notch. The Dutch driver's first lap was good enough for the front row but unfortunately, that lap was deleted due to track limits infringement. The driver was able to replicate his form as even his second lap ended up being second best once again.

For a driver who wasn't sure where the Red Bull would end up, Max Verstappen was pleasantly surprised when he realized that his pace in Q3 was good enough for him to end up in the top 2.

Talking to the media after qualifying, Max Verstappen said that he hadn't expected such a result. The driver had just a handful of laps under his belt on Friday and hence, his hopes on Saturday were not too high. When questioned about how he was feeling after qualifying in P2, the Dutchman said:

"Quite a lot [of pressure after the deleted lap]. Yesterday I barely didn't do a lot of laps so we were playing a lot of catch up. FP3 was already not very good so I was already under a lot of pressure to have a good qualifying. Then of course my lap time got taken away so it added a little bit more pressure. But very happy to be on the front row, I honestly didn't think that would be possible."

Max Verstappen's rival Lando Norris starts the race in P4

Max Verstappen's title rival Lando Norris didn't have the best of runs. The McLaren driver will be starting the race in P3 behind his rival. This did come as a surprise as Norris appeared to have the edge on the field until Q3. It was thus a surprise to see the McLaren driver struggling to keep up with Max Verstappen's laptime in Q3.

Talking about the lowly grid position compared to his expectations, Norris said,

"It’s always tough to say, but I’m pretty happy with third, honestly. I feel like I got to the limit of the car quite quickly, which made us look good. But I struggled to get a lot more out of it in the final two laps. Carlos and Max did good laps, especially Carlos has been very quick all weekend. I’m happy with third."

The two drivers are currently separated by 57 points with just 5 races left. The start of the race is going to be very interesting and we could see some action going into the first turn.