“It was our pole to have”

Russell topped both FP2 and FP3 for Mercedes at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, and looked to be in the fight for pole after sitting just 0.132s off Verstappen following the opening runs in Q3.

But Russell endured a scrappy final lap, struggling with oversteer at Turn 5 before running wide at Turn 12 at the end of the back straight. This caused him to run wide and ultimately lose time.

Verstappen found more time on his final lap to take pole by three-tenths of a…