Verstappen: It doesn't look like the car will get any better in the race.

      Max Verstappen qualified fifth in Mexico, nearly five-tenths of a second behind polesitter Lando Norris. Speaking about the upcoming race, the Red Bull Racing driver said he needs rivals to retire in order to finish in a higher position.

      Yuki Tsunoda did not make the final qualifying segment, setting the eleventh-fastest time. However, thanks to Carlos Sainz's penalty he will start tenth.

      Max Verstappen (5th): “If we knew what was wrong with the car, we would have fixed it. Unfortunately, we don't know. We've tried a lot of solutions, but none of them were good enough. So you can't say we didn't try, we just haven't found the solution.

      We kept trying to fix the situation in qualifying, and in some corners the car didn't behave as it should. In some corners it improved, but in others it got worse, so I couldn't attack. Already after the first run in the first segment I knew we were unlikely to get much.

      It will be difficult to recover in the race because of the lack of pace. I need rivals to retire in order to move up. Every lap I've done this weekend hasn't been good enough. Neither on a quick lap nor over long runs was the car in its optimal operating window. It doesn't seem like the race will suddenly turn out better.”

      Yuki Tsunoda (11th): “The fight in qualifying was very tight. At least I wasn't that far off my teammate, which can be taken as a good sign. But it's a pity I was one hundredth of a second short of making the final.

      Overall I feel I'm having a better weekend, I think. I've been consistent in every session, and that's a good sign. I just lacked the pace to make the final. It seems the team has more issues at this track than we expected. At least before qualifying I looked pretty decent.”