2021 Mexican GP Qualifying Tips

There are two bets for today’s 2021 Mexican GP qualifying session which are worth taking before FP3 takes place, as their odds may shorten. You can see James Punt’s pre-race preview here.

The first two practice sessions have given us a decent guide as to what to expect on Saturday and Sunday. The first session was not a great guide as the track was super dirty and was not really fit for purpose. As the cars running cleaned it up and laid some rubber down, the times set became more realistic.

Red Bull hold the whip hand but Mercedes are reasonably upbeat and they may close the gap to Verstappen today, but it was a big gap on a short lap and their main job will be to try and prevent an all Red Bull front frow.

Verstappen Fav For Pole

Max is the 1.50 favourite to be the fastest qualifier, which is a fair refection of his chances, maybe a touch generous if anything. Mercedes may try and orchestrate Bottas to give Hamilton a tow down the long straight in Q3, but that is easier to say than do on a short track.

Bottas has been faster than Hamilton in both sessions so far and it could be that he out qualifies Hamilton. Bottas is better on very low grip surfaces and the dusty, dirty track yesterday was in his comfort zone. The more the track cleans up and more rubber goes down, it should move things in Hamilton’s favour. Whether that happens in time for Q3 is the question.

The last time we were here, Verstappen qualified over 0.5 seconds ahead of Mercedes and while Mercedes think they have closed that kind of gap, I think a qualifying winning margin of over 0.25 seconds is realistic. Verstappen’s onboard for his fastest lap looked like he was out for a Sunday drive, he certainly wasn’t ringing the cars neck.

2021 Mexican GP qualifying Tip: 1 point qualifying winning margin over 0.25 seconds @ 2.75 with BET365

The two teams vying for best of the rest is not McLaren and Ferrari, but Alpha Tauri and Ferrari. Carlos Sainz was best of the rest in FP2, Gasly in FP1. They both finished top 6 in both sessions. Gasly never really hooked up a perfect lap while Ferrari are not entirely happy with the balance of their car. Both have room for improvement.

Leclerc is 2.00 favourite to be the fastest qualifier without the big 4, Sainz 3.00 and Gasly 3.25. It will be very close, but the value looks to lie with Alpha Tauri’s Gasly.

2021 Mexican GP Qualifying Tip: 1 point Pierre Gasly to be the fastest qualifier without the big 4 @ 3.25 with Ladbrokes

-JamesPunt