Wolff surprised with pole: 'We were planning starting 3rd and 4th'

Mercedes managed to get both of their cars on the front-row of the grid for Sunday's Mexican Grand Prix. Valtteri Bottas starts from pole position, with Lewis Hamilton behind in P2. Team boss Toto Wolff says the sport "continues to amaze" after a sudden change in the timesheets. 

On paper, the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit is a track that favours Red Bull Racing. The higher altitude has traditionally favoured the Red Bull car even when they weren't competing for the World Championship. Through the weekend, Verstappen and Perez seemed to be at the top but Mercedes managed to suddenly improve from Q2 onwards. 

"This sport continues to amaze me. It can change so quickly from one session to another. In Austin, we were dominant on the Friday and lost the performance. Here we were far behind then suddenly in Q2 we unlocked the potential in the car and it came together," Wolff said in a conversation with Sky Sports. 

"I think we were thinking what are we doing starting third and fourth. Can that be an advantage and it is [maybe] a little advantage but I'm so happy we've gained a little bit of momentum and I hope it goes to the end of the season. In the end, momentum is a nice thing to have but you need to do a proper job. Session by session you learn about the car. Red Bull didn't seem to progress through qualifying." 

Engines

Ahead of the weekend, it was rumoured that Hamilton would take an engine penalty. Mercedes didn't follow through with this. Reliability problems have seemingly troubled the team throughout the year but Wolff is confident they'll get through this weekend without issue. He also notes the front-row start should help.  

"We played it pretty safe in terms of power unit cooling. But you are always marginal here. We're in a better position now with more clear air," Wolff added.