Horner pins blame on junior driver Yuki Tsunoda for missed pole position

Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing were favourites for pole position in the Mexican Grand Prix weekend, but it was Mercedes who locked the front-row of the grid. Valtteri Bottas leads, with Hamilton in P2. Verstappen and Perez will line up on the second row of the grid. Christian Horner pins the blame on his junior driver Yuki Tsunoda for causing a distraction in Q3. 

In Q3, Sergio Perez managed to give Verstappen a tow down the main straight. Tsunoda ran wide, which distracted Perez who followed behind. In a conversation with Sky Sports, Horner highlights this. 

"I think we got Tsunodered. Both drivers were up, Max was up two and a half tenths, I don't understand why Tsunoda was cruising around on that part of the circuit. It's disappointing it affected both drivers, they are both pretty annoyed. We are still second row of the grid and we can still have a great race from there," Horner said.

Mercedes engines

Traditionally, Mercedes haven't performed well in Mexico compared to their strengths at over circuits around the world. Horner is concerned that his rivals have solved this problem. He looks towards the first corner at the start of Sunday's race. 

"We can see they've addressed issues they've had previously here. We underperformed in Q3, but it's going to be really tight. They've got a good straight-line speed here which is going to be tough. You've got to be careful here, you can't follow too long because temperatures get out of control. I think the first chance is down to turn one, you only have to look at replays to show it can get juicy. The tow is strongest down there," Horner added. 

"The guys will have a good look at it tonight, but the modification that's been done has addressed any concerns. I think we were concerned of a bit of fatigue, nothing serious but we just didn't want to take a risk on it," Horner said about the Red Bull wing which mechanics taped ahead of and during the session.