Ricciardo 'tripping' after clinching Mexico pole

Going into qualifying for the Mexican Grand Prix, all eyes had been on Max Verstappen. But when the dust settled, it was his Red Bull team mate Daniel Ricciardo who had actually clinched pole position for Sunday's race.

In the process he thwarted Verstappen's hopes of becoming F1's youngest ever pole sitter.

Coming into qualifying, Verstappen had been dominant in all three practice sessions and was also fastest in Q2. But after claiming provisional pole with his first run in Q3, Verstappen was beaten by Ricciardo by just 0.026s.

“I knew it was there," Ricciardo insisted afterwards. "I knew it was there somewhere.

“I knew the pace was in the car," he continued. "Max showed that all weekend from start to finish. So I just knew it was about putting together a clean lap at the end.

• Stunning Ricciardo denies Verstappen in Red Bull lock-out

“We hadn’t had the cleanest run through practice, and I just knew putting a lap together would be crucial as always," he said. “I am still wasn't convinced it was the cleanest!

"I believe it was super close with Max. I heard it was a few hundredths or thousandths."

Ricciardo was clearly thrilled by his achievement, and after the end of the session he admitted that he needed a few minutes to get a grip and calm down.

"Once I heard I got pole - I have got to relax a little, I am tripping major nut sack right now!" he said with his trademark vibrant turn of phrase.

Amazingly it's only his third pole position in Formula 1, after twice starting at the front in Monaco.

“To do it here ... that one makes it special as well," he admitted. "Obviously, Monaco is the only place I had ever done this.

With Verstappen holding on to second place on the grid, it's Red Bull's first front row lock-out in almost five years and their first in the turbo hybrid era.

"Shout-out to the team, it is a 1-2," said Ricciardo. "I don’t know the last time Red Bull got a 1-2 in qualifying, so that's pretty cool."

In fact the last time that Red Bull pulled off that achievement was in the 2013 United States Grand Prix, when Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber did the business at the Circuit of the Americas.

Even though Ricciardo is set to leave the team at the end of the season, Red Bull boss Christian Horner was every bit as delighted for his achievement on Saturday as the driver was himself.

"Daniel did the better job in Q3 and deserves the pole," he told Sky Sports F1. "Where did that lap come from? It was just mighty.

"He's been a couple of tenths off all weekend and then suddenly that last set of tyres - boom, it was just absolutely perfect.

"After Daniel's [recent run of] bad luck I'm so happy for him."

"To have two Red Bull cars on the front row for the first time since Austin 2013, for the team is just phenomenal.

"We've put a lot of effort into this race, but we knew this race for us represents a chance. We've converted half of it today getting that front row lock-out. But you can see at this altitude when the engines just concertina a bit we're right there.

"The drivers have delivered their bit, the team has gone a great job today so we've just got to covert it to a big result tomorrow."

As great as a 1-2 lock-out is for the team, it does come with the potential headache of two hard-headed team mates going into the first corner of tomorrow's race both absolutely determined to come out on top.

"Synchronised driving down into turn 1 and drive as wide as you can!" Horner said when asked what he would tell Ricciardo and Verstappen overnight in order to come out on top in the race over Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel.

"They've got to be more focussed on what those guys are doing then too focussed on themselves," he said. "They're free to race but they've got to keep it clean. The race isn't going to be won at the first corner."

"We'll discuss all these things in the briefing," he added. "The moment now is to enjoy the qualifying, let them reflect on it, and then focus on the race."

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