Lewis Hamilton had been expecting a weekend of damage limitation in Mexico City with the front row looking out of reach after dominating practice performances from his Red Bull rivals heading into qualifying.
But the tables were well and truly turned on Saturday afternoon at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, with Hamilton and his Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas pulling off a surprise 1-2 in a dramatic finish to the session.
"I really have no idea," Hamilton told the media in parc ferme after the end of qualifying when asked how they had managed it. "They were like six tenths ahead at some stage, then four tenths.
"But whatever happened, we went into qualifying and we had better pace," he continued. "I'm just as shocked as everyone, but we'll take it!
"It's really great for the team, they've been working so hard. We didn't think we had the pace this weekend, so to lock out the front row is pretty special."
Bottas will start from pole after posting a final round time of 1:15.875s which was 0.145s quicker than Hamilton's best, but the Briton wasn't begrudging the top spot to the Finn in the circumstances.
"Valtteri did an amazing job. I'm so proud of Valtteri," he said. "I mean naturally I'd love to be in his position, but he did a fantastic Q3 run one. I gave it my all, but he did a better job today.
"He's been driving so well in these last few races," he added.
Now the challenge will be staying ahead of the two front rows when the lights go out at the start of tomorrow's race and in the run down to the first corner, with all the front runners set to start on the same medium compound.
"We'll have a good fight with the others tomorrow," Hamilton pledged.
He's currently 12 points behind Verstappen in the drivers championship with five races remaining, making this weekend's outcome crucial.
Mercedes haver a 23 point lead over Red Bull in the constructors standings, which is proving to be the closest battle of the modern hybrid era. Both Hamilton and Mercedes are bidding for record-breaking eighth titles.
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