Lewis Hamilton managed to take pole position ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix, with Rosberg improving on his final lap to move from fourth to second place. Red Bull were next in line, once again, but it was Nico Hülkenberg that sprung a surprise and hustled his Force India into fifth place. There were two Williams in the top ten, whilst Carlos Sainz rounded out the field in Q3.

Further back, Pascal Wehrlein got into Q2 but went no further than 16th. Jolyon Palmer was unable to participate in qualifying after cracking the chassis of his Renault over the kerbs in final practice. Romain Grosjean finished last, then, after locking up on his first flying lap, running out of fuel on his second, and being held up by his teammate spinning on his final attempt.