Charles Leclerc took a shock pole position for the Mexico City Grand Prix, with Carlos Sainz in second to give Ferrari a remarkable front row lockout as reigning world champion Max Verstappen could only manage third.

Verstappen had been the class of the field throughout practice, topping all three sessions with Leclerc outside the top 10 in FP3 as Ferrari looked like fourth fastest at best.

But Ferrari came out of the bushes in Q3, Leclerc pumping in a sensational 1m 17.166, just 0.067s ahead of Sainz on the first runs with Verstappen a tenth back in third.

The trio headed back to the pits for fresh soft tyres but unusually, neither Ferrari could improve on their second runs. Verstappen did go quicker, but it still wasn’t enough to snatch pole, meaning Leclerc takes back-to-back poles.

Just behind them was Daniel Ricciardo, who delivered his best performance in years to take fourth.

The Australian has been quick all weekend in the AlphaTauri – and made the most of a tow from team mate Yuki Tsunoda in the first two segments of qualifying.

But when he went it alone in Q3 – with Tsunoda exiting in Q2 in the knowledge he’ll be starting from the back because of a series of penalties for engine and gearbox changes – he still got the job done, giving AlphaTauri their best grid slot of the year.