Watch Mexican GP qualifying from 7pm on Sky Sports F1, with build-up from 6pm
Saturday 26 October 2019 19:28, UK
Ferrari will bid to extend their stranglehold on F1's pole position to six races in Saturday evening's Mexican GP qualifying hour - with Mercedes admitting their rivals currently seem "almost unbeatable" over a single lap.
Heading into Saturday's action and the centrepiece of qualifying - which begins at 7pm on Sky Sports F1, with build-up from 6pm - Ferrari reinforced predictions they are the team to beat in Mexico City by topping second practice.
Although pacesetting Sebastian Vettel's margin over second-quickest Max Verstappen was only a tenth of a second, the Red Bull driver insisted: "I don't think we can fight with them in qualifying."
Mercedes were more significantly off the pace, with Lewis Hamilton pointing to a "massive" deficit to Ferrari down the circuit's long straights.
It has been world champions Mercedes who have long been regarded as F1's qualifying kings but they have not been on pole since the German GP in July - a run of six races. Verstappen took the one non-Ferrari pole in that time, in Hungary.
"I think it's an accurate reflection of performance and you can see that the Ferrari on a Saturday is almost unbeatable," said Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff.
"They are able to up their game from Friday to Saturday and once all the power kicks in that they have available, it's very difficult to compensate for the loss in straight line.
"But I don't want to diminish their performance with the rest of the chassis either. They just seem to have the strongest car on Saturday."
However, Ferrari insist they are braced for a "very close" battle for Saturday honours, with neither Vettel nor Charles Leclerc left completely happy after Friday's running.
Vettel described himself as "the gardener of Turn One" in opening practice after several unwanted excursions off the track, while Leclerc twice spun in the later session.
Nonetheless, Leclerc did acknowledge: "Our qualifying performance was good and the car looks quite competitive here."
Underlining the standout nature of Ferrari's current qualifying run, the Scuderia's best-ever sequence of consecutive poles is seven, which they have achieved twice before - first in 1952-53 and then again across two seasons in 2000-01.
By contrast, Williams (24), Mercedes (23), McLaren (17) and Red Bull (16) have all achieved significantly longer periods of Saturday domination.
Saturday, October 26
3.45pm: Mexican GP Practice Three Build-up (Simulcast on Sky Sports Main Event)
4pm: Mexican GP Practice Three (Simulcast on Sky Sports Main Event)
6pm: Mexican GP Qualifying Build-up
7pm: Mexican GP Qualifying
8.30pm: The F1 Show (Simulcast on Sky Sports Main Event)
Sunday, October 27
5.30pm: Mexican GP Pit Lane Live
6.30pm: Mexican GP On The Grid
7.10pm: THE MEXICAN GRAND PRIX (Simulcast on Sky Sports Main Event)
9pm: Mexican GP Paddock Live
10pm: The Notebook
10.30pm: Mexican GP Highlights
11.30pm: Mexican GP Best Bits
(Mexican GP Race Replay at 00:00 Monday, October 28)
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