Hamilton and teammate Russell 'will go for it' and challenge for Mexican GP win

Lewis Hamilton said an engine problem derailed his chances of beating Max Verstappen to pole position for Sunday's Mexican Grand Prix.

A day after his Red Bull team were fined $7 million for breaching Formula 1's financial rules last year, Verstappen delivered a breathless lap in the thin Mexico City air to take the qualifying spoils.

George Russell finished second, 0.304 seconds behind Verstappen, with Hamilton 0.309secs further back.

Hamilton finished runner-up to Verstappen at last weekend's United States Grand Prix before promptly ruling out any hope of ending the campaign with a victory ahead of the final three rounds.

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Taking the fight to Red Bull

However, just six days later, Hamilton, armed with a new front wing on his Mercedes, had a machine capable of taking the fight to Verstappen and Red Bull.

Hamilton's first lap in Q3 was deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 3. He then complained about the lack of speed from his machinery.

"I have got drivability issues," he reported to his race engineer, Peter Bonnington over the radio. "Power dropping out."

Hamilton returned to the track for his final run, and was just 0.014secs adrift of Verstappen after the second sector.

But the seven-time world champion was unable to carry his pace through the final third of the lap, finishing a distant three-tenths back.

"We had some problems with the engine towards the end, and there was definitely a bit of performance left on the table," said Hamilton.

"The problem started to appear in Q2, and then after that, every run in Q3. I was dropping out of power on the exit of corners. It felt like an ignition issue, but I will find out more from