Mexico F1 Grand Prix 2015: Nico Rosberg on pole again ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton

German quicker in qualifying than newly-crowned world champion for second race running

Nico Rosberg took his fourth consecutive pole position (Getty)

Getting inside this track involves running a gauntlet of Mexico City’s utter chaos, but once in you enter a magical world.

The old track, named after great racing brothers Ricardo and Pedro Rodriguez, has not been used since 1992 and has been revamped for this Mexican Grand Prix. The old banked 180-degree right-hand corner, the daunting Peraltada where Nigel Mansell spectacularly overtook Gerhard Berger round the outside in the 1990 race, sadly lies behind massive grandstands – through which weaves a spectacular stadium section.

The effect of the charismatic venue on F1 cars is also magical. It is 2,200m above sea level, and though everyone is running maximum, Monaco-style downforce the cars have been topping out over 360kmh in the thin air on the 1.2km front straight – 25 kilometres faster than Monza.

Yesterday the track was slippery after overnight rain washed away what rubber the drivers had lain down. Nico Rosberg began his campaign to beat the newly recrowned team-mate Lewis Hamilton by taking his fourth consecutive pole position by 0.188sec after a hard-fought qualifying session which saw Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel sitting menacingly right behind the two Mercedes drivers.

Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo pushed their surprisingly competitive Red Bulls fourth and fifth, separated by a thousandth of a second.

To the delight of the crowd – 89,000 on Friday – the home driver Sergio Perez was sixth fastest, while another, Esteban Gutierrez, has been confirmed as a Haas F1 driver for 2016. Mexico is enjoying a new sporting era.

So is Hamilton, who despite endless interviews and engagements is super-relaxed after clinching his title last week in Austin. He admitted that he isn’t giving too much thought to his future right now but said: “I watched Michael Schumacher and how long he raced. There are only 20 seats in F1 – 22 next year – and for every year Michael stayed there was one seat less for someone else to come along.”

He added: “Right now I just want to see how things evolve. I see my future as my F1 period, and then beyond. All I ever wanted growing up was to do something similar to Ayrton [Senna], I never said that I wanted to equal him. Now that I have matched his titles, I’ll see where I can take it. And I will continue to give it my all.”