Lewis Hamilton claims 105th pole position at Mexico City Grand Prix

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton had claimed his 105th career pole position at the Mexico City Grand Prix, beating Mercedes’ George Russell and teammate Charles Leclerc.

Feature image credit: Ferrari Media Centre

Hamilton has became the fourth-oldest pole sitter in Formula 1 history as the seven-time world champion took his first-ever Ferrari Grand Prix pole at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

It marks his first-ever pole position since 2023, when Hamilton took his last pole for Mercedes, beating his former teammate, George Russell by 0.009 seconds.

Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli could only best fifth place, but it will turn into fourth after Red Bull’s Max Verstappen serves his grid penalty for his FP2 collision with Racing Bull’s Liam Lawson.

But even if the grand prix was to finish as it starts with Hamilton and Russell in first and second, and Antonelli in fourth, the young Italian championship leader will still earn enough points to claim the world drivers title.

Lando Norris takes fastest lap of Mexico City GP final practice

Q1

With the field full of the 22 drivers ready to take the track, a handful immediately went out when the pit exit light turned green to signal the start of qualifying, including Cadillac’s home hero, Sergio Perez. 

This also included Haas’ Ryo Hirakawa who entered his first-ever F1 qualifying performance on Saturday after it was announced, ahead of the final hour of practice, he would replace Esteban Ocon at the American outfit. 

With little over 10 minutes left on the clock, everyone had either put a lap time on the board, or were out on track to set a time. However a red flag was flown, just as Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton topped the timing boards – by a narrow margin – as Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was instructed to stop the car out on track.

The Spaniard was noted for a general safety infringement, following his on-track retirement as he dropped to 18th fastest overall by the chequered flag.  

At the time of the red flag, Hamilton’s time remained with the seven-time world champion occupying the fastest lap so far, 0.340 seconds ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri with Alonso sitting third. 

When the session resumed, Leclerc jumped to the top of the timing boards with his first meaningful lap around the Mexican track, beating McLaren’s Lando Norris and Antonelli, by two and three tenths, respectively. 

By the end of the first third of qualifying, Hamilton sat as the pacesetter, ahead of Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar and Leclerc. 

Q1 Eliminations

22 – Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac +2.511s

21 – Sergio Perez, Cadillac +1.764s

20 – Lance Stroll, Aston Martin +1.731s

19 – Ryo Hirakawa, Haas +1.617s

18 – Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin +1.567s

17 – Alexander Albon, Williams +1.289s

Pacesetter: Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Esteban Ocon replaced at Haas for remainder of Mexico City Grand Prix

Q2

When qualifying resumed, the two Mercedes were the first cars to head out onto the track with Antonelli heading his championship rival and teammate, George Russell ahead of the Audi pairing. 

Of the opening laps, a couple of drivers struggled to get a clean lap in with both McLaren’s Lando Norris and Hamilton locking up at turn 13, with both drivers finding themselves down in ninth and 10th, respectively. 

However, as the seven-time world champion exceeded track limits, his lap time was soon deleted. 

After the banker laps, Verstappen set the pace with a 1m 16.876s lap, ahead of Leclerc with Hamilton quickly jumping up to third-fastest on his first solid lap of Q2. The gap to Verstappen was narrow with only 0.077 seconds separating Hamilton from Verstappen. 

By the end of the second third, Verstappen and Hamilton quickly returned to the pit lane to box, for the session, with the Dutchman taking the second fastest lap, having been pipped by Norris at the last call of Q2. 

However, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was a shock elimination in qualifying as the Australian could only best 13th fastest, 0.918 seconds off his teammate’s best time. 

Q2 Eliminations

16 – Carlos Sainz, Williams +2.157s

15 – Oliver Bearman, Haas +1.355s

14 – Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi +0.952s

13 – Oscar Piastri, McLaren 0.918s 

12 – Franco Colapinto, Alpine +0.912s

11 – Nico Hulkenberg, Audi +0.578s

Pacesetter: Lando Norris, McLaren

Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson hit with grid penalty for FP2 collision

Q3

In a similar fashion to Q2, both Mercedes were the first cars to head out onto the track, with Antonelli continuing to lead the way out of the pit lane ahead of Russell and Norris, respectively, as the rest of the field started to peel out onto the track. 

However, despite the Mercedes running the order of Antonelli-Russell, as the pair ventured through the stadium section, Russell overtook Antonelli to get the first push lap done, in a planned move. 

But, the Briton quickly backed out of his timed lap by turn four. Ferrari, on the other hand, were able to head straight out and dial in a lap. 

As such, Leclerc set the provisional pole time for the rest to beat; a 1m 16.647s, 0.422 seconds faster than Hamilton, who made a mistake in the second sector.

After the banker laps, Leclerc remained the benchmark to beat, with Verstappen and Norris occupying second and third respectively, a minimum of 0.045 (Verstappen) behind the Monegasque.

Hadjar, on the other hand, had his lap time deleted for exceeding track limits in the stadium section. The Frenchman was quickly placed under investigation for going over the white line on the pit entry.

With less than four minutes left of the session, the drivers started to peel into the track for their final runs of Q3.

However, in the final runs of Q3, Russell initially took pole position with a 1m 16.523s lap, but Hamilton managed to pip his compatriot by 0.009 seconds to claim his first pole position since Hungary 2023.

Top 10

10 – Pierre Gasly, Alpine +0.639s

9 – Arvid Lindbald, Racing Bulls +0.603s

8 – Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls +0.515s

7 – Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing +0.386s

6 – Lando Norris, McLaren +0.310s

5 – Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes +0.193s 

4 – Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing +0.178s

3 – Charles Leclerc, Ferrari +0.119s

2 – George Russell, Mercedes +0.009s

1 – Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari – 1m 16.514s

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