Lewis Hamilton has taken his first Ferrari Grand Prix pole and become the oldest driver to take pole since 1982, as he beat George Russell by a hundredth in qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix. The seven-time champion took his first Grand Prix pole since Budapest 2023, further extending the record for most poles to a hundred and five.
Hamilton’s return to the front was further rewarded as his two decades’ worth of experience saw him narrowly beat his former teammate. He is the oldest driver to secure a pole, in the Grand Prix format, since Mario Andretti for Ferrari at the 1982 Italian Grand Prix.
Ferrari has been without a pole all season, but snatched back pole for the team from Russell, who had gone faster on his final run than Charles Leclerc. Hamilton made a huge four-tenths improvement and jumped from fourth to push Leclerc off provisional pole.
It sets Hamilton and Russell up for a must-win race if they are both to keep their slim hopes of a championship alive. They will also need Antonelli not to score if they are to keep the championship going; Ferrari has appeared quick and, in the mix, going into qualifying, but that was with Leclerc.
Hamilton said, “We’ve done a really good job on the setup and to have pole here, wow, it feels special. It’s my first pole for Ferrari, and 105th, I like that number. To have your first Ferrari pole, it takes me back to watching Michael [Schumacher] get all those poles when he was at Ferrari and all those wins.”
Russell, who will start on the front row in P2: “It’s been a tricky few races for me, still struggling to get on top of this car to be honest, because it’s been a very difficult weekend up until one lap in Q3. And to find half a second to almost get pole from Lewis [Hamilton], obviously it was really close in the end.
Leclerc, who finished third in qualifying: “I didn’t do a good job. The out laps were very difficult. I just didn’t do the job when I needed to. A bit disappointed, but to start third here, I guess not too bad. I was fighting with the car. At the end of the day, it is the same for everybody here. It is quite fun to push a car to the limit.”
When it mattered, the Monegasque was over a tenth further behind Russell as he went six hundredths faster than Max Verstappen, after both made errors on their last attempt. Kimi Antonelli was a hundredth and a half further behind; however, Antonelli and Verstappen will swap places on the grid because the Red Bull driver has a grid penalty after a collision with Liam Lawson in FP2.
Antonelli, who will be crowned F1’s youngest ever world champion on Sunday if he finishes ninth or higher, was almost two tenths off the pace in fifth. The Italian put his Mercedes a hundredth and a half faster ahead of outgoing champion Lando Norris.
The Englishman put his McLaren three quarters of a tenth faster than Isack Hadjar, as his teammate Oscar Piastri found himself knocked out in Q2. Hadjar put his Red Bull over a tenth faster than sister Racing Bulls, with Liam Lawson just under a tenth ahead of teammate Arvid Lindblad as Pierre Gasly completed the top ten.
Nico Hulkenberg was fastest of the drivers knocked out in Q2, the German missing out on progressing through to the final session by four hundredths. Franco Colapinto put his Alpine almost a quarter of a tenth behind Hulkenberg as he edged out Piastri by six thousandths of a second.
Gabriel Bortoletto was fourteenth as he went four tenths faster than Carlos Sainz. While Sainz made it through to Q2, his Williams teammate Alex Albon was just over a tenth slower and missed the cut.
Fernando Alonso went into qualifying with hopes of a decent session, and he lived up to it going third early on, though several of the big hitters were yet to set a time. But he was faster than several of his rivals, then it all unravelled during his second attempt when he was ordered to stop because of an engine issue.
Alonso’s frustration after a year of poor performance and reliability from the Honda engine was clear in an interview with the official television channel afterwards, when he said a total of nine words in answer to four questions. In those words, he confirmed it had been an engine problem, said “it was” a good opportunity and it was “correct” that the car has been looking good all weekend – but that he could not do anything in the race “from the back”.
Saturday started with a surprise announcement that Esteban Ocon would take no further part this weekend, with rumours suggesting a breakdown between the Frenchman and the team came to a head in FP2. His replacement, Ryo Hirakawa, was a tenth faster than Lance Stroll.
Ocon put out a statement on social media, denying reports suggesting that any form of physical violence was used to resolve any differences of any nature.
Sergio Perez will start his home Grand Prix from the back row, having been out-qualified by Cadillac teammate Valtteri Bottas by eight tenths.
