Lewis Hamilton became the oldest driver since 1982 to take a pole position after going quickest ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Q1
Despite having looked pretty decent up to this point in the weekend, Fernando Alonso would be unable to put in any sort of significant result in qualifying after he was forced to retire on track due to issues with his car, though he would at least manage to set a timed lap that would put him in 18th. This would in turn cause a red flag to come out, delaying the session for a few minutes.
Esteban Ocon was unceremoniously dropped by Haas after yesterday’s Free Practice 2 session, with the team confirming that 2-time World Endurance Championship winner Ryo Hirakawa would replace him for the rest of the weekend. Despite his best efforts, and teammate Ollie Bearman easily making it through to Q2, the 32-year-old rookie would only manage to go 19th fastest.
ELIMINATED
17. Alex Albon – Williams +0.109
18. Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin +0.387
19. Ryo Hirakawa – Haas +0.437
20. Lance Stroll – Aston Martin +0.551
21. Sergio Perez – Cadillac +0.584
22. Valtteri Bottas – Cadillac +1.331 (50 PLACE GRID PENALTY)
Q2
Turn 13 was proving to be a very difficult corner for some drivers throughout this part of qualifying, with both Norris and Hamilton throwing away perfectly good laps as a result of going deep there. This would cause each of them to spend time in the elimination zone, but both were comfortably able to make it through to Q3.
The same cannot be said though for Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri. He appeared to struggle all throughout Q2, and ended up being surprisingly knocked out in this session, having only gone 13th fastest. He complained after the session was over that he had no rear grip throughout his final flying lap.
ELIMINATED
11. Nico Hulkenberg – Audi +0.028
12. Franco Colapinto – Alpine +0.362
13. Oscar Piastri – McLaren +0.368
14. Gabriel Bortoleto – Audi +0.402
15. Ollie Bearman – Haas +0.569
16. Carlos Sainz – Williams +1.607
Q3
Leclerc would be the quickest after everyone set their first provisional lap times, with Verstappen not far behind, less than half a tenth separating the top 2. Meanwhile, Norris and Hamilton both had looked as though they were in the conversation for pole position throughout qualifying, meaning the final fight for top spot would be close.
During the drivers’ final runs, Russell had come out of nowhere to place himself on top for a brief period of time, before Hamilton was able to snatch pole position from him by just 9 thousandths of a second. Leclerc and Antonelli would try next, but neither were getting close to setting the fastest lap.
The only driver that looked like they could challenge for top spot after Hamilton’s lap was Max Verstappen, who was actually up on Hamilton’s time after sector 2. However, turn 13 proved to be a difficult corner once again, and the Red Bull driver locked up and abandoned his lap. Despite going 4th fastest, he will start tomorrow’s race in 5th after receiving a 1-place grid penalty for a tussle with Lawson during Free Practice, who himself has a 1-place grid penalty as well.
The result means that Hamilton has achieved his 105th pole position in Formula 1, and his first since the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix when he was still at Mercedes. It also makes him the oldest driver to take a pole position in F1 since the 1982 Italian Grand Prix, where Mario Andretti got pole position.
Qualifying Results
1. Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari 1:16.514
2. George Russell – Mercedes +0.009
3. Charles Leclerc – Ferrari+0.119
4. Max Verstappen – Red Bull+0.178 (1 PLACE GRID PENALTY)
5. Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes +0.193
6. Lando Norris – McLaren +0.310
7. Isack Hadjar – Red Bull +0.386
8. Liam Lawson – Racing Bulls +0.515 (1 PLACE GRID PENALTY)
9. Arvid Lindblad – Racing Bulls +0.603
10. Pierre Gasly – Alpine +0.639
