Lewis Hamilton took his first pole position for Ferrari and his first in over three years at the Mexico Grand Prix.
The seven-time F1 champion beat Mercedes’ George Russell by 0.009 seconds as the two drivers who can potentially prevent Kimi Antonelli from winning the world title on Sunday locked out the front row.
Antonelli qualified fifth behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, but will start fourth due to a one-place penalty for the Dutchman.
The only way to stop Antonelli from winning the title is if Russell wins and the Italian finishes lower than ninth, or if Hamilton wins and Antonelli is out of the points.
Hamilton’s pole is his first since the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix, three years and three months ago, and the 105th of his career.
He is the oldest driver to take a pole since Mario Andretti for Ferrari at the 1982 Italian Grand Prix.
He and Russell both came out early for their first runs and had to watch their rivals search and fail to beat them.
Leclerc went first, ahead of Hamilton by 0.119 seconds. Antonelli was never in the mix but Verstappen was fastest of all after two sectors and on course to take pole.
But the Dutchman got stuck in the stadium hairpin and wasted his lap.
“Oh man, I’m at a loss for words,” Hamilton said. “It’s been a really tough weekend. We had an engine problem yesterday which meant we were behind and didn’t have a long run.
“We did a really good job on the set-up and to get pole here, wow, that’s special. It’s my first pole for Ferrari, and 105th, I love that number.”
“To get your first Ferrari pole, it reminds me of seeing Michael (Schumacher) get all those poles when he was at Ferrari and all those wins.”
Hamilton had only finished fourth in the opening runs, more than 0.4 seconds behind Leclerc’s time. But on his final run, he said: “I don’t think I lost any time anywhere. It was a really good lap.”
Gn sports
