Lewis Hamilton’s long wait for pole position with Ferrari finally came to an end in Qualifying at the Mexico City Grand Prix, with the Briton beating Mercedes’ George Russell by the smallest of margins.
An incredibly close battle for the top spot culminated in Hamilton’s spectacular final effort of 1m 16.514s, taking him to new heights as he claimed the 105th pole of his F1 career.
Russell missed out by just 0.009s as he led Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen – who locked up on his last lap – and championship leader Kimi Antonelli, the top five separated by less than two-tenths.
McLaren’s immense pace from FP3 faded as Lando Norris wound up in P6, leading a frustrated Isack Hadjar who made an error that he struggled to bounce back from on his first effort in Q3.
Liam Lawson qualified P8 for Racing Bulls but will lose a position following his incident with Verstappen in FP2, as will the Dutchman. His team mate Arvid Lindblad will thus move from ninth to eighth, with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly rounding out the top 10.
The biggest shock of the session came in the form of Oscar Piastri’s Q2 elimination, with his high-pressure final lap not enough to warrant higher than P13 behind Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg (P11) and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto (P12).
Gabriel Bortoleto claimed 14th place in the second Audi from Ollie Bearman and Carlos Sainz, who outqualified his Williams team mate Alex Albon for the 14th time this season as the Briton settled for P17.
18th-placed Fernando Alonso joined him in being eliminated from Q1, having been ordered by Aston Martin to abandon the session due to a suspected water pressure issue linked to the ERS system.
Haas’ latest driver Ryo Hirakawa, who has replaced Esteban Ocon for the remainder of the weekend in Mexico City, finished a respectable P19 in his first F1 Qualifying hour while Lance Stroll, Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas completed the order.
More to follow…
