Lewis Hamilton capitalised on Ferrari’s strong pace from practice to take his first pole position for Ferrari at the Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix.
Heading into qualifying for the F1 Mexico City GP, Ferrari and McLaren had topped the timesheets during practice, with Mercedes not far behind. Max Verstappen and Red Bull seemed to struggle for pace at the circuit’s high altitude, but could not be ruled out of contention for pole position.
With rain forecast for Sunday’s race, grid position would be key for the long run down to Turn 1 on Sunday in the race. Would drivers sacrifice performance in the dry for an optimum wet weather advantage, or hope the warm weather would extend to Sunday?
Home hero Sergio Perez had an engine change ahead of Q1, though this fell within his allocation for the year, thereby not applicable for a grid penalty. Ryo Hirakawa made an unexpected debut for Haas after the American outfit dropped Esteban Ocon for this race, becoming the first Japanese driver to compete in F1 without competing in European series since Tora Takagi in 1998.
Q1
At the green light, cars took to the track after making their way through the queue, with those at the back of the grid venturing out first. All were on the softs, but Aston Martin had ambitions to progress to Q2 with both cars. Track evolution saw the lap times begin tumble immediately, with the lead cars not venturing out a good three minutes after the backmarkers and midfield.
But everyone’s laps were curtailed at the 11-minute mark when Aston Martin asked Fernando Alonso to pull over to the side of the track after discovering a suspected water issue linked to the ERS system, bringing out the Red Flag. Q2 ambitions now decimated, Alonso’s frustration was clear, banging his steering wheel at a lost result.
Most opted not to take chances staying in the garage, with everyone waiting at the end of the pitlane three minutes before the session resumed. Once all the runs were completed, Charles Leclerc led the way, from Lando Norris and Max Verstappen. Down in the elimination zone, Alex Albon, the now out Alonso, Hirakawa, Lance Stroll and both Cadillacs found themselves with work to do with two minutes to go.
At the chequered flag, a flurry of personal bests from Carlos Sainz pushed his teammate into the bottom six, while the rest couldn’t improve, cementing their positions as Q1 eliminations. Perez, although eliminated, could take solace from not qualifying last on home soil.
Eliminated: Albon, Alonso, Hirakawa, Stroll, Perez, Bottas
Q2
The drivers took to the circuit at a far more leisurely pace at the start of Q2, with a variety of strategies in play. The Mercedes opted for two warm up laps, while Lando Norris’ McLaren went straight into a push lap. The first runs ended with multiple drivers locking up at Turn 13, Leclerc leading the way while teammate Lewis Hamilton ruined his first effort by locking up, from Arvid Lindblad and Kimi Antonelli.
The drop zone presented a far more mixed picture. With less than ten minutes to go, Oliver Bearman, Pierre Gasly, Franco Colapinto and Sainz had yet to set a lap time. Once their laps were complete, and Norris and Hamilton had set a representative time, the order finally emerged, with Piastri in tenth, and the Gasly leading the gaggle behind. Abandoning his first effort after a mistake at Turn 7, he now faced a major test with just three minutes on the clock.
As the clock ticked down to the end of the session, Piastri’s effort was only good enough for 13th, the Australian complaining of no grip on his tyres, leaving him with a huge task in Sunday’s race. both Audis, Franco Colapinto, Olover Bearman and Sainz completed the Q2 eliminations
Eliminated: Hulkenberg, Colapinto, Piastri, Bortoleto, Bearman, Sainz
Q3
Antonelli led the ten cars in contention for pole position out of the pits, with many opting to remain in the garage to do just one push lap, while those on track chose to do two warm up laps. Russell started a push lap, but immediately backed off. The Ferraris pushed on their first lap, with Leclerc four tenths of a second clear of his teammate.
The completed first runs saw Max Verstappen join Leclerc on the front row from Norris, Hamilton, Russell and Gasly. Hadjar looked in contention for a good result, but a lock-up at the now-infamous Turn 13 saw his first effort ruined, leaving him in tenth. The two Mercedes seemed to lack pace, with Russell, the lead of the pair, nearly half a second down on provisional pole-sitter Leclerc.
Once the lull over the circuit ended and new tyres were fitted, the cars took out for their final attempt to take pole position. Russell put himself in contention, snatching provisional pole on his latest effort, before Hamilton then jumped to the top of the times by just 0.009s, becoming F1’s oldest polesitter since Mario Andretti in 1982, as well taking his maiden pole position for the Scuderia, and the 105th of his career.
Leclerc suffered a mistake and was forced to settle for third. Antonelli’s effort was only good enough for fifth, while Verstappen abandoned his lap after encountering Norris’ McLaren in at Turn 13 and locking up. The lower order consisted of Hadjar, both Racing Bulls, and Pierre Gasly’s Alpine.
Top 10: Hamilton, Russell, Leclerc, Verstappen, Antonelli, Norris, Hadjar, Lawson, Lindblad, Gasly
READ MORE: F1 2026 Mexico City Grand Prix – Qualifying Results
Discussion about this post