Hamilton Scores Best Ferrari Qualifying in Mexico as Norris Takes Pole

Damian Hall
1 day ago
4 min read

Sir Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari on track in Mexico — Sir Lewis Hamilton - Ferrari

McLaren’s Lando Norris will start the Mexico City Grand Prix from pole position after a commanding final lap secured his first pole in several races. He leads Charles Leclerc and Sir Lewis Hamilton, who delivered Ferrari’s best qualifying performance of the year, starting third for Sunday’s race at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

Pole-sitter Norris was delighted to be back on top after a long wait.

“I’m happy to be back on pole. It’s actually been quite a long time, so it’s a good feeling,” he said. “The lap was one of those where you don’t really know what happened. It felt decent but when I saw the time I was pleasantly surprised. I got a little bit nervous of the Ferrari at the end, but I pulled it out when it mattered and I’m very happy.”

In Q3, the Ferraris came alive on the first runs, with Leclerc briefly topping the timesheets with a 1:15.991, while his teammate Hamilton slotted into the top three just three-tenths back. Norris was second quickest, with Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing lurking in fourth and championship leader Oscar Piastri of McLaren nearly half a second behind in fifth.

On the final runs, Norris produced a superb lap of 1:15.586 to take pole, finishing 0.262 seconds ahead of Leclerc. Hamilton held on to third, giving Ferrari a much-needed boost heading into race day.

“This is the first time we’ve both [Hamilton and Leclerc] been in the top three in qualifying this year and the team truly deserve it,” said Hamilton. “We are just working as hard as we can. We’ve not really moved the car forward necessarily in development, but we’ve extracted more from it and the processes are better."

“P3 is kind of the perfect spot at this track, so I’m hoping I can make the most of that. Our race pace is not too bad. It’s difficult to know, but we’ll try and give it a good race.”

George Russell of Mercedes took fourth ahead of Verstappen in fifth, while Kimi Antonelli, also driving for Mercedes, impressed again in sixth. Carlos Sainz of Williams qualified seventh but will serve a five-place grid penalty, dropping him to 12th on the grid. That promotes Piastri to seventh, Isack Hadjar of Racing Bulls to eighth, Oliver Bearman of Haas F1 Team to ninth and Yuki Tsunoda of Red Bull Racing to tenth for Sunday’s start.

Leclerc admitted qualifying was a demanding session in Mexico’s low-grip conditions.

“This qualifying is very, very difficult because there is very little grip, so the car is sliding a lot,” he explained. “In order to put everything together it’s very tricky. But I’m pretty happy with the job we’ve done. I don’t think there was much more in the car, maybe a bit here and there as always, but I’m very happy with today’s performance.”

Meanwhile, championship leader Piastri admitted that pace had been hard to come by throughout the weekend.

“There’s just no pace which is a bit of a mystery,” he said. “It’s been more or less the same gap all weekend, so we’ll have a look at where it was going wrong. Obviously it’s a bit frustrating.

“Not a huge amount has changed around how I’m feeling in the car. It’s just this weekend and last weekend it’s felt like the pace hasn’t come. I’m not 100 per cent sure why yet, so we’ll do some digging.

“I’ll try my best [in the long run to Turn One]. That’s going to be an opportunity to make some progress forwards. We’ll see what I can do.”

McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella said there was still room for improvement on the Australian’s side heading into the race.

“There’s a bit to review on Oscar’s side,” he explained. “It’s more difficult for him to use the car when the conditions are sliding, like it was also in Austin. It’s something we need to review and improve for tomorrow.

“Oscar, in relation to Lando, loses a few milliseconds pretty much in every corner, so it’s about him getting the right feeling in these conditions and pushing that little bit more in every single corner. That is difficult to do without having an issue.

“I think the race pace is strong for both drivers. I’m sure Oscar will be able to recover some positions.”

With Hamilton starting from third, Ferrari will be eyeing a strong result, while Norris leads the pack into Turn One hoping to convert pole into victory. Behind them, the fight through Mexico’s long run to the first corner promises plenty of drama.

Session Eliminations

Q1 Eliminations:

16. Gabriel Bortoleto (Kick Sauber)

17. Alexander Albon (Williams)

18. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)

19. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)

20. Franco Colapinto (Alpine)

Q2 Eliminations:

11. Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull Racing)

12. Esteban Ocon (Haas F1 Team)

13. Nico Hülkenberg (Kick Sauber)

14. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)