Hamilton clinches first pole with Ferrari in Qualifying at the Mexico City GP

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.

AS IT HAPPENED

Q1 – Hamilton sets the pace as Hirakawa misses out on Q2

Ferrari had looked like the strongest team during Friday’s running at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, but after Norris and Piastri delivered a strong result for McLaren in FP3, the battle for pole position once again looked wide open.

Amid pleasant conditions, the drivers began to file out on track when 18 minutes went on the clock for Q1, with crowd favourite Perez leading the way after he missed out on FP2 whilst Cadillac made a precautionary power unit change on his car.

Aston Martin’s Stroll was the first to suffer a big lock-up, the likes of which had impacted the majority in practice, and the frustration wasn’t over for the team yet as Alonso was instructed to stop the car on track. He did so on the run-off area in Estadio, prompting an immediate red flag that indicated an early end to his session.

Only half of the grid had completed their first flying lap with 11 minutes left, which meant that Hamilton topped the times with a 1m 18.249s ahead of Piastri and Alonso, mounting the pressure for those without an effort on the board.

Once the action resumed, Leclerc found himself in the P1 spot he had previously claimed in FP1 and FP2, followed closely by Norris, Antonelli, Verstappen and Russell. The other expected frontrunners of Piastri, Hamilton and Hadjar mingled further down the order, the latter having been affected by a lock-up.

It didn’t take long for the Aussie to capitalise on McLaren’s obvious pace and improve to P2, which soon became P3 when Hamilton came through as the next pace-setter, with times now in the 1m 17s bracket.

At the other end of the timing screen, Albon, Alonso – whose stoppage was made all the more devastating after his strong showing throughout practice – debutant Hirakawa, Stroll, Perez and Bottas were in the drop zone.

While the Haas driver was unable to progress from P19, Hadjar delivered an eye-catching lap to surge into second place, just 0.044s off Hamilton’s time. Leclerc settled for third in the opening segment, with Piastri and Russell rounding out the top five.

Knocked out: Albon, Alonso, Hirakawa, Stroll, Perez, Bottas

Q2 – Verstappen quickest but Piastri suffers shock exit

After a short reset, Q2 began and drivers were eager to get their banker laps in, which would be crucial if there were any further delays to the session. Piastri was among the first to do so as he posted a 1m 17.776s on the soft tyres, but his effort was eclipsed by Leclerc who went eight-tenths clear.

A stunning lap by Lindblad, whose earlier concerns around smoke in the cockpit seemed to have been resolved, sent him into P2 while further lock-ups for Norris and Hamilton left them at the tail end of the top 10.

As they unsurprisingly peeled into the pits for fresh tyres, Verstappen held the P1 time with a 1m 16.876s ahead of Leclerc, before Norris delivered the lap he needed to move out of the drop zone and into P3.

He left behind Gasly, Bortoleto, Bearman, Colapinto, Sainz and Hamilton, with Piastri another in need of a quicker lap as he lingered in P10, having abandoned an effort with just a few minutes remaining.

Although Hamilton avoided a surprise exit with a P3-worthy time, the same couldn’t be said for Piastri, who “had no rear grip” and was ultimately eliminated in P13 after failing to achieve any significant improvement. He therefore qualified behind Hulkenberg and Colapinto as Bortoleto, Bearman and Sainz were also excluded from Q3.

Knocked out: Hulkenberg, Colapinto, Piastri, Bortoleto, Bearman, Sainz

Q3 – Hamilton charges to maiden Ferrari pole

Piastri’s exit opened up a spot for Gasly to progress alongside both Racing Bulls and the usual suspects from the top four teams, but the question marks remained as to who would thrive in the final 12 minutes of Qualifying.

While some opted for prep laps, Ferrari got to business straightaway with Hamilton and Leclerc, the former setting a 1m 17.069s before his team mate charged into P1 with an advantage of more than four-tenths.

That earned him provisional pole, but would he cling onto it as the others executed their first runs? Although Norris initially came closest, Verstappen missed out by just 0.045s after Hadjar had gone wide and bailed out in the second Red Bull.

With knowledge of his one-place grid penalty on his mind, Verstappen stayed in the garage until the last possible moment whilst others set out on their final runs, which saw Russell leap into P1 with a superb lap.

However, Hamilton eked out a tiny margin of 0.009s to demote his former team mate to P2, and his time of 1m 16.514s proved to be unbeatable as Verstappen locked up when it mattered and ended in fourth place behind Leclerc.

“I hope you’re proud of yourselves too,” Hamilton told his team in an emotional radio message once his pole position was confirmed. “You’ve got to keep pushing. We’re on the right track but… woo! Such a good feeling.”

Antonelli, needing to finish ninth in Sunday’s Grand Prix to secure his maiden title, qualified fifth ahead of Norris, Hadjar, Lawson, Lindblad and Gasly.

Key quote

"Oh man, I'm lost for words," said polesitter Hamilton. "We've really done a good job with the set-up over the weekend. We've really worked, we've learned a lot from the last race. Wow, to have pole here, I mean, I don't even know if I've had a pole here before. So it feels special to be in Mexico and get that. My first, I think this is my first pole with Ferrari. And 105... I like that number."

What's next

The 2026 Mexico City Grand Prix is set to begin at 1400 local time on Sunday. Head to the RACE HUB to find out how you can follow the action from the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.