Mexico City GP 2026:Lewis Hamilton Claims 105th Career Pole

Lewis Hamilton secured pole position at the Mexico City Grand Prix, marking his first pole of the season with Ferrari. The British driver delivered the fastest time on his final attempt, edging out George Russell by just nine thousandths of a second. The top five were remarkably closely matched, with less than two-tenths of a second separating them.The weekend at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez proved challenging for the drivers. The high altitude resulted in thinner air, reducing aerodynamic efficiency, while limited grip led to numerous mistakes and excursions beyond track limits. Any infringement of track limits resulted in lap times being deleted.Charles Leclerc topped Friday's practice sessions, but Lando Norris set the fastest time on Saturday morning. The battle intensified during qualifying, with Ferrari and Mercedes emerging as the leading contenders.Hamilton was fastest in the opening segment of qualifying, setting a time of 1:17.341. Seven drivers were subsequently eliminated, including Alex Albon, Fernando Alonso and Haas reserve driver Ryo Hirakawa, who was standing in for Esteban Ocon.In Q2, Max Verstappen initially set the benchmark with a lap of 1:16.876. However, Norris soon improved on that time with a 1:16.728 to take the top spot.Nico Hulkenberg, Franco Colapinto, Oscar Piastri, Gabriel Bortoleto, Oliver Bearman and Carlos Sainz failed to progress to the final segment.In the decisive Q3 session, Leclerc initially topped the timesheets, but the final attempts reshuffled the order. Hamilton produced a lap of 1:16.514, beating Russell by just nine thousandths of a second to secure pole position.As a result, Ferrari and Mercedes locked out the first two rows of the starting grid. Verstappen and Liam Lawson will each drop one position following an incident on Friday.Hamilton will now aim to convert his first pole position with Ferrari into a race victory on Sunday.