Hamilton Ferrari pole: 0.009s margin ends three-year wait as Antonelli eyes title

The Hamilton Ferrari pole that Formula 1 had waited more than three years for arrived in Mexico City on Saturday, and it came by the thinnest of margins. Lewis Hamilton edged Mercedes’ George Russell by 0.009 seconds to take the top spot on the grid. It is his first pole in Ferrari red and the 105th of his career.

A record-flavoured pole for the 41-year-old

Hamilton’s previous pole came at the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix, driving for Mercedes. He is also the oldest driver to start from pole since Mario Andretti did so for Ferrari at the 1982 Italian Grand Prix. Reports noted he had taken pole for last year’s sprint race in China, but conventional qualifying had eluded him ever since.

He was candid about how unlikely it had looked. An engine problem on Friday left Ferrari on the back foot and without a long run. He had only been fourth after the first runs in the final session, more than four-tenths behind Charles Leclerc’s benchmark. Yet he said his last lap contained no lost time. “It’s my first pole for Ferrari, and 105th, I like that number,” he said, adding that it took him back to watching Michael Schumacher collect poles for the team.

He also tied the result to his longevity. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” he said, crediting a fitness regime that includes plenty of ice baths and the support of fans around the world.

Russell’s gamble and Verstappen’s lock-up

The margin was small enough that several details could have changed the outcome. Russell revealed he had made a unilateral call to skip the preparation lap after his out lap on his final run, going on a “gut feeling”. His team had wanted the prep lap and had fuelled the car for the extra distance. By his own estimate, the time lost to that extra fuel weight was a tiny number, “but it’s bigger than the gap to pole.”

Max Verstappen looked the likeliest threat. He was fastest after two sectors before locking up at the stadium hairpin. He blamed traffic: dirty air into Turn 12, then a car on his right that forced an awkward entry and cost him his reference point. Leclerc ended up third on the grid, 0.119 seconds off Hamilton’s time.

Lando Norris, fastest in the second session, could not repeat that lap in the final segment and settled for sixth. Isack Hadjar, Arvid Lindblad and Pierre Gasly filled out most of the top ten. Liam Lawson also qualified in the top ten but was later disqualified from qualifying for a technical infringement involving the electrical deployment of the power unit, and he will start from the back.

What it means for the championship

The pole matters beyond the headline because the front row is made up of the only two drivers who can still stop Kimi Antonelli clinching the world title on Sunday. Antonelli qualified fifth but moves up to fourth because Verstappen carries a one-place grid penalty, reportedly for a clash with Lawson on Friday.

The arithmetic is stark. According to the BBC, Antonelli can only be denied if Russell wins and the Italian finishes lower than ninth, or if Hamilton wins and Antonelli fails to score. Finishing ninth or higher would make him the youngest champion in F1 history.

So the Hamilton Ferrari pole gives the seven-time champion a real chance to play spoiler. Starting from the front gives him track position, though converting it into a win will depend on a fast Mercedes and a Ferrari that has already been tested by reliability trouble this weekend. Hamilton’s own message was simple: “Hope I can do it for them tomorrow.”

A tough day for Alonso

Not everyone had a good afternoon. Fernando Alonso had set the fastest time of the session on his first lap, ahead of cars that have usually beaten his Aston Martin this season. As he began his second attempt, a water leak in the energy recovery system hit his Honda power unit, and he was told to stop on track while still third. His frustration with the year’s performance and reliability was plain afterwards.

For Hamilton, though, the day was about something different. After a long wait and a rocky weekend, the Hamilton Ferrari pole is finally on the record, and it leaves him one result from complicating a title that Antonelli would otherwise be expected to take.

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File photo: 2025 ImolaGP Lewis Hamilton.jpg by Buczkowiak94, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.