Hamilton Ends Three-Year Drought with Pole Position at Mexican Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton secures pole position at the Mexican Grand Prix, marking his first in three years, narrowly beating George Russell.
Mexico City, November 1 (Daily Kiran) : Lewis Hamilton has clinched pole position at the Mexican Grand Prix, putting an end to a three-year dry spell. The British driver achieved this feat during the qualifying session in Mexico City, narrowly edging out his Mercedes teammate George Russell.
In a fiercely contested battle for the top spot, Hamilton clocked an impressive lap time of 1 minute 16.514 seconds on his final attempt. This victory marks the 105th pole of his Formula 1 career. Russell finished just 0.009 seconds behind Hamilton, while Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen—who lost control during his last lap—and championship leader Kimi Antonelli rounded out the top four. The difference among the top five drivers was less than 0.2 seconds.
After showing strong pace in Free Practice 3, McLaren struggled in Q3, with Lando Norris finishing in sixth place. His teammate, Isack Hadjar, faced disappointment after a mistake in his first Q3 attempt, which he couldn’t recover from. Liam Lawson qualified eighth for Racing Bulls but will face a grid penalty due to an incident with Verstappen in Free Practice 2. Consequently, Lawson’s teammate Arvin Lindblad will move up from ninth to eighth, while Pierre Gasly from Alpine secured a spot in the top ten.
The biggest surprise of the session was Oscar Piastri’s failure to advance past Q2, finishing in 13th place after a disappointing final lap. He was outpaced by Nico Hülkenberg from Audi in 11th and Franco Colapinto from Alpine in 12th. Gabriel Bortoleto, driving Audi’s second car, qualified 14th, followed by Oli Behrman and Carlos Sainz. Sainz outperformed his Williams teammate Alex Albon for the 14th time this season, with Albon finishing in 17th. Fernando Alonso also faced elimination in Q1, as Aston Martin instructed him to leave the session early due to suspected water pressure issues with the ERS system. Meanwhile, rookie driver Ryo Hirakawa, replacing Esteban Ocon for the weekend, managed a respectable 19th place in his first qualifying session. Lance Stroll, Sergio Perez, and Valtteri Bottas completed the remaining positions.
