Hamilton grabs pole while Piastri misses out: Winners and losers from Mexico City GP qualifying
Lewis Hamilton surprised everyone in Mexico by taking an amazing pole position—his first in three years! Even after his car broke down in the first practice session, he stayed calm while Verstappen and others made mistakes. At 38, he became the oldest to earn pole since Mario Andretti in 1982, who was also driving for Ferrari.
The past two days in Mexico have been full of drama—enough for a whole season! Here’s a look at the winners and losers from Saturday.
Charles Leclerc nailed a fantastic lap, just 0.009 seconds ahead of George Russell, to grab his first-ever pole for Ferrari. He said he arrived early on Wednesday to figure out how to get back to the top. Looks like it paid off! Now, can he turn that into a win on Sunday?
On the downside, Esteban Ocon, who lost his Haas seat for next year, had a rough time. He fell out with his team and was replaced in Mexico by 32-year-old rookie Ryo Hirakawa. Ocon then had to deny rumors about a fight with Haas boss Ayao Komatsu after a report from L’Equipe. Quite a messy situation.
After a disappointing race in the US where he finished eighth while his teammate won, George Russell bounced back strongly in Mexico, putting his Mercedes on the front row. He’s hoping to secure second place in the championship ahead of Hamilton. “This year, it feels like we either have terrible laps or great laps. Today, I struggled all weekend but finally found a good lap in Q3,” he said.
Friday was tough for Liam Lawson—he got knocked off the track by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and had to apologize on Saturday. Despite a strong season, he’s still fighting for his seat at Red Bull, as the team thinks about promoting F2 star Nikola Tsolov. Tough spot for the Kiwi!
Qualifying 19th never felt so good for someone like Ryo Hirakawa, who at 32 finally made it into F1 after many practice runs and tests in older cars.
Meanwhile, Aussie Oscar Piastri isn’t having the best time with this generation of F1 cars. The gap between him and teammate Lando Norris got much bigger in Mexico, with Piastri qualifying 13th and Norris sixth. Known to struggle on dusty, low-grip tracks, Mexico seemed like his worst nightmare.