Lewis Hamilton takes his first pole position with Ferrari and crashes Kimi’s party; huge blow for Alonso
Kimi Antonelli has his first title F1 world championship closer than ever. He only has to score two points this Sunday (9th is enough) in the race to achieve the long-awaited crown, the dream of his entire life, and thus becoming the youngest driver in history to win the F1 World Championshipat only 20 years old. But in Mexico, you can never take anything for granted, and Hamilton and Russell snuck into the preview of Kimi’s party to try to continue delaying that coronation.
Lewis Hamilton won his first pole with Ferrari, the first for the Englishman since Hungary 2023 (his second pole in five years), with which he wants to seek his second victory dressed in red in his second year at Ferrari. He did so by beating George Russell by just nine thousandths in a very tight and highly contested fight in Q3, who will start second, with Leclerc in third place at 0″110 and Verstappen in fourth place at 0″179, just 59 thousandths behind the Monegasque. However, a one-position sanction to Max for an incomprehensible touch with Lawson (also sanctioned) in Free Practice 2 makes Max lose that fourth place to be 5th.
And the World Cup leader? Kimi Antonelli was far from that fight. In fact, in his first Q3 attempt he was no less than seven tenths behind Leclerc’s provisional pole. And finally, he could only be fifth at 0″193. Max wins the place due to the penalty on the Dutchman and will seek the throne from fourth place.
It has everything in its face, yes, but the altitude of Mexico (2,200 meters) and its lower air density punish the engines greatly and cause cooling problems in the propellants and multiple elements. Kimi could afford to abandon and leave without points Mexico and be champion the same if Hamilton and Russell don’t win. But the first and second positions of his two pursuers mean that he has to face this Sunday’s event with maximum caution so as not to have to postpone his alirón again. If he abandons and Lewis or George win, there will be no party for him.
Poisoned gift for Lewis and George
In Kimi’s favor is that the pole and the front row in Mexico is more than a poisoned gift. Of the last 10 races held in this Grand Prix, only four were won by the polesitter, and at the start, starting from the front row can be synonymous with losing positions.
The distance between the first corner and the starting position is the longest in the championship, 830 meters. There, those who start from Third and fourth place (Leclerc and Kimi), can take advantage of the slipstream to steal Lewis and George’s wallets.
The driver from Bologna has everything in his favor to win the crown and make history with Mercedes. It could be Kimi’s big day, who qualified ahead of Norris (6th), Hadjar (7th) and Liam Lawson who was 8th, but he will start 9th due to suspension. Lindblad wins that position and will start 8th. Meanwhile, Gasly closed the Top-10.
For his part, Carlos Sainz will start from 16th place after fulfilling the only objective he could have with a Williams in which there is no more. The Spaniard complied and put his car into Q2, but from there, he couldn’t scratch anything else.
Jug of cold water for Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso had a great opportunity to achieve a very good qualifying position, very close to Q3 or even within the top 10, with a car that was performing better than in the rest of the Grands Prix in Mexico. However, the umpteenth problem of the season came with the Honda engine.
The Asturian had made a great first lap of Q1, gaining four and five tenths on direct rivals in the middle zone. It was just the beginning, because Fernando had fuel for another attempt. But when he was preparing for it, white smoke came out of his car. Again, the engine. The team alerted the Asturian, who warned that he had less than 100 meters left to reach the pits. “Stop the car, stop the car,” they told him. He had to do it, very angry, aware of the enormous lost opportunity to score points this Sunday.
And after that, he responded with monosyllables into the microphone of the official F1 TV. And before the written media, he made it clear that “the frustration is unimaginable.” “But this is the story of the year. We have lost a great opportunity,” he added, very angry with what happened with a Honda engine that suffered a reliability failure on a circuit that is extremely complicated for all engines due to the lower density of the air, which makes the turbo have to work and causes cooling and overheating problems.
