Lewis Hamilton has scored his first pole position for Ferrari after edging Mercedes ace George Russell to top qualifying for the 2026 F1 Mexico City Grand Prix this Saturday.

Practice had indicated that the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez crowd may witness a wide-open fight for pole, after Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc and McLaren ace Lando Norris set the pace. Mercedes’ 2026 champion-elect Andrea Kimi Antonelli also threw his hat into the ring.

The story at the start of Saturday was not that Norris led FP3 at the Mexico City GP, though, after Haas benched Esteban Ocon for Ryo Hirakawa. The 32-year-old Japanese driver is now making his F1 debut in Mexico City, but Haas refuse to clarify why Ocon has been sidelined.

Hirakawa has replaced Ocon only for the Mexico City GP, but doubts are now growing about whether the Frenchman will drive for Haas in Brazil next week for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

The only doubts that mattered in Q3 at the Mexico City GP on Saturday were who would secure pole position, though. Mercedes went out early with Antonelli and George Russell, but scruffy starts to their sessions tempted both Silver Arrows to adopt a second build lap.

An early mistake from Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton also meant the seven-time champion’s first Q3 run was heavily compromised, as his teammate Leclerc set the initial benchmark with a 1:16.647. Norris looked like he may threaten Leclerc’s time, but had to settle for a 1:16.824.

Norris made most of his gains over Leclerc in the last sector, with split times of 19.544s and 19.707s respectively, but lost out mainly in the middle sector with split times of 30.193s and 30.068s. Leclerc’s middle sector even ensured he ended the first phase of Q3 on top, as Red Bull rival Max Verstappen smashed in the overall best first sector to finish his lap 0.045s shy.

Russell would soon join the pole fight, though, after a 26.877s first sector, an overall best in the middle sector of 30.008s and a personal best 19.638s final sector moved the Briton into P1 with a 1:16.523. Hamilton was the first rival to try to respond to the Briton’s effort, and it proved enough by only 0.009s as three personal bests put the seven-time champion on top.

Leclerc tried everything he could to try to fight back for pole, but trying to push the limits in every corner would not work out as despite a new overall best final sector of 19.524s, the Monegasque crossed the line 0.119s behind his teammate’s lap time and 0.110s off Russell.

Antonelli was still improving and set new personal bests in all three splits, but it was still only enough for the champion-elect to qualify P5 on potentially his title-winning weekend. Red Bull’s Verstappen, too, tried to throw the kitchen sink at beating Hamilton, but he had to go home happy with P4 (and P5 on the grid due to a one-place penalty for a collision in FP2).

Verstappen and Liam Lawson both have one-place grid penalties in Mexico City after their crash during the second practice session. The FIA stewards believed both drivers were to blame for an “unacceptable” error, having squabbled for track position during practice.

Oscar Piastri suffers shock Q2 exit in qualifying for the Mexico City GP

Mercedes may have been contenders for pole in qualifying for the Mexico City GP, yet it did not stop Andrea Kimi Antonelli and George Russell leading the field onto the track for Q2 on Saturday. McLaren and Ferrari would even be among the first to flock onto the circuit in Q2.

Lando Norris did not have an easy start to Q2, however, as the McLaren driver smashed his way through the opening chicane before locking up into Turn 13 wrecking his first run. The duty of setting the initial benchmark instead fell to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc with a 1:16.944.

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton also blew his first Q2 run with a lock-up into the hairpin inside the stadium section like Norris. Their mistakes meant both Britons plummeted down the order, as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen rose to the top with a 1:16.876 to demote Leclerc by 0.068s.

Isack Hadjar was having issues in his Red Bull RB22, though, as the Frenchman bemoaned some “nice impeding” from Haas star Oliver Bearman in Turn 13. All the while, gains from Norris left his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri towards the drop zone at the mid-Q2 lull.

Hamilton was yet to set his first representative time in Q2, as well, and the seven-time F1 champion instantly rose to P3 once he crossed the line to set a 1:16.953. His effort edged Piastri down to P11, and even left Red Bull star Hadjar in P10 (but he soon improved up to P4 with a 1:17.047 that then left Liam Lawson of Racing Bulls in the dangerous spot of P10).

Gains were also on the cards for Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, as they traded P9 and P10, before Alpine racer Franco Colapinto rose to P12 and Audi ace Gabriel Bortoleto also found time to push Piastri further down the list. And Piastri could only then improve to a 1:17.646 to regain P13 from Bortoleto, for what is his first Q2 exit since 2024.

There was still time in the track, though, as Lawson improved to a 1:17.207 with 30 seconds left on the clock to eliminate Hulkenberg and reclaim P10 for his 10th outing in Q3 this year.

Piastri soon radioed McLaren to declare: “I don’t know what happened. I had no rear grip.” But his surprise Q2 exit was made worse by McLaren teammate Norris topping the session, after the 2025 champion improved his pace to a 1:16.728 with similar five-lap-old soft tyres.

Fernando Alonso causes a red flag after retiring from Q1 at the Mexico City GP

Qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix began with a loud cheer as home hero Sergio Perez of Cadillac took to the track, having had to sit out FP3 for a precautionary engine change. He soon fell down the order, however, after only registering a 1:19.909 with his initial run in Q1.

Perez’s initial lap time was 0.258s faster than what Lance Stroll managed in his Aston Martin AMR26 after the first Q1 laps. Fernando Alonso, on the other hand, briefly put his AMR26 in P1 with a 1:18.908, before Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri recorded the first front-running laps with a 1:18.249 and a 1:18.589 before Q1 was brought to a brief halt.

Ryo Hirakawa even made a promising start to his F1 debut, as the 32-year-old ran eighth in the order ahead of his Haas teammate Oliver Bearman in P10 after the first lap times in Q1.

Alonso’s early promise in qualifying for the Mexico City GP ultimately proved immaterial, as Aston Martin ordered the two-time F1 champion to stop his car at the side of the track with 11 minutes remaining. The 45-year-old was only in the stadium section when Aston Martin realised an engine problem that ensured he could not complete just one more corner to pit.

Quick lap times came thick and fast once Q1 resumed, as Alpine ace Pierre Gasly briefly took the top spot in the timesheets with a 1:18.194. Gasly was immediately ushered down the order, however, as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc put his SF-26 on top, like he did in FP1 and FP2.

The Audi duo of Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto also looked to cement their places in the Q2 positions, as they took P9 and P10 in the timesheets before returning to the pits. Bortoleto even went on to improve his pace for P6 in Q1 ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris.

Bearman also improved his pace to post a 1:18.654 and escape the drop zone positions, as Alonso fell into the bottom six after his retirement during qualifying for the Mexico City GP. Like Bortoleto, Bearman also continued to find lap time in Q1 and ultimately set a 1:18.083.

Come the final minutes of Q1, Alex Albon, Alonso, Hirakawa, Stroll, Perez and Valtteri Bottas occupied the drop zone. Albon was only 0.206s away from safety, however, with his Williams teammate Carlos Sainz in P16 and Isack Hadjar of Red Bull even down in P15 on a 1:18.669.

Hadjar had to throw a second set of the soft C5 Pirelli tyres on his Red Bull RB22 to try and escape Q1 without a shock early exit from qualifying for the Mexico City GP. The Frenchman had often complained about his RB22 in practice and continued to face trouble in Q1, with lock-ups into the final corner and wide moments through Turn 12 emphasising his struggle.

New tyres were not enough to help Hirakawa improve his time and his position, but Hadjar made the most of his fresh rubber to rise all the way up to P2. Hadjar put a 1:17.385 on the board and was only 0.044s slower than Leclerc’s benchmark, although it ultimately did not mean much as those who were behind him in the Q1 order could not improve sufficiently.

Full qualifying results for the 2026 F1 Mexico City Grand Prix

POS	DRIVER	TEAM	LAP
1	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	1:16.514
2	George Russell	Mercedes	1:16.523
3	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:16.633
4	Max Verstappen*	Red Bull	1:16.692
5	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	1:16.707
6	Lando Norris	McLaren	1:16.824
7	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull	1:16.900
8	Liam Lawson*	Racing Bulls	1:17.029
9	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	1:17.117
10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	1:17.153
11	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	1:17.306
12	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	1:17.640
13	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	1:17.646
14	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	1:17.680
15	Oliver Bearman	Haas	1:18.083
16	Carlos Sainz	Williams	1:18.885
17	Alex Albon	Williams	1:18.630
18	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	1:18.908
19	Ryo Hirakawa	Haas	1:18.958
20	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	1:19.072
21	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	1:19.105
22	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	1:19.852