Lewis Hamilton take historic pole with brilliant lap at Mexico City GP

Lewis Hamilton has made history with a brilliant pole lap in Mexico City.

The Ferrari man became the oldest pole sitter since Mario Andretti in 1982 by setting the fastest time at 41 years old.

In what was a close qualifying session, both Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen made crucial errors on their final flying laps, leaving Hamilton in front by 0.009sec from George Russell, with Leclerc in third.

Lewis Hamilton fastest in Mexico City GP qualifying

Despite Hamilton’s dedication to finding extra performance this weekend, attaching aero rakes to his car in practice for further research, his teammate Charles Leclerc looked to have the upper hand for most of the weekend.

In the crucial moment towards the end, though, Hamilton held his nerve while others struggled on the low-grip track.

It was his first pole in a Grand Prix for Ferrari, his first since the 2023 Hungarian GP while driving for Mercedes - and his 105th in total.

“Oh man, I'm lost for words,” Hamilton said afterwards. “It's been a really, really tough, challenging weekend.

“We had a rake running, and we obviously then had the engine issue we had yesterday, which meant that we were just on the back foot.

“I didn't get to do a long run, but we've really done a really good job with the setup over the weekend.”

The Brit said that, at the age of 41, he isn’t feeling like being a veteran on the grid is slowing him down.

“When there's a will, there's a way,” he said. “And I think it's all in the mind. Honestly, I think for all of us, for sure you might feel aches and pains. Luckily I don't.

“But I love what I do, and that that love is not gone.

“I wake up every day thinking about it. I dream about it, and I've got this amazing support around the world that these guys keep me going, and so I hope they're happy with that today, and I hope that I can deliver for them tomorrow.”