Lewis Hamilton claimed his first pole position as a Ferrari driver in qualifying for the Mexican Grand Prix.

He took pole away from his former team mate and held on to it as the challenge from a series of rivals faded. Charles Leclerc, who held provisional pole position before the final run, was only able to chip a hundredth of a second off his time.

Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, who were the last drivers to run, also looked like potential threats. But Norris lost time in the middle of the lap after catching Verstappen’s team mate Isack Hadjar, and slowed. Verstappen then locked up going into turn 13 as he passed Norris.

Hamilton therefore took his first pole position since the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Verstappen qualified fourth behind Leclerc, but his one-place grid penalty will drop him to fifth behind Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Norris took sixth ahead of Hadjar, who had a scruffy session, locking up repeatedly at turn 13.

Liam Lawson beat his team mate to eighth on the grid but his penalty means the two Racing Bulls will swap positions. Pierre Gasly took 10th.

McLaren’s aggressive strategy bit them hard as Norris was the only one of their drivers to reach Q3. Both drivers used a single set of new softs in the session but Piastri was mystified by a lack of rear-end grip on his final run. While Norris headed Q2, his team mate lapped nine-tenths of a second slower and was eliminated.

Piastri was four-tenths of a second off making the cut for Q3. Among those who got closer but went no further was Nico Hulkenberg – who missed 10th place by less than three-hundredths of a second – and Franco Colapinto.

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Gabriel Bortoleto went out in 14th place but did well to get as closer as he did to his team mate following his problems in practice. An error at turn 12 ensured Oliver Bearman, the only Haas in Q2, went no further.

Following Haas’s surprise announcement earlier in the day that Ryo Hirakawa would replace Esteban Ocon for the rest of the weekend, there was no surprise that only one of their cars made it through to Q2. Hirakawa was 0.875 seconds slower than Bearman.

On the face of it, there were no surprises among the other five drivers eliminated in the first round. However Fernando Alonso was unfortunate not to reach Q2 having been seventh-quickest in first practice yesterday.

His first effort was promising, but soon afterwards his team told him to park his car immediately, even as he drew close to the pit lane entrance. His AMR26 had lost water pressure. The frustrated Alonso climbed out and failed to replace his steering wheel, prompting a reprimand from the stewards for his violation of “general safety”.

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