The changes Hamilton thinks are behind his Mexico GP pole
by Ed Hardy · AutosportHamilton took his first pole position for Ferrari at this weekend's Mexico Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton has credited his maiden Formula 1 pole position for Ferrari to the changes he made in approaching the current Mexico Grand Prix weekend.
The seven-time world champion pipped former Mercedes team-mate George Russell by 0.009s at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez to take first on Sunday’s starting grid.
It was a record-extending 105th career pole for Hamilton but his first since the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix when he was driving for the Silver Arrows, moving to Ferrari only last year.
“It's an amazing feeling,” Hamilton told Sky Sports. “Firstly, a big, big thank you to my family. I really wouldn't be here without them.
“I texted my mum today, 11-11, what the tattoo is, her birthday. And every time I see 11-11 on my phone, it reminds me that I got to text her and yeah, I came in this weekend with a different approach.
“I came here on Wednesday, which I never ever do. But we really wanted to kind of look at where we've been the last few races, where it's kind of gone wrong, where we can improve.
“We made a slight tweak to how we worked this weekend. I really felt all weekend that we had the possibility of competing in the front.
“But we were always surprised by Q3 that all of a sudden we're not there. Today we looked over everything.
“Wind direction, tyres, track temperature dropping through the session, and what that means to settings that you need to get the tyres working, etc.
“But to get the pole, finally get a pole with Ferrari, it just takes me back to when I was a kid sitting on the sofa watching Michael [Schumacher] get those poles and thinking how cool would that be to do that.”
It comes after many missed opportunities in recent grands prix for Ferrari, who would show promising pace in practice only to under-deliver in qualifying with Austin a perfect example.
Last weekend the Scuderia topped all three practice sessions - Charles Leclerc in FP1 and FP2, Hamilton in FP3 - but only qualified fourth and fifth after a sudden loss of pace.
Leclerc put it down to tyre struggles amid a temperature drop, which is a key thing to master in Mexico due to its drastic track evolution and low-grip surface.
“I knew all weekend that I had the pace to be on pole,” said Hamilton, whose team-mate qualified third, in the press conference.
“But these sessions were just up and down. Obviously, Charles was very, very quick. I think the key is getting the tyres working.
“You see us all go out and it looks like we're doing okay, but the tyres operate in a very small window where they're good, and then they overheat.
“I'm really perfecting that. That's been something I've really struggled with, I would say, probably the last few years, particularly as we went to the 18-inch tyre.
“So just learning to drive differently. It's a bit of a different skill set, or just a different way you have to drive and approach these corners, and it requires a different type of balance usage.
“So, I think I was able to utilise a couple more tools that I've not used for like 13 years and then I think, just there, as I said, just got the tyres in the perfect window on that out-lap.
“Once I was through Turns 1, 2 and 3, it was kind of smooth from there, and I just don't think I lost any time anywhere, to be honest.
“So, it was just an overall good lap, but I know these guys are super close.”
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