Hamilton/Ferrari offers insights into their work: “Looking for a needle in a haystack”

That was world-class: Lewis Hamilton secured his 105th pole position in the premier class in Mexico, his first in more than two years (Hungary 2025) and his first for Ferrari. (Poles for a sprint do not count towards the F1 statistics.)

Hamilton is clearly over the moon at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. The seven-time Formula 1 world champion says: “This pole means a great deal to me. It’s been so long since I’ve sat in this spot. I can hardly remember the last time I was on pole position.”

“To start this journey with Ferrari and experience all the challenges and ups and downs – even Friday was still very challenging when my car came to a halt on the track and we lost the chance for a long run.”

“I’ve always held on to the hope that one day we’d be back in P1 once we’d got the car set up properly. But it was such a close qualifying session and so difficult for everyone to get the tyres working.”

“With as little downforce and grip as you have here, you have to drive with millimetre precision. It was a really clean lap. I really needed it too, because Charles was three or four tenths ahead of me on his first attempt, and that’s quite a big gap to make up on the final lap.”

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“But I knew where I could improve, and it’s simply my belief in this team, the opportunity they’ve given me, the trust they’ve placed in me. It feels brilliant to reward them with a pole. And to claim my first Ferrari pole – I mean, wow! – it takes me back to the time when I used to watch Michael securing all those pole positions at Ferrari and all those victories. So, it’s very, very special.”

“I knew all weekend that I had the pace to be on pole, but my practice sessions were a real up-and-down affair. I think the key lies in getting the tyres to work. You see us all out on track, and it often looks as though we’re doing quite well, but the tyres only work within a very narrow window where they’re really good, and then they overheat.”

“Dealing with these tyres is something I’ve really struggled with over the last few years, especially since we switched to the 18-inch tyres. So I simply had to learn to ride differently; it’s a different way of tackling the corners, and it requires a different approach to balance. So, I think I was able to use a few more tools that I hadn’t used for about 13 years. Once I’d got through corners 1, 2 and 3, things went pretty smoothly from there, and to be honest, I don’t think I lost any time anywhere. So, it was just a good lap overall.”

“Of course, we have targets for the tyre temperatures that we need to reach. We all really open the throttle on the out-lap to get the tyres working and into the right temperature range. But when you’re driving down the straights, the tyres lose temperature.”

“It’s quite a hard tyre. I remember that we used to crawl around really slowly, and then you start to push and the tyres are ready. I think the 13-inch era was a nicer, softer tyre for me. It absorbed the bumps better. I like the movement of the tyre. You could feel the tyre more.”

“These days, the tyres are like a rock-hard wall. They don’t move much because they have such a short sidewall. It works well once you get the tyre up to speed, and I think that’s exactly how I felt today. I was finally able to get the best out of the tyre, and it held up for the whole lap.”

“But often you think: the front tyre isn’t ready for Turn 1, but the rear tyres are, and the front tyres start to grip whilst the rear tyres are fading. It’s this constant up-and-down that you experience.”

“Then sometimes the rear tyres aren’t ready when you come out of the last corner to start the lap, but by the end they’re better. Sometimes they’re, so to speak, too ready.”

“So finding the balance here – I’m telling you, it’s like finding a needle in a haystack. And it was very, very, very difficult to find. But where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

“When we kicked off this weekend, we met up on Wednesday. We went through all the areas where we wanted to improve, different approaches, things we’d learnt from the last race. We agreed: we’d make sure we managed a long, solid run this weekend. And then the car came to a halt!

“So I don’t know how the car will behave with a lot of fuel on board, nor do I know the set-up I’ll need. These are the things I’ll have to estimate as best I can the evening before the race, and we’ll do our best to hopefully get the car into the right window for the race.”

“It’s a long way from the start to Turn 1. You always look at the race starts from previous years, and obviously we need to make sure we get off to a good start, and then it’s just a matter of the car’s positioning and the braking point. But I’ve never been in this position here before, so I’ll just focus on getting the start right.”