Lewis Hamilton defies age barrier to end three-year wait for pole position

Lewis Hamilton finally ended his long pole drought by securing the top spot on the grid for the Mexico City Grand Prix.

It was pole position 105 for F1's record holder, with his 104th at the Hungarian Grand Prix over three years ago.

At 41, Ferrari driver Hamilton is also the oldest driver on pole position since Mario Andretti in the 1982 Italian Grand Prix.

Hamilton produced a brilliant flying final lap, and despite many of his rivals coming at him later in the session, his lap of one minute 16.514s was enough to beat Mercedes' George Russell by nine-thousandths of a second.

Charles Leclerc, who had looked favourite over Hamilton to secure top spot, will start third ahead of champion-in-waiting Kimi Antonelli.

The 20-year-old Italian was actually fifth quickest, but moves up a place due to a one-place grid penalty for Max Verstappen after an on-track altercation with Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson in FP2 on Friday.

McLaren's Lando Norris lines up sixth ahead of Isack Hadjar in his Red Bull, followed by Racing Bulls teammates Arvid Lindblad and Lawson - the duo trading places due to the New Zealander also serving a one-place penalty - with Alpine's Pierre Gasly 10th.

[Article continues below]

Poor Piastri misery

Oscar Piastri and McLaren suffered a rare disaster in Q2, leaving the Australian lining up in a lowly 13th on the grid.

Despite plenty of fresh soft tyres available, McLaren gambled by running Piastri and Norris on used softs for their first runs in the 15-minute session. Piastri's lap was naturally not good enough.

On new softs for the second run, Piastri made an error in the middle sector, forcing him to abort. After a cool-down lap, his second attempt saw him fall almost four-tenths of a second shy of reaching Q3.

"I don't know what happened," said Piastri over team radio. "I had no rear grip." To rub salt into the wounds, Norris set the fastest lap of the session, almost a second quicker.

Ahead of Piastri on the grid will be Audi's Nico Hulkenberg and Franco Colapinto in his Alpine in 11th and 12th, whilst behind him will be Oliver Bearman for Haas and Williams' Carlos Sainz, who will line up 14th and 15th.

Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto was 14th fastest, but drops five places due to a power unit penalty.

Sainz, meanwhile, is under investigation by the stewards for failing to follow the race director's instructions, specifically relating to the escape road. 

[Article continues below]

More Aston Martin and Cadillac misery

The first part of qualifying was disrupted by a red flag shown with 11 minutes remaining, due to a suspected water pressure issue linked to the ERS, for Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso that resulted in him stopping in the stadium section, sparking a seven-minute delay.

Although Alonso said over the radio he was close to the pit entry, the command of "Stop the car now! Stop the car now!" was unequivocal, sparking frustration from Alonso, who slapped his hands against the AMR26's steering wheel when he stopped.

Alonso's time of 1:18.908s, which left him third on the timesheet when the session was halted, was only good enough for 18th by the time it ended. Alonso was also noted for 'general safety' by the stewards as he did not fit the steering wheel back on his car, eventually earning a reprimand.

Alonso will have Williams' Alex Albon ahead of him, whilst behind will be Haas rookie Ryo Hirakawa, drafted in on Saturday morning after the team announced Esteban Ocon would take no further part in the weekend, stating only it was not through illness.

With Bortoleto 19th, Aston Martin's Lance Stroll will start 20th, whilst the Cadillac pair of home hero Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas will be on the back row, the duo separated by three-quarters of a second, adding further pressure on the Finn to retain his seat for next season.

Bottas also starts with a meaningless 50-place grid penalty due to a complete power unit change. Perez sat out all but one lap of FP3 with a PU problem that necessitated a change in the interval, albeit one from the pool, so avoiding a penalty like his teammate.