Hamilton backs Ferrari for pole despite technical setback in Mexican GP practice

Lewis Hamilton expressed confidence that Ferrari can challenge for pole position at the Mexican Grand Prix on Saturday, despite suffering a power-related technical problem in second practice that denied him crucial high-fuel running. Team-mate Charles Leclerc had finished fastest in both of Friday’s sessions at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

Hamilton described the session as promising before the issue struck. “It felt really good up until then. That was feeling great. And we did a good job with set-up changes. Car was in a good place and we were just actually strong,” he said. He added that the underlying pace remained encouraging: “Underlying is a really good car this weekend.”

Ferrari arrived in Mexico City as many observers’ favourite, with the team’s smaller turbocharger widely expected to handle the circuit’s high-altitude, thin-air conditions more efficiently than its rivals. Mercedes driver George Russell had said on Thursday that this could hand Ferrari “quite an advantage.” Hamilton, however, pushed back on that narrative.

“I don’t really agree on the turbo thing. If you look at the speeds to the Mercedes and the Red Bull, they’re still quick at the end of the straights, like they are every race. So the turbo is just not making a difference,” Hamilton said. “I think we’re still losing a good two or three tenths, but the car is behaving very well.”

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri also tempered the Ferrari hype, suggesting the car had looked “a bit slow on the straights” during Friday’s running.

Despite the straight-line deficit and the lost long-run data, Hamilton remained optimistic heading into qualifying. “Charles has been P1 for the two sessions, and I think you never know how qualifying goes. The others seem to take another step, but honestly feels like we could be really close to beating them for Quali.”

With his race-simulation programme incomplete, Hamilton acknowledged he will need to lean on data from other teams to finalise his Sunday setup. “I don’t know how the car is for the long run. We didn’t get to do it, so I just have to take note of how others did and kind of guess where we need to be with the car, wing for example, and settings and the braking.”

The weekend carries added significance in the constructors’ championship, where Mercedes leads Ferrari by 133 points and can clinch the title in Mexico City.