Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, 2025

Lewis Hamilton says he will be “quite aggressive” as he pursues his first podium finish for Ferrari after achieving his best starting position for them in Mexico.

The seven-times world champion took third place on the grid for today’s race, one place higher than his previous best of fourth place in the Austrian Grand Prix.

He will line up directly behind pole-winner Lando Norris, who is seeking to cut his deficit to Oscar Piastri in the championship. Hamilton plans to take advantage of Norris’s need to score points in the championship.

“I definitely want to be racy tomorrow,” said Hamilton. “I don’t have anything to lose, but he does.

“So we’ll be quite aggressive, I’m pretty sure. Hopefully we’ll be close enough to put up a good fight.”

Neither Ferrari driver has won a grand prix so far this year, though Hamilton took victory in the sprint race in China. He is yet to finish higher than fourth in a grand prix, while Leclerc took his sixth podium finish of the season last weekend in Austin.

Although Leclerc took pole position in Hungary, Ferrari scored their best qualifying result of the season across both cars in Mexico. Leclerc will start from second on the grid.

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Hamilton went through a poor spell of qualifying results earlier in the season and said his recent improvement has been down to constant refinements in how he works with the team.

“We continue to improve on our process – from the moment we arrive, to our debriefs, to the decisions we make as a team within engineering, when we go out [of the pits] – all these different things,” he said. “We’re just continuously tightening up on some of those areas.

“I think just how Charles and I have worked together to move the car and develop it forward has been really positive over the race weekends. Our cars are pretty much identical now, and I’m finally figuring out how to drive this car that Charles has been fortunate to drive for the past seven years, in terms of the characteristics. I’m finally feeling like I’m getting there. So it’s good.”

The characteristics of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, such as the high altitude of Mexico City, also appear to have played in their favour, said Hamilton:

“This is a peculiar circuit, obviously, with the altitude, so we perhaps are closer than we would normally be,” he said. “It’s difficult to say where we’ll be in the next races – I’m not sure we’ll be as close as we are.”

“But I do think through those small improvements that Charles was talking about, that we’ve made — they make big differences. And it feels great to finally get into Q3 and be able to deliver good laps and be competitive. That’s been a problem all year, particularly on my side.

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2025 Mexican Grand Prix

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