Mexico City (AFP) – Lewis Hamilton said he has a good chance of ending his unwanted record run of 19 Ferrari outings without a podium in Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix after qualifying third on Saturday. The 40-year-old seven-time world champion will start the Formula One race behind pole-sitting McLaren title contender Lando Norris and his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc.
“P3 is kind of the perfect spot actually at this track, so I’m hoping I can make the most of that at the start,” Hamilton said. “I think our race pace is not too bad, but I think it’s difficult to know really. It’s going to be an amazing crowd tomorrow so I will try and give it a good race. I will try to find a way to move forward somehow at the first corner so it should be exciting.”
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Hamilton, who joined the team this year from Mercedes, is the first Ferrari driver to go without a podium in his first 19 races with the team. “I’m really, really happy today,” he said. “And, I’m honoured to be here with Lando and Charles. These guys have been so quick all year and it’s an amazing feeling. This is the first time we’ve both been up in the top three in qualifying this year. The team truly deserve it. We are just working as hard as we can and I’m super grateful to everyone in this team for continuing to push and not give up.”
Hamilton explained that he had been working to integrate himself into the team and his group of engineers and felt now that he is reaping some rewards. “We’ve not really moved the car forward necessarily in development, but we’ve extracted more and our processes are better this weekend.”
Hamilton won in Mexico in 2016 and 2019 with Mercedes. “It’s very difficult this qualifying,” Leclerc said. “It’s very difficult because there is very little grip, so the car is sliding a lot. It is very tricky, but I’m pretty happy with the job we’ve done. I don’t think there was much left in the car. It will mean a lot, so we will do everything to get the first place into the first corner — and then see what is possible.”
Carlos Sainz, now with Williams after being replaced by Hamilton, won the race last year for Ferrari.
© 2024 AFP
