Twelve months ago, when Carlos Sainz won in Mexico City and Charles Leclerc led home a one-two in Austin a week earlier, you wouldn’t have been stupid to think Ferrari could play a major role in the title race this season.
What you probably didn’t see coming was that role that first emerged in the 20th round of the season, as an influencer in someone else’s battle. But that’s exactly where Ferrari finds itself this weekend at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, having gotten both cars into the top three in qualifying, behind one title contender and ahead of two others.
It was a performance that many had predicted before arriving in Mexico City, but Ferrari’s lack of overall race pace so far this season – and the fluctuating form among the other teams – made it difficult to truly believe. But as practice turned into qualifying, the Ferrari drivers remained at the top of the times until the start of Q3.
Charles Leclerc’s opening lap was a standout performance and left him on provisional pole, with Lewis Hamilton also in the top three. It took something very special to beat Lando Norris and leave Leclerc disappointed as he was only second on the grid.
‘A little bit [disappointed] – after the first lap in Q3 I thought this was a very good lap,” admitted Leclerc. “I knew there was a little more to come, but not that much. Considering the holes behind that, I thought, ‘Okay, let’s see how it goes. I’ll go all out in the second round and see where we end up.’
“I was obviously very surprised by the jump Lando made from the first to the second run in Q3. I just don’t think we had the pace today to match that. There was a little bit here and there, but I don’t think it would have been enough for pole position anyway.”
Despite missing the last bit of pace for pole, it was Ferrari’s best combined qualifying performance of the year and continued a steady progress that has seen the team realize more of its potential – whatever that may be – in recent races.
“I don’t think there is a silver bullet or something that we have changed significantly that makes us a lot better now than we were three, four, five races ago,” Leclerc said. “I think it’s a bit everywhere. I think the processes and all the little differences make a big difference in the end, and we’ve all improved on that over the last few weekends.
“At some point in the season we had to sort out some other things which put us in a slightly more comfortable place now, but the pace itself is more down to little details everywhere than anything that stands out.”
Sure, the altitude of Mexico City may present certain challenges that narrow the gaps in the field, but Hamilton says Ferrari’s intra-teamwork is probably the biggest factor in their best qualifying performance this year. Hector Vivas/Getty Images
Perhaps the most noticeable difference is a more consistent qualifying run for Hamilton, who secured his best Grand Prix starting position of the year so far. Throughout the weekend, Hamilton was able to get within 0.09 seconds of his teammate and was most encouraged by the moves in the final part of qualifying that were missing for much of 2025.
“I think this is a special track, obviously considering the altitude, so we might be closer than we normally would be,” said Hamilton. “It’s hard to say where we’ll be in the next races. I’m not sure we’ll be as close as we are now, but I do think about the little improvements we’ve made – they make big differences. It feels great to finally get into Q3 and be able to do good laps and be competitive. That’s been a problem all year, especially on my side.”
This year has been a steep learning curve for Hamilton in his new environment, but the seven-time world champion attributes some of Ferrari’s recent gains to both the work the team has done to make improvements to the way it operates, but also to his own adaptability to the car.
“We continue to improve our process – from the moment we arrive, to our debriefings, to the decisions we make as a team within engineering, when we go out – all these different things, so I think we’re just constantly honing in on some of these areas.
“I think the way Charles and I have worked together to progress and develop the car has been very positive over the race weekends. Our cars are now virtually identical and I’ve finally figured out how to drive this car that Charles has been lucky enough to drive for the last seven years, in terms of its characteristics. I finally feel like I’m getting there, so it’s good.”
While Norris says his feelings ‘clicked’ in the McLaren in Q3, it’s fair to say something also clicked for Ferrari this weekend to leave it as the main challenger heading into Sunday’s race. Hamilton knows that the stakes are higher for the driver on pole position than for the two red cars behind him.
“I definitely want to be fast tomorrow,” Hamilton said about the start. “I have nothing to lose but him [Norris] It does, so I’ll… yeah, we’ll be pretty aggressive, I’m pretty sure. Hopefully we’re close enough to put up a good fight.”
Beat Norris and Ferrari could really help limit the damage for both Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri. Show strong pace but finish behind the pole sitter, and both Leclerc and Hamilton suddenly become Norris’s allies in creating a buffer for his title rivals. Either way, they could have a big impact.
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