Mexican Formula One Grand Prix: Kimi Antonelli aims to seal title – live

Key events12m agoPreamblePreambleThere are still several ways Kimi Antonelli could be denied the F1 championship this year.- George Russell could win all five remaining races while Antonelli picks up a total of just one point (10th place in any race).- Lewis Hamilton could win all five remaining races while Antonelli picks up no points.- Antonelli could decide to retire at age 20 and petition to retroactively forfeit his results from this year.- AI agents could decide to shut down all the race computers for every F1 team in a bid to curb fuel consumption and Kim Kardashian’s screen time.- Aliens could beam Antonelli back to his home planet.- The entire year could be written off as Pamela Ewing’s dream, like the ninth season of the nighttime TV soap Dallas.- Time travelers from the year 2053 may arrive in February 2026 and defeat Antonelli in several races in the new timeline.Fans of Kimi Antonelli and Sergio Perez show their love. Photograph: Eloisa Sanchez/ReutersBarring any of those scenarios, Antonelli will displace Sebastian Vettel as the youngest F1 champion in history. Barring an Antonelli catastrophe and a win by either Russell or Hamilton, that championship will be decided today.Meanwhile, Hamilton is on the pole for the first time in three years.And the race for second place is intense …Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s Giles Richards on how qualifying went down on Saturday:Even as Formula One’s young gun Kimi Antonelli remains on course to claim his first world championship on Sunday it was the veteran, seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton who gave a salutary reminder that there is very much fight left in the old dog yet as he claimed a spectacular pole position for the Mexico City Grand Prix.Hamilton delivered a superb lap for Ferrari to secure his first pole for the team and just beat Mercedes’ George Russell into second. World champion in waiting Antonelli was in fourth place but remains in position to close out the title on Sunday, although Hamilton and Russell, who must win the race to have any hope of keeping the fight alive, have at least locked out the front row.It was clearly a hugely emotional moment for Hamilton at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez to finally nail the top spot for Ferrari in his second season with the team, with the 41-year-old’s 105th pole also his first since 2023.“Thank you so much, that’s been such a long time coming,” he said. “That feels good. I’m lost for words. My first pole with Ferrari. 105 poles, I like that number.“Where there’s a will, there’s a way. It’s all in the mind. For sure, you might feel aches and pains, luckily I don’t, I do all those different things to keep myself young and fit. But I love what I do, and love is not gone.”You can read the full report below:And the top 10 on the grid are:The top 101 Lewis Hamilton 🇬🇧 Ferrari 1:16.514 2 George Russell 🇬🇧 Mercedes +0.009 3 Charles Leclerc 🇲🇨 Ferrari +0.119 4 Max Verstappen 🇳🇱 Red Bull +0.178 5 Kimi Antonelli 🇮🇹 Mercedes +0.193 6 Lando Norris 🇬🇧 McLaren +0.310 7 Isack Hadjar 🇫🇷 Red Bull +0.386 8 Liam Lawson 🇳🇿 Racing Bulls +0.515 9 Arvid Lindblad 🇬🇧 Racing Bulls +0.603 10 Pierre Gasly 🇫🇷 Alpine +0.639