Parc Ferme Interviews - Conducted by Jenson Button.

Charles, probably not the result you were looking for. In the first part of Q3, you were quickest. The lap at the end there wasn't quite good enough. You were one tenth off your teammate Lewis. How was it for you?
Charles Leclerc: I just didn't do a good job. The out-laps were very difficult as well, to put the tyres in the right window. This is where we struggle the most, and this is where we struggled in Q3, run two. I kind of had a clean out-lap, but the car felt very different compared to before, and I just didn't do the job when I needed to. So, a bit disappointed, but to start third here is, I guess, not too bad.

The car looked quite nervous out there, on entries and exits. Is that something you're fighting with the whole time?
CL: I was fighting with the car quite bit, particularly in Q3. But, yeah, at the end of the day, I think for everybody it's the same here. There's such low grip with the downforce that we have here that you've got to fight with the car. And, yeah, it's quite fun to push the limits, to push the car to the limits in these conditions.

George, you must be quite happy with that?
George Russell: I am. You know, it's been a tricky few races for me, and I'm still struggling to get on top of this car, to be honest, because it's been a very difficult weekend up until one lap in Q3. You know, finding half a second to almost get pole. Congrats to Lewis. It was obviously pretty close in the end. I always know it's in there. I know the performance is in there, but I just can't... The hit rate is too low at the moment. So that's sort of the frustration I have. But, of course, happy with this front row.

We all know it's in there, George. So, what could you feel that was different that helped you get the lap time out of the car?
GR: I think similar to what Charles was saying, it's low grip. The temperatures were getting cooler, and I think that came into our favour. You know, there was a bit of cloud cover, the sun's coming down. I did a very hard out-lap, and it just gave me a bit more confidence to get the grip in the tyre. And I think that's just what helped me to string a lap time together.

Cheers, George. Thank you. Lewis Hamilton, pole position! How does that feel?
Lewis Hamilton: Wow, that feels great. That feels good. So happy, so happy. Oh, man, I'm lost for words. It's been a really, really tough, challenging weekend. Obviously, in P1 we had a rake running, and we obviously then had the engine issue we had yesterday, which meant we were just on the back foot. I didn't get to do a long run. But we've really done a really good job with the set-up over the weekend. We've really worked. We learned a lot from the last race, but it's so close between us all. You know, for example, in Q2, I didn't get my lap at the beginning of Q2. I think the others have a new tyre for the start. But wow, to have pole here, I mean, I don't even know if I've had a pole here before. So, it feels special to be in Mexico and get that. My first, I think it's my first pole with Ferrari, and 105. I like that number.

Fun fact: you are the oldest driver to grab a pole position since Mario Andretti in 1982. Are you still doing it?
LH: Oh, man, when there's a will, there's a way. You know, when there's a will, there's a way. I think it's all in the mind. I honestly think for all of us, you know, for sure you might feel aches and pains. Luckily, I don't. I mean, I ice bath a lot. I do all those different things that you can do to try and keep yourself young and fit. Yeah, but I love what I do, and that love has not gone. You know, I wake up every day thinking about it. I dream about it. And I've got this amazing support around the world. These guys keep me going, and so I hope they're happy with that today, and I hope that I can deliver for them tomorrow.

Press Conference

Very well done, Lewis. A great final lap. It looked like this one meant a lot.
LH: It definitely does. It's been a long time since I think I've sat in this spot. I don't really remember the last time I had a pole. Embarking on this journey with Ferrari and all the challenges and ups and downs we've had, and even yesterday was challenging, obviously when the car stopped on track and we lost the long run that everyone got to do. But just continuing to hold on to that hope that one day we'll get back on the front row and to P1 once we dialled the car in. But it was such a close qualifying and so difficult, I think, for everyone, working the tyres. So little downforce and grip that you have on here, so you just have to be as millimetre perfect as you can be. It was a really, really clean lap. I needed it because, I mean, Charles, I think, was three or four tenths up the road from the first run, and that's quite a big deficit to close on your last lap. But I knew areas that I could improve on, and, yeah, I think just my belief in this team, the opportunity that they've given me and the belief and faith they've put in me. It feels great to be able to reward them with a pole. And to have your first Ferrari pole, I mean, jeez, it just takes me back to watching Michael get all those pole positions when he was at Ferrari and all those wins. So, it's very, very special.

Can we drill down a little bit into how you did it on that last lap? Because, as you say, you were quite a long way back after the first run. You knew where you could improve. Where did you make the improvements?
LH: Honestly, I knew all weekend that I had the pace to be on pole, but these sessions were just up and down. Obviously, Charles was very, very quick. I think the key is getting the tyres working. You see us all go out and it looks like we're doing okay, but the tyres operate in a very small window where they're good, and then they overheat. I'm really perfecting that. That's been something I've really struggled with, I would say, probably the last few years, particularly as we went to the 18-inch tyre. So just learning to drive differently. It's a bit of a different skill set, or just a different way you have to drive and approach these corners, and it requires a different type of balance usage. So, I think I was able to utilise a couple more tools that I've not used for like 13 years. And then I think, just there, as I said, just got the tyres in the perfect window on that out-lap. Once I was through Turns 1, 2 and 3, it was kind of smooth from there, and I just don't think I lost any time anywhere, to be honest. So, it was just an overall good lap, but I know these guys are super close.

Let's throw it forward to tomorrow. How many unknowns are there for you, because you had a disrupted practice session yesterday?
LH: Yeah, in general, I don't think this year I've had a good long run. We've either pushed our short laps too long and then got into the long run, but I've not had one good long run where it's consistent and got the balance right. Coming into this weekend, we met up on Wednesday. We went over all the areas that we can improve on, different approaches, things that we learned from the last race. We're like, "We're going to make sure we get a good long run in this weekend." Big, big focus. And then the car stopped! And then I just watched the rest of the session where everyone was pounding around and getting those long runs in. So, I don't know how the car will behave on the long run on heavy fuel, and I also don't know the settings that I'm going to need. So those are the things I'm going to have to kind of guesstimate tonight and take my... we'll take our best guess to hopefully get the car in the right window for tomorrow. But, yeah, very, very challenging. It's obviously a really long way down to Turn 1, so I don't think you've ever been on pole here before.

How do you approach Turn 1 here? As you say, it is such a long run. Do you just react to what's happening around you, or will you be spending a lot of time tonight just looking at previous starts, looking at what George did last year, looking at what Charles did last year?
LH: Yeah, I think it was Lando last year, wasn't it? But I think, yeah, just always looking. You look at the race starts of the previous years, and obviously we need to make sure that we get a good start, a good jump off the line, and then it's just car positioning, braking point. But again, I've not been in that position here before, so I'm always coming from further back. So I'll just focus on trying to optimise the start.

Very well done. Thank you very much. George, let's come to you. So close to Lewis in the end. Just how easily did that lap come together for you?
GR: Not easily at all, to be honest. It's a little bit of a story of my season. I think this kind of feels like I've never done an average lap. It's either a terrible lap or a very strong lap, and this is quite frustrating. I don't think there was a single lap this whole weekend ahead of Q3 that I looked in the mix to even fight for the top three, let alone pole position. But that last lap just came together really nicely. I'd love to know exactly why, but I don't have those answers. And, yeah, I'll take it.

Did you change your approach to that final lap? Because you didn't do a prep lap, at least we didn't see it on the TV.
GR: Yeah, that was probably the biggest thing that I changed. I saw Lewis and Charles and Max as well. They weren't doing the prep lap. We were doing prep laps, just getting the temperature of the tyre. It's quite challenging. My gut told me we could do it on lap one without the preparation, but the team wanted to do the prep, so we ended up carrying the fuel for an extra lap. You know, it's such a small number, but it's bigger than the gap to pole. So, it's obviously... you always think retrospectively, if only we had the one lap of fuel rather than the extra lap of fuel that we had, we could have been on pole. But, you know, I'm very grateful to be in this position because it's been a tough run. And, like I said straight out of the car, I know it's in there. I've never doubted that it's in there. It's just understanding why this season we can't achieve it as consistently as I have done in the past.