Kimi Antonelli doesn’t need a victory at the Mexico Grand Prix to win his first Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship.
But securing pole position in Saturday’s qualifying session will take him one step closer to achieving the result he needs to claim his first championship.
If George Russell wins Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix, Antonelli could clinch the title with a P9 result, but given how Friday’s two practice sessions went, he could certainly be in contention for pole position. Antonelli finished second in Race 1 and fourth in Race 2, with Charles Leclerc leading both hours.
But as we saw last week at the United States Grand Prix, Antonelli has a habit of turning it on during qualifying. Antonelli was in the middle of the pack during FP 1 in Austin, but a blistering lap at the start of Q3 was enough to secure pole position and lead him to victory.
A similar performance today could put him on a path to not just victory, but titles.
Mexico City temporary startup network
Here is the provisional starting grid for the Mexico Grand Prix, which will be filled in throughout the session:
Mexico City Grand Prix qualifying round
Here’s how the qualifying hour went. All times are Eastern:
5:26: Checkered flag for Q1. Alonso, Stroll, Perez and Bottas are already out.
5:23: Hamilton and Leclerc currently lead Ferrari ahead of Piastri and Norris.
5:21: Just four minutes into Q1, Albon, Alonso, Hirakawa, Stroll, Perez and Bottas are in the drop zone.
5:05: Alonso has a preliminary time of 1:18.908, but the top teams have yet to post their times.
5:01: The green light is on in Mexico City and Perez is one of the first to hit the track.