Toto Wolff trades banter with Ted Kravitz in Mexico City.
Lewis Hamilton’s first pole position for Ferrari came with a side order of paddock banter. After qualifying in Mexico City, broadcaster Ted Kravitz reminded Toto Wolff of the driver Mercedes no longer has. The exchange, shared on social media by @paddockfiles, gave a light moment to a qualifying session that was anything but relaxed.
Kravitz and Wolff Trade Words After Hamilton’s Pole
In the exchange, Kravitz opens with a teasing line: “Well, Lewis Hamilton, eh? The driver you let go.” The question is aimed at Wolff, the Mercedes team principal, and it lands because of the history behind it. Hamilton spent twelve seasons at Mercedes, from 2013 to 2024, and won six of his seven world championships with the team. He announced his own move to Ferrari early in 2024 and left at the end of that season.
Hearing it put to Wolff so directly, just after his former driver took pole for a rival team, gave the joke extra bite. The quotes from Kravitz and Wolff in this report are taken from the clip as posted by @paddockfiles, and full context beyond the short exchange has not been independently confirmed.
What Wolff Said About Hamilton’s Speed
Wolff did not push back. He replied: “Absolutely. I mean, he’s so quick still. He was quickest also a few times in the last few Grand Prix, and that never kind of happened for him in Austin, I guess, so deserving pole.”
The answer was gracious. Rather than deflect, the Austrian praised Hamilton’s pace and called the pole deserved. He also referred to Austin as a contrast, and said Hamilton has been the fastest driver on several recent occasions. Coming from the man who worked alongside him for more than a decade, it was a notable acknowledgement of how competitive the 41-year-old remains.
How Hamilton Took Pole Position in Mexico City
Nothing about the pole looked certain beforehand. Ferrari’s advantage had appeared to disappear overnight, with Leclerc third and Hamilton only sixth in final practice on Saturday. Qualifying began better. Hamilton set a 1:17.341 in the opening segment and then, after aborting his first fast lap in the second segment, recovered on his second run to take fourth and move safely into the final shootout.
The final segment produced the drama. Leclerc was quickest after the first runs, and Hamilton began his last lap in fourth, more than four-tenths down on his team-mate. Russell then posted a 1:16.523 to move to provisional pole for Mercedes. Hamilton responded immediately with a 1:16.514, nine-thousandths of a second quicker, to take top spot. Over team radio he said: “Thank you so much, it has been such a long time coming.”
Ferrari had repeatedly failed to nail its final Q3 laps during 2026, so a pole was far from guaranteed. Hamilton said he arrived at the circuit on Wednesday to work out what was needed to get back to the front, and afterwards he said he was lost for words.
Hamilton Ends a 1,197-Day Pole Drought
The result carried real weight for the seven-time world champion. It was his first pole since joining Ferrari and his first in a regular Grand Prix qualifying session since the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix, when he drove for Mercedes. The wait lasted 1,197 days. It was also the 105th pole of his career, extending his own record, and it was Ferrari’s first of the 2026 season.
At 41, Hamilton is the oldest driver to take pole since Mario Andretti at the 1982 Italian Grand Prix, and the fifth-oldest pole-getter in Formula 1 history. For a driver who had gone more than three years without a pole, a last-lap effort to beat a Mercedes by the narrowest of margins made its own statement.
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Last year in Mexico City, Hamilton qualified third behind Lando Norris, whose pole lap was a 1:15.586, with Leclerc 0.262 seconds off. A year on, Hamilton has turned third place into pole, even if his winning lap this time was slower.
What the Grid Means for Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix
Hamilton will start Sunday’s race from the front, but Mercedes will be right alongside him. Russell qualified second, only 0.009 seconds adrift, which gives Mercedes the other side of the front row. The margin between pole and second place was less than a single hundredth of a second, as tight as qualifying ever gets. Leclerc took third for Ferrari, 0.119 seconds off the pole time, so both red cars sit inside the top three.
Max Verstappen qualified fourth with a 1:16.692. He was up on Hamilton after two sectors, but locked up in the slow final part of the lap after coming up behind Norris, and said the McLaren’s presence meant he lost his braking reference. Kimi Antonelli lines up fifth for Mercedes.
Antonelli is on the brink of becoming Formula 1’s youngest ever world champion, and Sunday’s race offers him the chance to clinch it. That adds another layer to a day on which Mercedes also had Russell fighting Hamilton for pole.
The race itself is 71 laps, and Mexico City has a habit of making life uncomfortable for whoever starts at the front. Converting pole into victory is far from guaranteed, and Ferrari will need to show that its pace on Saturday can last into Sunday.
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Whatever happens on Sunday, the exchange between Kravitz and Wolff will remain a small footnote to a significant qualifying session. A pointed question, a gracious answer and a pole position that took more than three years to arrive: it was a Saturday in Mexico City that neither Hamilton nor Mercedes will forget quickly.