Lewis Hamilton has pole at the Mexican Grand Prix but that could be BAD news for the Ferrari star

After 43 races Lewis Hamilton finally has his first Ferrari grand prix pole position but it may be at the worst track on the calendar.

The seven-time world champion edged out British compatriot George Russell by just 0.009 seconds to take top spot in qualifying at the Mexican Grand Prix (or Mexico City Grand Prix for you pedants).

Chances are if you are reading this you are not new to F1, and will know that in theory that gives him the best chance of leading the race and claiming victory, which would be only his second for Ferrari after triumphing at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix earlier this season.

But the Mexican Grand Prix start at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit offers one of the most peculiar ones on the calendar.

This is because the run down to turn one is long.... very long.

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The Mexican Grand Prix pole problem

So long in fact that despite the high altitude of the Mexico City track, it offers excellent slipstream opportunities to cars directly behind the pole sitter.

In layman's terms, cars behind Hamilton get sucked into the air vacuum his Ferrari will create behind, giving an additional speed boost to those following him.

Hamilton will therefore highly likely be under pressure from Russell in second and his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc heading into the run down to turn one.

One thing in his favour is he is on the clean side of the grid, while Russell in P2 will start on the dirty and dustier side, which will hinder his grip off the line.

While it is common for the polesitter to lose out heading into turn one, it's not always the case.

Even last year Lando Norris led from pole into turn one, although had to survive a challenge from Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Hamilton and Leclerc in doing so.

Lewis Hamilton hopeful he can copy Lando Norris

Hamilton touched on the tough prospect of being on pole in Mexico.

He told Sky Sports on Saturday: "Down to turn one, very, very tough. I mean, it's not a bad place to be first, but of course people can tell you Lando did a really good job last year, so I have to try and do what he did.

"Getting way off of the line, I'm going a little bit blind because in FP2 the engine stopped, so I didn't get to do a long run, so really don't know what the balance is like when we put all that fuel in.

"But so I kind of have to engineer. We'll engineer our way through it, and then have to somehow drive my way through it tomorrow.

"But if we can get to turn one first, I think then it comes down to how you manage those tyres, and hopefully we can have one of those special days where you can maybe whisper them along."

Over to you then Hamilton, because if he enters T1 in P1 there is an excellent chance he could take his 107th win.

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