So far, Kimi Antonelli has been a wallflower at his own party at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Fourth place on the grid is low-key for the Mercedes driver in the context of his season as a whole – and the gargantuan achievement of which he stands on the brink.

It still puts the 20-year-old Italian in a strong position to seal the maiden title that will make him the youngest champion in history.

But on Saturday that was overshadowed by the veteran whose seat Antonelli took at Mercedes, as Lewis Hamilton secured his first pole position for Ferrari and his first for more than three years.

The seven-time champion edged out his former Mercedes team-mate George Russell by just 0.009 seconds to clinch his first pole since the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix and the 105th of his stellar career.

Fittingly, the only two drivers who, at least mathematically, can prevent Antonelli from sealing the deal on Sunday are together on the front row.

The only possible way in which Antonelli will not become champion at the end of the race is if either Hamilton or Russell win. Even then, he needs only to finish ninth if it’s Russell or 10th if it’s Hamilton to be sure.

Hamilton said the idea was not even in his mind.

“That’s not really something we’re thinking of,” he said. “We’re thinking of just trying to score the best result for the team.

“Kimi, he’s continued to drive really well and doing what he needs to do. All he has to do is just finish where he is, and he’s kind of on his own journey.

“Our journey is to focus on performing the best we can this weekend and holding on to second in the Constructors’ Championship.”

Russell said it was “obviously inevitable” that Antonelli would win the championship, adding that it would be “most likely this weekend”.

He continued: “So, for me personally, just going out there to try to have a good race. I want to try to finish this season strong. That’s the biggest priority for me.

“In my mind, he’s kind of already won the championship. So that’s something that I don’t think I need to deal with.”

Antonelli, though, would not agree with Hamilton’s assessment of his weekend so far.

He has looked quick at times, but in qualifying it did not come together, and he ended up 0.184secs off Russell. He was fifth fastest, but a one-place penalty for Red Bull’s Max Verstappen puts Antonelli on the second row alongside Hamilton’s team-mate Charles Leclerc.

Antonelli admitted that the high stakes of the weekend were on his mind, to the extent that it was affecting his driving.

“I just feel like I didn’t do a good enough job out there and didn’t have the most confidence,” he said.

“It hasn’t been easy this weekend, to be fair, and especially to keep my emotions flat. Definitely I have been a bit more tense than usual, also that played a big factor.

“But I try to enjoy the evening with family and friends and focus on tomorrow.”

Hamilton said his pole, on his 43rd start for Ferrari, was “one of the greatest feelings”.

It is not the first time he has qualified fastest for Ferrari – that was when he took sprint pole at the Chinese Grand Prix last year, in only his second race for the team.

But that was followed by a difficult debut season, when he looked a shadow of his former self, and was pretty much taken to the cleaners by Leclerc.

Hamilton’s record is such that his performances last year left many perplexed – not least himself. He was consistently down on himself, even saying at one low point in the summer of 2025 that he was “just useless” and suggesting Ferrari should change drivers.

As this followed a similarly challenging final year for Mercedes, it inevitably led to questions about his future, whether age was catching up with him. After all, he had no explanations for his performances himself.

His form has improved this year, with a car that he finds much more to his liking, and he has a number of times referenced these perfectly valid questions. He did so again on Saturday.

“It’s impossible to rank 105 pole positions,” he said. “They have all been unique in their own way. It feels more special in this period where they’re not every week and it’s the first one with Ferrari in red.

“I’ve now had pole with three different teams, which is pretty phenomenal. And all the questions people had about whether a 40-year-old has still got it, there you go.”

The battle between Hamilton and Leclerc has been much more even this year.

Hamilton leads his team-mate by eight points in the championship and in qualifying there is nothing to choose between them – it is now 12-10 in their head-to-head and Leclerc is ahead on average pace by just 0.037secs, when the gap was 0.15secs last year.

“I have been fortunate to have many great experiences with Mercedes over the years,” said Hamilton. “We have had sprint pole but I have been really dreaming and eyeing for that first pole with the team.

“Charles is very, very quick over one lap. He has had an engineer he has worked with for years. It’s an environment he is very aware of and used to.

“I am still settling in and learning, with new engineers this year. We have really found a good rapport and are really doing a great job. There is lots more to come, we just have to keep on at it, but what an amazing feeling to get that first.”

Hamilton goes into the race with less knowledge than his rivals, a breakdown in second practice meaning he was not able to do his race-simulation run.

“It will will be a massive challenge to find the right balance but I am hopeful, it will be challenging and tough,” he said.

For Antonelli, fourth is not such a bad place to start.

For one thing, he does not need any heroics. As long as he brings it home, he will become champion and fulfil a lifetime’s ambition, as well as smash the record for the youngest-ever title winner by more than three years.

But jeopardy still exists.

The run to the first corner in Mexico is long, more than 800m. Drivers on the second row have several times over the years used the slipstream to rocket into the lead.

Leclerc will be trying to do that, and the temptation may also be there for Antonelli. But the last thing he needs is to become embroiled in a first-corner pile-up.

The tension will doubtless still be there. But it’s only a matter of time before it’s released.

“Records are there to be broken, you know,” said Hamilton, who described what Antonelli is achieving as “phenomenal”.

“He’s just got such a bright future ahead of him,” added Hamilton. “I’m grateful that I can be racing in the time to see it, to witness it.

“I do hope in the future we get to have some actual battles because we didn’t get to have any battles this year. It just flew past us on all the straights, more often than not.

“So, I hope next year that we’re able to give him a bit more of a fight and get it really down to race craft. And, yeah, I’ll be so happy for him.”