Hamilton plans for 'racy' opening lap, Norris has something 'to lose'
Lewis Hamilton says that he has 'nothing to lose' on the opening lap of the Mexican Grand Prix this evening, having qualified in third place behind teammate Charles Leclerc and title-runner Lando Norris.
The seven-time world champion hinted that Ferrari plans to be "aggressive" on the opening lap, hoping to gain nine points on their rivals Mercedes in the Constructors' Championship.
Both Ferrari drivers qualified behind Norris, Oscar Piastri's main rival for the Drivers' Championship, and Hamilton suggested that Norris is the driver who has something "to lose."
"I don’t have anything to lose, but he does."- Lewis Hamilton
Speaking to the press after qualifying, Hamilton said: "I don’t know. Definitely want to be racy tomorrow.
"I don’t have anything to lose, but he does. So I’ll be… Yeah, we’ll be quite aggressive, I’m pretty sure.
"Hopefully we’ll be close enough to put up a good fight."
With Norris only 14 points behind the championship leader, his teammate, he is under the most pressure this weekend to perform.
Piastri only managed to qualify in eighth place, slotting in between Carlos Sainz and Isack Hadjar.
Hamilton is in the perfect position, along with Leclerc, to challenge Norris for the victory as Ferrari tends to perform well at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
The Briton has won at this circuit twice in his career, in 2016 and 2019, during his title-winning years with Mercedes.
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Although Hamilton initially struggled during qualifying with braking issues, he overcame those problems after switching to the soft tyres to score one of his best qualifying results of the season.
The Ferrari driver praised the progress made by the team this weekend, sharing that "I’m finally feeling like I’m getting there."
Hamilton continued: "It's been a long time since I've been up here.
"Really grateful to the team for all the hard work and just the constant effort through the year.
"Of course, I wish we had this experience earlier on in the year, but the fact is that we're continuing to improve and continuing to stay positive, and so it's great to be up here with these two."
Hamilton looks to earn his his first Grand Prix podium of the season, hoping to continue his streak of scoring a podium in every season he has raced in F1.
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