Lewis Hamilton has locked up slightly at the first corner as he leads the field from pole position. Has the seven-time world champion slightly flat-spotted his soft tyre?

Right then. Eyes down, look in...

Damon Hill
1996 world champion on BBC Radio 5 Live in Mexico City

I think [Kimi Antonelli] has been incredibly honest, I think he has been quite impressive, we've been impressed by everything he has done this year. He has come out and said I've not been well and I also feel a bit of the pressure. It didn't happen in Austin, he did everything he possibly could do in Austin and now he is in a tricky situation.

His mindset is normally to try and win the race and now he is being told you don't have to win the race. Your instinct as a racing driver is to go for the gap.

The top four of Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, Charles Leclerc and championship leader Kimi Antonelli have all opted to start on the soft tyre in Mexico, with Max Verstappen the odd man out on the medium compound.

At the rear of pack, Oliver Bearman in P14 down to Valtteri Bottas in P21 are also soft runners, and Liam Lawson, starting from the pit lane, will head out on the mediums.

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In the constructors' standings. Mercedes are on their way to dethroning reigning champions McLaren, but a lot would have to go in their favour for them to crowned winner in Mexico tonight. For now, the team are 133 points clear of second-placed Ferrari.

McLaren have found themselves level on points with Red Bull and down to fourth, with drivers' title holder Lando Norris and Max Verstappen starting alongside each other on the third row.

Oscar Piastri was a shock elimination in Q2 yesterday, and while he's moved up one place because of Liam Lawson's disqualification, the Australian is still starting outside the points in P12, with the other red Bull of Isack Hadjar lining up P7.

Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on Radio 5 Live in Mexico City

It is a definite possibility [for Lewis Hamilton to win the race]. He is in the best place, of course, starting the race.

What I loved yesterday was not only the fact that he put together a really strong lap - he made almost no mistakes when others around him unfortunately did - it was how happy it made him. It was like it was his first pole position. That energy he still carries is a real factor in why he is still able to deliver performances.

He can win this race, he has got to get over the line well and get through the first couple of corners.

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Kimi Antonelli is 123 points clear of Mercedes team-mate George Russell and is the champion in waiting, but the battle to finish runner-up in the standings is extremely tight.

Russell occupies that spot at the moment, but with Lewis Hamilton one point behind, Max Verstappen six points away and Charles Leclerc nine points off, the Briton is feeling the pressure with only a few races remaining.

Leclerc can go back into fourth place on Sunday if he finishes third and Verstappen fifth or lower.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent

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The drivers are not optimistic for an exciting race. Overtaking is expected to be difficult, despite the long pit straight, because of the effects of altitude. The thin air at 2,200m reduces drag and therefore the slipstream effect. It also makes following closely difficult because cars are more prone to overheating.

So track position is key - and protecting it tends to dominate strategy.The difficulty of overtaking pushes teams to make fewer pit stops, so the one-stop strategy is expected to dominate.

McLaren’s Lando Norris used it to win last year, starting on softs and switching to mediums. Of the drivers in the top teams, only front-row qualifiers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell do not have a set of new soft tyres for the race. It remains to be seen how much of a handicap that is.

The official strategy prediction is for a medium-soft one-stop. But a) these are notoriously unreliable; and b) having new softs might well lead teams to use them at the start. The chance of a two-stop will depend on what the midfield do, as there is a high chance of getting stuck behind a slower car.

Ferrari looked to have the fastest race pace on Friday but Max Verstappen is an unknown as he had damage on his car as a result of his collision with Liam Lawson, which earned both a one-place grid penalty.

A pit stop takes about 22 seconds, or 12 under a safety car.

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The Mexican crowd would go crazy for home driver Sergio Perez regardless, but the Cadillac man has a milestone to celebrate at the Mexico City Grand Prix: his 300th grand prix in Formula 1.

And the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez can savour Perez for a few more years, as the 36-year-old announced his new contract extension with Cadillac earlier this week, keeping him on the grid until 2029. he made his F1 debut in 2011 and has won six grands prix – five for Red Bull between 2021-24 and one for Racing Point (now Aston Martin) in 2020.

Perez missed the majority of third practice with a power-unit issue, and he lines up P20 for his hime race. "Hopefully, we can get a good start tomorrow and fight with the cars ahead," he said. "Overtaking is very difficult here, so track position will be key."

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Another talking point this weekend has been the unusual contact between Liam Lawson and Max Verstappen. The two drivers tangled during second practice on Friday, with four-time world champion Verstappen accusing Racing Bulls' Lawson of "not very smart behaviour" as the two disputed for position on track.

Both were given a one-place grid penalty for today's race for their part in the incident, dropping Verstappen from fourth to fifth and Lawson from P8 to P9.

However, Lawson was later disqualified from Saturday's qualifying session after breaching the minimum MGU-K power requirement just after crossing the line on his fastest lap in Q2.

As Lawson was set to line up at the back anyway, Racing Bulls have fitted a new power-unit and made set-up changes, so he'll now start from the pit lane instead.

Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on Radio 5 Live in Mexico City

It is a pretty special location. The grid right now, incredibly busy, all of the teams, mechanics, engineers all around the cars, just getting everything ready for what will be a busy and intense afternoon.

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Kimi Antonelli's impending championship victory has taken a bit of a backseat so far in Mexico, as the drama has swirled around lots of other drivers on on the grid.

One of the main focuses has been on the Haas team, who stood down regular driver Esteban Ocon following Friday's practice sessions. The Frenchman has been replaced by Japanese reserve driver Ryo Hirakawa, who will be making his race debut in Mexico City in P18.

Haas' decision to drop Ocon came after dispute over the radio with his race engineer Laura Mueller. The 30-year-old was unhappy when told plans to run the soft tyre had been changed to the medium compound.

A report in France's L'Equipe which said that a meeting between team principal Ayao Komatsu and Ocon "ended abruptly, perhaps even physically", was denied by Ocon.

In a statement on social media, F1 race winner Ocon wrote: "Last night, a difference in viewpoints led to a discussion with the parties involved.

"Whilst I acknowledge that this took place, I categorically reject any reports or allegations suggesting that any form of physical violence was used to resolve differences of any nature."

Will we see Ocon in Brazil next weekend? There has been no official announcement yet, but the odds don't look good for the Frenchman.

BBC Radio 5 Live

Kimi Antonelli's father Marco speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live: "[Feeling] Normal, we will see what happens. It is another race, another day, he will try to do the best, Kimi is OK, i think the team have thought about making the race as best as possible and achieve the podium - why not? And then we will see."

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The year began with George Russell the firm favourite to claim this season's title, and with a dominant win at the opener in Australia, that prediction looked a safe bet.

But when Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli won five races in a row from China to Monaco, Russell's dreams of winning his own maiden world championship started to fade.

The Briton has said this has been a tough campaign for him, conceeding that Antonelli has just been better than him overall. Following his victory in Azerbaijan in September, Russell has also had to look over his shoulder at his rivals for second in the championship.

But yesterday, over one lap, everything came together for Russell, and he just narrowly missed out on his first pole since Baku.

He said his main priority is to have a good race and to finish the season off strong. "In my mind, [Antonelli's] kind of already won the championship. So that's something that I don't think I need to deal with," Russell added.

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Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, speaking before the Mexico City Grand Prix: "The support is incredible and a very exciting day ahead. Hopefully it is going to be a good one."

On if he thinks Mexico City could become his favourite city after today: "Yeah, why not? It is already an incredible city. The fans are incredible and they give such good energy so it is definitely among one of the best."

On how he will approach the race: "We are going to try to go for it. We are going to try to get, at least, on the podium. We will see how the start goes and then it is going to be a very tricky race, a very race where we will need to be managing a lot. Hopefully we will get a good start and get ahead and hopefully we can achieve a good result and finish the job."

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Polesitter Lewis Hamilton has been in Kimi Antonelli's situation many times before, so the Ferrari driver has been asked to give his thoughts on what he calls the Italian's "phenomenal" achievement.

"He's just got such a bright future ahead of him," said 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. [The Mercedes] 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."

Hamilton said during the drivers' parade he got a good score on his Whoop device when he woke up this morning, so that's a positive start.

BBC Sounds

Harry Benjamin has been practising his championship announcements for Sunday's potential, but very likely, crowning of Kimi Antonelli, and he's joined by Jennie Gow, F1 correspondent Andrew Benson and 1996 world champion Damon Hill.

If you need to head out tonight, don't worry, you won't miss any of the action from the Mexico City Grand Prix.

To tune in, you can click the listen live tab at the top of the page, search for 5 Live via the BBC Sounds app or ask your smart speaker to "play 5 Live".

Plenty more insight and analysis will be available on the F1: Chequered Flag podcast - just search ‘F1’ on BBC Sounds.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent

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For Kimi 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 800 metres. Drivers on the second row have several times over the years used the slipstream to rocket into the lead.

Charles Leclerc in third 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

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Life begins at 40, they say, and Lewis Hamilton proved you don't have to be a young pup on the grid to a claim a pole position for a Formula 1 grand prix.

The 41-year-old, who hadn't been on pole since 2023, secured his maiden one for Ferrari by beating George Russell by just 0.009 seconds. Hamilton and Mercedes' Russell are separated by just one point in the championship in the fight to finish second, so this should be a good contest between the two, regardless of the title permutations.

The other Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, who topped Friday practice, was third quickest, with Red Bull's Max Verstappen in fourth. The Dutchman has a one-place grid penalty for his tangle with Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson during second practice, so he'll be swapping places with Kimi Antonelli and starting fifth.

Hamilton said it hasn't been an easy weekend so far in Mexico - he had an issue during practice - but he added the team has took important lessons from the last race in Austin a week ago. "The margins are so fine, which makes this result all the more rewarding," said the seven-time world champion.

Kimi Antonelli missed Thursday's media day with illness then after qualifying, he told Sky Sports he is feeling more tense than usual, which, given the circumstances, is completely understandable.

The Italian added he was going to try and get a good night's sleep on Saturday and just try to focus on today's race, not his date with destiny.

This is what the 20-year-old needs to secure his name in the Formula 1 record books. In simple terms, two points will do it in Mexico.

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