Lewis Hamilton’s first instinct after his first Ferrari pole position was to describe a boy on a sofa, watching Michael Schumacher work Saturdays in red.
“To get the pole, finally get a pole for Ferrari, just takes me back to when I was a kid and sitting on the sofa and watching Michael get those poles, thinking ‘how cool would it be to do that?’” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1 after Saturday’s qualifying session, as reported by GPblog.
Schumacher is the measuring stick for anyone driving for Ferrari. He took the bulk of his pole positions and race wins in red between 1996 and 2006, and he is the comparison every Ferrari signing eventually invites.
Oldest polesitter since Andretti in 1982
The lap was 1:16.514. The margin to his former Mercedes teammate was nine thousandths of a second.
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At 41, Hamilton became the oldest driver to take an F1 pole position since Mario Andretti did so for Ferrari at the 1982 Italian Grand Prix, according to GPblog. It was also his first pole since the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix, more than three years earlier.
Reward for a team that bet on him
Hamilton framed the lap as a return on faith rather than a personal milestone.
“I think just my belief in this team, the opportunity that they’ve given me, and the belief and faith they’ve put in me also, it feels great to be able to reward them with a pole,” Hamilton said to Crash.net.
He stayed with the Schumacher image when pressed again on what the moment meant.
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“To have your first Ferrari pole, I mean, jeez, it just takes me back to watching Michael get all those pole positions when he was with Ferrari and all those wins. It’s very, very special,” Hamilton told Crash.net.
The race the pole could not deliver
Pole did not become victory. Max Verstappen passed Hamilton on Sunday to win the race, with Hamilton finishing second, 0.799 seconds behind. Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli came home third and clinched the 2026 drivers’ title in the process.
