Mexico City GP: Piastri pips Norris as McLaren controls FP3
Today at 02:42 PM
McLaren team mates Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris claimed the top two spots in final practice in Mexico ahead of this afternoon's qualifying session at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
Ferrari's Carlos Sainz was best of the rest, while Max Verstappen was fourth but less than happy with the performance of the Red Bull as his team mate and local hero Sergio Perez ended up outside the top ten.
Lewis Hamilton was fifth for Mercedes ahead of Charles Leclerc and Yuki Tsunoda, with none of the 20 cars having serious incidents or losing significant track time in contrast to Friday's sessions.
Friday's second practice had been an odd affair, driven by Pirelli prototype testing requirements for 2025. It was a relief to everyone on Saturday to get back to business as normal in FP3 with the focus on this weekend's Mexico City Grand Prix.
When the lights at the end of pit lane went green, first out on track for the final 60 minute practice session of the weekend was Sauber's Valtteri Bottas. However first blood on the timing screens went to Max Verstappen with a time of 1:18.397s in today's cooler lower-grip conditions, a second ahead of Pierre Gasly in the Alpine. Verstappen was running a new engine after problems on Friday had limited his track time.
Also quick to get out on track was George Russell, for an instal lap after he crashed in the Mercedes early in FP2. Mercedes had broken the overnight curfew getting the car back together again in time. "Nothing to report, all feels good," he reported back to the pit wall as he went half a tenth quicker than Verstappen.
Esteban Ocon and Lewis Hamilton also laid down initial laps but elsewhere it was a surprisingly languid start. Gradually more drivers and teams roused themselves and knuckled down, and Aston Martin were next to post times with Lance Stroll going third ahead of Fernando Alonso on the hard tyres. Verstappen and Hamilton on the other hand went back out on soft tyres, and it was enough to put the Mercedes on top.
Ferrari had opted to go straight out on soft compound and Carlos Sainz narrowly pipped Charles Leclerc to the top with a time of 1:17.825s. Lando Norris was also out on track but he aborted his first run after running wide in turn 5, while Oscar Piastri's first run was only good enough for fifth. Norris rallied with his next run and popped into third behing the Ferrari pair and ahead of the two Mercedes runners.
Russell was being distracted by concerns about a loose mirror on his W15, while RB's Liam Lawson took too much kerb and went for a clumsy spin at the final corner, leaving himself perpendicular to the track before getting going again after letting traffic get past him. Nico Hulkenberg was sixth in the medium-shod Haas while Sergio Perez was slower in P7 despite running soft tyres on the Red Bull.
Despite running tyres that had completed eight laps, Leclerc briefly took over from Sainz by two tenths at the top just before the halfway mark but Sainz soon snatched the top spot back with a time of 1:17.447s, 0.169s ahead of the Monegasque. Norris tried to keep up but suffered a snap through turns 6 and 7 that forced him to back off.
Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes and Aston Martin had all been out on the soft tyres by this point while the others were focused on optimising long-race pace on the mediums. Piastri's latest run had to be aborted when Sainz ran wide and came back on track just ahead of the McLaren. The Australian articulated in very clear terms his unhappiness at having his lap ruined, but his next was good enough to put him fourth ahead of Perez and Hamilton.
The Ferrari duo continued to trade the lead back and forth. When RB moved to the soft compound, Yuki Tsunoda jumped ahead of the McLarens into third place. Franco Colapinto was also impressive as the Williams split the two McLarens in P5 while his team mate Alex Albon was still working to overcome losing so much track time on Friday.
After resting up following his early start to the session, it was time for Verstappen to head out on the soft tyres and go top by 0.331s, only for Norris to immediately go nearly half a second quicker still with a lap of 1:16.551s. Piastri then shaved a further half a tenth off that with his own run. Hamilton couldn't match that and was only fourth ahead of the two Ferrari cars, with Russell seventh until he was bumped by a better lap from Tsunoda.
The Ferraris were back out on fresh soft tyres and Sainz improved to third but couldn't catch the McLaren pair who kept the upper hand all the way to the chequered flag. Verstappen remained fourth but was unhappy with the Red Bull's braking, and Perez was even less impressed in 13th.
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