Lando Norris enjoyed a clear advantage in FP3 at the Mexico City Grand Prix, while Max Verstappen and title leader Oscar Piastri struggled for pace.
Norris overcame a close battle for the lead after just one run on the soft tires, setting a benchmark of 1 minute 16.633 seconds for the McLaren driver. Three purple sectors along the way saw him lead by 0.345 seconds, 0.599 seconds ahead of teammate Piastri and 0.609 seconds ahead of title challenger Verstappen.
Lewis Hamilton followed in second place as the title contenders pushed Norris for the top spot, with the Ferrari driver’s final sector accounting for more than half the difference to the leader.
George Russell had three teams in the top three, but the Mercedes driver was 0.512 seconds slower than Norris despite pulling away from the leaders behind him.
Charles Leclerc improved his time in the second half of his flying laps and finished 4th, 0.054 seconds behind Russell, with Piastri trailing a further 0.033 seconds behind despite having set two attempts in qualifying time. As was the case on Friday, most of the Australian’s delay to his teammate occurred in the winding middle sector from Turns 4 to 11, where he was 0.347 seconds behind Norris.
Verstappen needed three laps on the soft to move up to sixth place, 0.01 seconds behind Piastri. Red Bull Racing sent the Dutchman out with Florvis paint on his rear wing for an unusually early time in FP3, suggesting the team needed to review extensive changes made to the RB21 overnight in the pursuit of better grip to improve expected race pace. Even if it worked, Verstappen’s Friday-leading one-lap pace was sacrificed.
“There’s no grip front or rear,” he said over the radio during qualifying.
Kimi Antonelli was seventh, 0.011 seconds behind Verstappen, and at the end of a tight front-running group.
Izak Hajjar finished eighth, the best of any midfielder, despite being incensed by contact with the slow-moving Pierre Gasly late in the session. Hiroki Tsunoda was separated from the leaders in ninth place, but just 0.173 seconds slower than Verstappen, while Gabriel Bortleto rounded out the top ten for Sauber, with the Brazilian 0.893 seconds slower.
Liam Lawson made a mistake on his first lap on the softs and finished 11th, ahead of Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll and Nico Hulkenberg.
Williams drivers Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon were 1.168 seconds and 1.361 seconds off the pace, respectively, with cars struggling in big braking zones, with both drivers seen going off the track multiple times. Albon’s session then ended with a power unit issue.
Oliver Bearman finished 17th, ahead of Alpine drivers Gasly and Colapinto, and was last among drivers with representative times.
Fernando Alonso’s session ended after just 12 laps, with no typical soft laps taking place due to technical issues with Aston Martin.
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