Lando Norris dominated the final practice session before the Mexico Grand Prix, the McLaren driver more than three tenths ahead of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton while Mercedes’ George Russell completed the top three.
Norris clocked his 1’16”633 with less than 10 minutes remaining in Free Practice 3 at the Autódromo Hermanos RodrÃguez circuit, with title rivals Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen only fifth and sixth respectively.
Verstappen, who was unhappy with his race pace on Friday, was the first driver to set a time in Saturday’s hour-long session, but it took well after the first 10 minutes for the majority of the field to take to the track.
Hamilton immediately pushed the limits, the Ferrari driver rolling slightly deep at Turn 4 on his first flying lap, before careening into the grass at Turn 1 at the start of his next attempt.
As the 15-minute mark approached, Carlos Sainz moved to the top of the times after becoming the first driver to use a set of Pirelli soft tires, his 1’18”028 remaining as the benchmark as the halfway point approached.
Hamilton ran deep again at Turn 4, as did Norris on his first flying lap, with the McLaren driver placing third behind Sainz and Verstappen on his next attempt as all 20 drivers struggled to avoid traffic on the relatively short 2.67-mile circuit.
Still on a set of average tires, Norris moved into the lead with a time of 1:18.015, while his teammate Piastri lapped moments later, leaving him more than four tenths behind as the Australian struggled to catch up in the session with his title rival.
As the session entered its second phase, Verstappen was immersed in a race simulation on the medium tire, with Russell complaining that he was “sliding everywhere” on the yellow wall tire, while the top six, including Norris, Sainz, Russell, Verstappen, Charles Leclerc and Isack Hadjar, were covered by 0.065 seconds at one point.
Alex Albon suffered two big lockups at Turn 13, thwarting his early attempts on the soft tires as he reported “it feels weird”, with Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli going onto the exit curb at Turn 12 as he also completed a flying lap as the focus shifted to qualifying simulations.
Russell became the first driver to go below the 1’18” barrier, the Mercedes driver setting a time of 1’17”892 which was soon beaten by Hadjar and then Piastri, the Drivers’ Championship leader lowering the benchmark to 1’17”315 with less than 15 minutes remaining.
Times continued to drop, with Leclerc and Antonelli both briefly jumping to the top, before Hamilton became the first driver to go under 1’17” this weekend with a 1’16”978, only to lose the top spot to Norris in 1’16”633 who remained fastest to the checkered flag.
Behind Hamilton and Russell, Leclerc was ahead of Piastri, who finished six tenths behind Norris, with Verstappen and Antonelli less than a tenth further back, the Red Bull driver complaining of “no grip, front or rear”.
Hadjar (Racing Bulls), Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda and Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto complete the top 10, followed by Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls), Esteban Ocon (Haas), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) and Sainz Williams.
His teammate Albon was 16th after complaining of a lack of power at the end of the session, followed by Ollie Bearman (Haas) and the two Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto.
Fernando Alonso finished 20th, with Aston Martin reporting it had “discovered a small problem at the front right” of the Spaniard’s car, which limited his running.
All 20 drivers will be back in action later Saturday for the crucial Mexico Grand Prix qualifying session.
