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Oscar Piastri led a McLaren 1-2 in the final practice session before Formula 1 qualifying at the Mexican Grand Prix, usurping early pacesetter Ferrari.
Much of the first half of FP3 was led by the Ferraris - which had tentatively looked strongest on Friday, the team seemingly carrying on from its dominant 1-2 at Austin.
But it was the McLarens that performed best during the late-session qualifying simulations.
Piastri was marginally the faster of the McLaren drivers, topping FP3 with an 1m16.492s, already just shy of seven tenths of a second faster than Carlos Sainz’s pole time last year.
Lando Norris was 0.059s slower than his team-mate, but had a considerably better hour than title rival Max Verstappen.
Verstappen avoided a repeat of the engine issues that plagued his Friday, swapping to a different engine within his pool and avoiding a penalty, but he struggled for grip throughout the session.
“Ah this doesn’t work, there’s no grip, front and rear,” Verstappen told his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.
He ultimately ended up fourth fastest, half a second off Piastri and just 0.057s ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes.
Verstappen’s home hero team-mate Sergio Perez struggled even more, finishing the session only 14th fastest, 1.3s off the pace after making mistakes on both of his late-session flying laps.
“Yep, there’s no potential on the front to attack the braking,” Perez lamented at the end of the session.
Ferrari didn’t look quite as strong on its final soft tyre runs as its earlier runs, finding far less time than McLaren did from one run to the next.
Carlos Sainz was third, 0.340s slower than Piastri, while team-mate Charles Leclerc was sixth, a further four tenths adrift.
Lawson gets in a spin 🥴
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 26, 2024
The RB loses it through Estadio, but is able to re-join with the aid of the run-off.#F1 #MexicoGP pic.twitter.com/1YKJAXjI1t
Yuki Tsunoda put his RB seventh with team-mate Liam Lawson 10th via a low-speed spin in the stadium section on a weekend where RB hopes to wrestle back the sixth place in the constructors’ it lost to Haas at Austin.
Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg were ninth and 16th for Haas, although only three tenths separated them, such was the closeness of the midfield pack.
George Russell was eighth ahead of Magnussen, Lawson and the Williams of Alex Albon. Valtteri Bottas was an impressive 12th for Sauber on a circuit he made Q3 at last year.
Sauber might fancy its chances of outqualifying Alpine. Pierre Gasly had another venture through the grass on the exit of Turn 1 before ending up 20th and slowest of all with team-mate Esteban Ocon only 18th.
Pierre Gasly's nemesis so far this weekend has returned 👀
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 26, 2024
The Alpine locks up and skates over the grass at Turn 1 for the second day in succession.#F1 #MexicoGP pic.twitter.com/vCOegQN5l4
RESULTS
1 Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
2 Lando Norris (McLaren)
3 Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
4 Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
5 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
6 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
7 Yuki Tsunoda (RB)
8 George Russell (Mercedes)
9 Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
10 Liam Lawson (RB)
11 Alex Albon (Williams)
12 Valtteri Bottas (Sauber)
13 Franco Colapinto (Williams)
14 Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
15 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
16 Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)
17 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
18 Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
19 Zhou Guanyu (Sauber)
20 Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
