Perez leads Verstappen in Red Bull dominated Mexican GP FP3

Sergio Perez outpaced Red Bull Formula 1 team-mate Max Verstappen to thrill the Mexican Grand Prix crowd by leading final practice.

Key moments:
> Perez heads Verstappen by 0.193s in Red Bull 1-2
> Hamilton a frustrated 0.651s adrift in third
> More grid penalties announced

An oil spillage from a lorry in the stadium section meant an even lower-key start to practice three than usual, with AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and Williams driver George Russell initially acting as circuit cleaners for the rest of the field.

It was 24 minutes in before Lewis Hamilton became the first of the regular frontrunners to set a competitive time.

That was also the only time Hamilton looked like a threat for the top of the timing screens during the session.

He was as low as seventh at one point, and had another trip over the Turn 1 grass, before eventually getting to third.

But Hamilton sounded dispirited over team radio when told he was 0.651s away from pacesetter Perez.

Verstappen had been comfortably quickest at the end of the first runs, before Perez found more pace on his second outing and closed to within 0.055s of his team leader.

After a cooldown lap Perez then improved to a 1m17.024s to beat Verstappen by 0.193s.

Verstappen spent a long period in the Red Bull garage with plenty of work happening towards the rear of the car.

Work on Max Verstappen's car going on 👀🛠️

He still remains the fastest in FP3 👊#MexicoGP 🇲🇽 #F1 pic.twitter.com/2RcvXjIGa9

— Formula 1 (@F1) November 6, 2021

When he emerged, he failed to improve on his earlier time and complained over team radio of a drastic lack of grip.

Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas completed the top four, with Carlos Sainz fifth for Ferrari ahead of Tsunoda.

Two more grid penalties were announced during the session. Lando Norris and Esteban Ocon have both taken new power unit elements, though the scale of the changes and therefore the size of their penalties are not yet known.

Norris also visited the Turn 1 grass and ended the morning 10th.

Lando takes a slight de-tour on the grass at Turn 1 #MexicoGP 🇲🇽 #F1 pic.twitter.com/J8kBlToqVx

— Formula 1 (@F1) November 6, 2021

Tsunoda, George Russell and Lance Stroll already knew they were carrying penalties into qualifying.

Practice 3 Results