McLaren ups the pace in third Mexico City GP practice

Oscar Piastri topped the crucial final practice session at the Mexico City Grand Prix ahead of McLaren teammate Lando Norris. FP3 was the first session of the weekend not interrupted by red flags, and with FP2 on Friday afternoon commandeered by Pirelli for a 2025 tire test, teams had much work to do to validate set-up changes ahead of qualifying.

McLaren, which struggled for ultimate pace on the first day of running, emerged fastest, with Piastri rocketing to top spot with a best time of 1m16.492s. Teammate Norris, the only McLaren driver running the team’s newest floor, was 0059s adrift.

The papaya pace was mighty enough to upset Ferrari considerably, with Carlos Sainz 0.34s off the pace after having topped Friday running. The Spaniard was most confident of his car’s race pace but was optimistic the SF-24 would at least be in the fight over one lap with McLaren.

Sainz was comfortably McLaren’s closest challenger, though, with Max Verstappen fourth, 0.511s down on Piastri.

The Dutchman complained of having no grip at either axle after his fastest lap, losing the most time to the leaders in the final sector, particularly the technical stadium section.

Lewis Hamilton was impressed by his 0.568s margin in fifth, having felt he’d put together a quick lap only to find himself more than half a second off the pace.

Charles Leclerc was sixth in the second Ferrari, having lost most of his time in the second and third sectors, though the Monegasque would have competed for fourth had he strung together all three of his best sectors on one lap.

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Yuki Tsunoda was impressive in seventh for RB at 0.81s off the pace, beating Mercedes’s George Russell. Russell was driving a largely rebuilt car after his heavy crash in FP2, the team revealing car No. 63 required an overnight chassis change but that its engine and gearbox were salvageable.

Kevin Magnussen was ninth for Haas ahead of Liam Lawson completing the top 10, 1.002s off the pace.

Alex Albon was 11th ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Franco Colapinto just outside the top 10.

Sergio Perez struggled to 14th, 1.295s off the pace, the Mexican complaining of insufficient front grip to attack the corners. He lost just over 0.2s per sector to his teammate, though his best time would have been closer without a lock-up in the stadium section.

Fernando Alonso was 15th as the best-placed Aston Martin ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, who said his Haas car was struggling with “numb” brakes early in the session.

Lance Stroll was 17th ahead of Esteban Ocon, Zhou Guanyu and Pierre Gasly.