Can a thousandth of a second tip the scales? Reigning champion Lando Norris topped the final practice at Mexico’s Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, edging out championship leader Kimi Antonelli in a nail‑biting session.
Norris shaved 0.001s below Antonelli’s early benchmark while all four frontrunning teams vied for supremacy on the thin‑air circuit, leaving several midfield outfits grappling with power‑unit woes.
A subdued start gave Haas rookie Ryo Hirakawa plenty of track time. After covering FP1, the Toyota‑backed driver returned to replace Esteban Ocon for the rest of the weekend.
Ocon was sidelined by the team for unclear reasons, after a heated exchange with his race engineer during FP2.
While 32‑year‑old debutant Hirakawa grew confident on the slippery high‑altitude layout, Antonelli and Charles Leclerc sparred early, both on medium tyres.
Missing valuable FP2 time due to engine trouble, Lewis Hamilton surged just before halfway, posting 1:18.268 and echoing Ferrari’s Friday set‑up confidence.
Leclerc nudged another tenth off his teammate before Hamilton reclaimed the lead with a 1:18.162 lap; in my view, McLaren’s pace looks shaky as Red Bull and Ferrari trail clearly.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
On soft tyres, Norris briefly led with a 1:17.873 lap, ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri and George Russell, who complained about lacking grip through the tricky Turn 12 right‑hander into the Foro Sol stadium.
When Leclerc lost momentum through the Esses and backed off, Antonelli surged to the top with a 1:17.601 lap, voicing frustration at Max Verstappen’s impeding in Turn 1.
Antonelli then hit purple in sector one on his next run but failed to improve, allowing Norris to snatch the top spot by just 0.001s heading into qualifying.
Leclerc posted a late sector‑one burst yet remained third, 0.117s shy, followed closely by Piastri; Verstappen fell to fifth, 0.351s back, hampered by brake issues, setting up a tight qualifying showdown among the 2026 leaders.
A sloppy third sector left Hamilton over four‑tenths off the pace in sixth, trailed by Russell and Hadjar, who branded his Red Bull “the worst car I’ve driven this weekend, it’s terrible”.
Racing Bulls again appeared poised to claim the best‑of‑the‑rest fight, with Liam Lawson edging rookie teammate Arvid Lindblad to ninth, completing the top‑10.
Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls
Hirakawa wrapped up his run in 19th, just ahead of Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas. Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto failed to set a time after a power‑unit hiccup on his out‑lap, a puff of smoke marking the failure.
Home hero Sergio Perez also missed a lap, as Cadillac announced a precautionary engine change before qualifying.
F1 Mexico GP – FP3 results
Photos from Mexican GP – Saturday
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