MEXICO CITY GP – Oscar Piastri leads McLaren one-two going six hundredths faster than Lando Norris in third practice
Oscar Piastri led a McLaren one-two in third practice for the Mexico City Grand Prix, the Australian set a 16.492 putting himself ahead of teammate Lando Norris by just under six hundredths behind. Both McLarens looked smooth out on track as they traded fastest times during the second half of the session.
Both McLarens looked comfortable after they pushed Carlos Sainz off the top spot and were comfortably faster. But Sainz failed to find the same pace in the second half of the session leaving himself three tenths off the pace of the McLaren as he went over a tenth and a half faster than Max Verstappen. The Red Bull did look to be more settled on track during the session, but the three-time champion did appear to struggle for pace with him finishing half a second off the outright pace.
In the first true representative session of the weekend at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez after disrupted and confusing practice running on Friday, McLaren hit the front on the low-fuel qualifying simulations late in P3 with Piastri setting the pace from Norris by a margin of six hundredths. Ferrari had looked strong early on, but on the second run Sainz was three-tenths off.
Verstappen was three-quarters of a second faster than Lewis Hamilton with the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc just under two tenths behind the Mercedes. Yuki Tsunoda continued his strong form putting his RB seventh seven hundred behind the Ferrari, while Hamilton’s teammate George Russell was eighth four hundredths behind Tsunoda.
FP3 proved to be a straight forwards session with no on-track drama, following two big crashes in both of Friday’s sessions as well as a Pirelli tyre test in FP2. Russell able to continue without taking a penalty for a new power unit or gearbox though Mercedes did change the floor, as he went over a tenth faster than Kevin Magnussen and Liam Lawson completing the top ten.
Alex Albon missed out on the top ten by just over a hundredth and a half, the Williams also escaping a penalty for a power unit change after his collision with 2025 Haas driver Ollie Bearman in FP1. Albon going over a tenth faster than the Sauber of Valtteri Bottas. The Finn split the two Williams as he went seven hundredths faster than Franc Colapinto.
Sergio Perez put his Red Bull fourteenth, but he was three-quarters of a second behind the Argentine and a hundredth ahead of Fernando Alonso, Nico Hulkenberg and Lance Stroll. Guanyu Zhou spilt the two Alpine’s, he was a tenth behind Esteban Ocon and ahead of Pierre Gasly by a quarter of a tenth.