McLaren has placed a 1-2 at the last practice for the Mexican Grand Prix, with Oscar Piastri on top ahead of teammate Lando Norris.
It was a cloudy afternoon in Mexico City, with temperatures lower than yesterday.
George Russell was the first car to go out his box, performing a practice start out of the pit lane. The Mercedes driver had crashed his car yesterday during FP2, and the team had to break the curfew to make the necessary repairs, though no penalty was inflicted as it was the second time they’ve broken it this year.
Mercedes said they had to change the chassis following Russell’s crash, but that no damage was inflicted to the Power Unit or gearbox. The British driver did his out lap and then went into his box again.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was also out early, with a fresh set of soft tires. He was the first to set a flying lap, taking advantage of the fact that everyone else but Gasly were in the pits.
Both Mercedes were out minutes later and Russell was much quicker than teammate Hamilton. The number 63 had set the fastest lap out there yet, 0.045s faster than Verstappen’s. His teammate, on the other and, sat fifth by a gap of 0.704s. Ahead of him were the Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Alonso, who were having great runs around the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
RB’s Liam Lawson had a scary moment through the Stadium section as he lost the rear and spun around, luckily without damage. The yellow flags were out until he managed to get back running.
In the closing stages, it was a 1-2 for McLaren with Oscar Piastri on top by 0.059s to teammate Norris.
Sainz completed the top three by 0.340s with Verstappen and Hamilton behind him before teammate Leclerc.
Russell placed the 8th fastest time ahead of Haas’s Magnussen. RB’s Liam Lawson was 10th.
Qualifying is next.