McLaren increases the pace in the third practice of the Mexico City GP

Oscar Piastri led the crucial final practice session of the Mexico City Grand Prix ahead of his McLaren teammate Lando Norris. FP3 was the first session of the weekend that wasn’t interrupted by red flags, and with Friday afternoon’s FP2 being run by Pirelli for a 2025 tire test, the teams had a lot of work to do to validate the tire changes. configuration before sorting.

McLaren, which struggled for pace on the first day of racing, was fastest, with Piastri jumping to first place with a best time of 1:16.492. His teammate Norris, the only McLaren driver driving the team’s newest floor, was adrift.

The papaya pace was powerful enough to bother Ferrari considerably, with Carlos Sainz 0.34 seconds off the pace after leading on Friday. The Spaniard was more confident about his car’s race pace, but was optimistic that the SF-24 would at least be in the one-lap fight with McLaren.

However, Sainz was comfortably McLaren’s closest rival, with Max Verstappen fourth, 0.511 seconds down on Piastri.

The Dutchman complained of a lack of grip on both axles after his fastest lap, losing most of the time to the leaders in the final sector, especially in the technical section of the stadium.

Lewis Hamilton was impressed by his 0.568s margin in fifth as he felt he had set a fast 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, although the Monegasque would have competed for fourth place if he had put his three best sectors together in one lap.

Yuki Tsunoda was impressive in seventh for RB, 0.81 seconds off the lead, beating Mercedes’ George Russell. Russell was driving a largely rebuilt car after his heavy crash in FP2, the team revealing that the No. 63 car required a chassis change overnight, but that its engine and gearbox could be saved.

Kevin Magnussen was ninth for Haas, ahead of Liam Lawson, who completed the top 10, 1.002 seconds off the lead.

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

Sergio Pérez struggled to reach 14th place, 1.295 seconds off the pace, and the Mexican complained of insufficient front grip to attack the corners. He lost just over 0.2 seconds per sector to his teammate, although his best time would have been closer without a block in the stadium section.

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

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