Lando Norris and Kimi Antonelli were almost inseparable during final practice for the Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix as Ferrari’s pace faltered ahead of qualifying.
Friday’s leader, Charles Leclerc, eventually finished third for Ferrari, but only at the end of the session following aborted attempts at a qualifying simulation on soft tires.
He and teammate Lewis Hamilton – whose session went similarly – had swapped best times at the start of FP3, with the top teams all opting to start the session on medium tyres.
Mercedes were among the first of the favorites to move to the softs and while George Russell questioned whether a double warm-up lap was necessary, telling the team to consider telling Antonelli to attack after just one warm-up lap, Antonelli completed two warm-up laps and had to be quickest with a time of 1’17”601.
This appeared to be the fastest time of the session until Norris improved with two minutes to go in the hour-long session, going a thousandth faster for McLaren.
Leclerc was third, 0.117 seconds behind, suggesting the Ferrari will remain a contender for pole in qualifying, while Oscar Piastri finished the session two-tenths behind his McLaren teammate in fourth.
Max Verstappen complained of brake problems late on and was three and a half tenths out of fifth place ahead of Hamilton, with less than seven hundredths covering the Ferrari in sixth and Arvid Lindblad at the back of the top 10, as Racing Bulls again had both drivers inside the theoretical Q3 threshold.
Lindblad and Lawson, ninth fastest, were well ahead of their midfield rivals, with Nico Hulkenberg four tenths further back for Audi ahead of Alpine duo Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly and the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso.
Hülkenberg completed the most laps of the session (32) alongside Ryo Hirakawa, parachuted into the second Haas seat for the rest of the weekend with Esteban Ocon replaced before FP3.
Hirakawa completed a full program including plenty of single lap opportunities, and at the end of a session where he used three sets of soft tires he set a best time of 1m19.504s, which put him 19th, 1.904s off the pace and six tenths behind teammate Ollie Bearman.
Local driver Sergio Perez was one of two drivers, alongside Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto, who failed to set a time.
Perez completed only one installation lap before returning to the Cadillac garage, where the team opted to do an engine change as a precaution before qualifying.
His teammate Valtteri Bottas was 20th, 2.742 seconds off the pace and 0.838 seconds behind Hirakawa.
FP3 time
1 Lando Norris (McLaren) 1m17.600s
2 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.001s
3Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.117s
4Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.195s
5Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.351s
6 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.469s
7 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.507s
8 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +0.509s
9 Liam Lawson (Running Bulls) +0.513s
10 Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +0.537s
11 Nico Hülkenberg (Audi) +0.960s
12 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.052s
13 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.074s
14 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +1.250s
15Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1.327s
16Carlos Sainz (Williams) +1.614s
17Alex Albon (Williams) +1.701s
18 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +1.776s
19 Ryo Hirakawa (Haas) +1.904s
20 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +2.742s
21 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) no time
22 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) no time
Gn sports
