Lando Norris and Kimi Antonelli were near-inseparable in final practice for Formula 1’s Mexican Grand Prix as Ferrari’s pace faltered ahead of qualifying.
Friday pacesetter Charles Leclerc ultimately ended up third for Ferrari, but only at the end of the session following aborted attempts at his qualifying simulation on soft tyres.
He and team-mate Lewis Hamilton – whose session played out in a similar way – had traded fastest times at the beginning of FP3 as the top teams all chose to start the session on medium tyres.
Mercedes was among the first of the frontrunners to switch to softs and while George Russell pondered whether a double-prep lap was necessary, telling the team to consider telling Antonelli to push after a single warm-up lap, Antonelli did complete two prep laps and duly went fastest with a 1m17.601s.
That looked as though it would stand as the session’s best time until Norris improved with two minutes left of the hour-long session, going one thousandth quicker for McLaren.
Leclerc was 0.117s back in third, suggesting the Ferrari will remain a contender for pole in qualifying, while Oscar Piastri ended the session within two tenths of his pacesetting McLaren team-mate in fourth.
Max Verstappen complained of brake issues late on and was three and a half tenths down in fifth 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 cutoff.
Lindblad and ninth-fastest Lawson were well clear of their midfield rivals, with Nico Hulkenberg four tenths further back for Audi ahead of Alpine duo Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly and Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin.
Hulkenberg set the joint-highest number of laps in the session (32) alongside Ryo Hirakawa, parachuted in to the second Haas seat for the remainder of the weekend with Esteban Ocon replaced ahead of FP3.
Hirakawa ran through a full programme including plenty of opportunities for single push laps, and by the end of a session where he used three sets of softs had a best time of 1m19.504s that left him 19th, 1.904s off the pace and inside six tenths of team-mate Ollie Bearman.
Home driver Sergio Perez was one of two drivers, alongside Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto, who failed to set a time.
Perez completed just one installation lap before returning to the Cadillac garage, where the team opted to make a precautionary engine change before qualifying.
His team-mate Valtteri Bottas was 20th, 2.742s off the pace and 0.838s behind Hirakawa.
FP3 times
1 Lando Norris (McLaren) 1m17.600s
2 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.001s
3 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.117s
4 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.195s
5 Max 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 (Racing Bulls) +0.513s
10 Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +0.537s
11 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +0.960s
12 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.052s
13 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.074s
14 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +1.250s
15 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1.327s
16 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +1.614s
17 Alex 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
