Ahead of Saturday’s Qualifying session for the 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix, McLaren made a bold statement with their pace, as Oscar Piastri led a one-two finish for the team in Practice Three, just ahead of his title-contending teammate Lando Norris. Max Verstappen, meanwhile, was half a second off McLaren’s pace, coming in fourth.
In the first representative session of the weekend at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, following disrupted practice on Friday, McLaren excelled during low-fuel qualifying simulations late in FP3. Piastri topped the timesheets with a fastest lap of 1:16.492, just 0.059 seconds ahead of Norris.
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Ferrari initially set the pace with a one-two lead in the early part of the session but couldn’t match McLaren’s late surge on fresh soft tyres. Carlos Sainz slipped to third, finishing 0.3 seconds behind McLaren.
Verstappen continued to face difficulties in Mexico, lagging 0.511 seconds behind the frontrunners. After encountering power unit issues on Friday, he returned on Saturday with a new engine in his RB20. Although this engine performed reliably, Verstappen struggled with the car’s handling, citing a lack of grip both front and rear.
The situation was even worse for his teammate, Sergio Perez, who ran off track and finished in 14th place in front of his home crowd.
Lewis Hamilton took fifth for Mercedes, while his teammate George Russell, recovering from a heavy P2 crash, finished eighth. Charles Leclerc, despite running second to Sainz earlier in the session, placed sixth in his Ferrari during the qualifying simulations.
Following last year’s strong showing in Mexico, Red Bull’s partner team RB capitalised on the high altitude, placing both cars in the top 10, with Yuki Tsunoda in seventh and Liam Lawson in 10th. Kevin Magnussen, fresh off his strong showing in Austin’s Sprint, was the lead Haas driver, finishing in ninth.
Mexico City GP FP3 Results
2024 Mexico City Grand Prix FP3, 26 October 2024
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