#F1 #MexicanGP FP3: @OscarPiastri heads @McLarenF1 one-two. #MexicoGP #FIESTA

Piastri Mexican GP FP3 – Oscar Piastri lead from team-mate Lando Norris in a McLaren one-two in a busy FP3 session at the Mexican GP as Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz completed the top three. Championship leader Max Verstappen was fourth for Red Bull.

Piastri posted the session-topping benchmark of a 1:16.492 on the C5 red side-walled softer compound and was a slim 0.059 seconds faster than team-mate Norris as Sainz was a further 0.340 seconds adrift in third.

The McLaren pairing had about three tenths over of the rest of the pack lead by early session time-topper Sainz, as the Spaniard who could not capitalise on his pace in the opening half of proceedings.

In response to yesterday’s FP2 session being a majority Pirelli tyre test for 2025, the drivers spent their early stints getting used to the soft and medium rubber.

Verstappen registered the first flyer on the C5’s straight out of the box as he made up for the limited amount of running yesterday: The Dutchman’s power-train was changed to overcome the air leak that caused havoc to him on Friday. The Red Bull driver posted a 1:18.397, but this was rapidly beaten.

Mercedes’ George Russell, another driver recovering from yesterday’s difficult FP2 session, in which he needed a chassis switch following his shunt, found a 1:18.284 – but team-mate Sir Lewis Hamilton had beaten this by a tenth-and-a-half.

Sainz then got below the 1:18’s bracket with a 1:17.825 effort, which Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc got close to; Sainz lowered the benchmark once more with a 1:17.447 and then improved by a tenth to continue his place at the head of the times.

Verstappen began the qualifying simulation run posting a 1:17.003 but had a scruffy sector two, and his hot-lap lead open to Norris’s effort. The McLaren driver strung together a 1:16.551 to put distance between him and his title rival, although Piastri found half-a-tenth to go fastest.

Sainz was third overall with his 1:16.832 ensuring that he also moved in-front of Verstappen – who struggled with front braking and was unable to improve on his follow-up flyer.

Although Hamilton thought his flying lap effort was a good one in fifth on the time-sheets, the seven-time world champion was alarmed by the over half-a-second deficit to the McLaren pairing.

Leclerc’s late hot-lap was looking promising with his sector one effort, but lost time in the middle sector thanks to traffic on his flyer at the end of FP3.

Tsunoda was seventh quickest on the classification whilst Mercedes’ Russell came eighth as MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen and RB’s Liam Lawson rounded out the top ten.

Williams’ Alexander Albon finished FP3 outside the top ten in 11^th place and in-front of Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas who took 12^th, his Williams team-mate Franco Colapinto who wounded up 13^th as home favourite Sergio Perez was down in 14^th overall.

Aston Martin duo Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were 15^th and 17^th respectively as MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg sandwiched in-between the duo in 16^th.

BWT Alpine F1 Team pairing Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly ended the final practice session in 18th and at the rear respectively as Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu split the pairing in 19^th.

You can see the full Formula 1 Gran Premio De La Ciudad De Mexico 2024 Free Practice 3 Results classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2024/races/1248/mexico/practice/3

2024 F1 World Championship Standings

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