Lando Norris impressively moved to the top of the timesheets in final practice for the Mexico City Grand Prix, setting himself up for pole position in Saturday night’s qualifying session, with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton second.
Having expressed concerns about McLaren’s lap pace around the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez at the end of Friday’s practice, the British team and drivers certainly found something special on Saturday’s return to the track, opening up an unexpectedly large gap on the soft tires late in the session.
Norris set a best lap of 1 minute 16.633 seconds. This was 0.345 seconds faster than unexpected second place Hamilton and 0.5 seconds faster than the rest of the field, including his two title rivals.
Championship-leading teammate Oscar Piastri, who leads Norris by 14 points in the standings, and Red Bull’s in-form Max Verstappen finished a distant fifth and sixth respectively. It was a particularly concerning gap for Piastri, considering they were both driving the same car.
Sky Sports F1’s Karun Chandhok said: “Lando was on fire in this session and was on fire yesterday as well.”
“He’s obviously got a good rhythm on this track. Everyone’s talking about Verstappen chasing down McLaren, but since Zandvoort Lando has been chasing Oscar as well.”
At the beginning of the session, the lead runners on medium tires had a gap of not one-tenth of a second but one-hundredth of a second, but then Norris showed an incredible late burst on the softs.
“Let’s see if we still have the advantage of third place before qualifying,” Chandhok added.
Although the gap between him and Norris was large at the end, Mercedes, along with George Russell, recorded the third fastest time and moved into the lead group. Teammate Kimi Antonelli was within a tenth of a point in seventh place.
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Lewis Hamilton goes off track three times during final practice before Mexico City GP
Charles Leclerc moved up to fourth place on the final lap of the session, but was still two tenths slower than teammate Hamilton. Hamilton was happy with his lap times on the soft tyres, which should bode well for his qualifying prospects.
Hamilton recovered well from a chaotic start to the session in which the British driver forced himself out and went off the track three times.
Racing Bulls’ Isaac Hajjar was eighth, but the Frenchman endured a tense hour on team radio, twice lashing out at the drivers who got in his way, first by Norris and then by Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, calling each of them “idiots”.
Yuki Tsunoda in the second Red Bull was ninth, but just 10 seconds behind team leader Verstappen, with Sauber’s Gabriel Bortleto rounding out the top ten.
Fernando Alonso missed the final run on soft tires due to a problem with the right front of his Aston Martin, completing 12 laps, the fewest of any driver, and finishing at the bottom of the timesheets.
Sky Sports F1 Mexico City GP Schedule
Saturday, October 25th
9pm: Mexico City GP qualifying build-up*
10pm: Mexico City GP Qualifying*
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Look back at some of the most dramatic moments that happened at the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Sunday, October 26th
6:30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Mexico City GP Build-up*
8pm: Mexico City Grand Prix*
10pm: Checkered flag: Mexico City GP reaction
*Also held at Sky Sports Main Event
F1’s thrilling title race continues at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez for this weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix, broadcast live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports now – cancel anytime with no contract
