Lando Norris took the fastest time in FP3 at the Mexican GP. The Englishman appears very comfortable on this track in his McLaren. The other papaya, Oscar Piastri's, is still far behind, continuing his poor streak. Verstappen, in addition to his qualifying simulation, attempted to improve his race pace in vain, but McLaren proved to be the fastest car in the latter. Hamilton put in an excellent one-lap lap at the end of the session, with Mercedes and Leclerc trailing behind.
FP3 begins in Mexico with the Aston Martins on track
Lance Stroll is the first of the twenty drivers on the grid to take to the track in this FP3 in Mexico. In the pits, however, Oscar Piastri's McLaren is still on the stands. After four minutes only the two Aston Martins they are driving on the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit, with the Canadian leading the timesheets. Behind them, however, looms the Hamilton's Ferrari and above all, the Max Verstappen's Red BullThe Dutchman immediately sounds the charge and takes first place, waiting, however, for his direct opponents to also appear on the track.
The pace in the box is quite slow. Ten minutes later, some drivers are still preparing to dive into their cars. This is because FP3 is usually used to prepare for qualifying. Teams do this by gradually trying to get their drivers comfortable with the single lap. Lewis Hamilton is having some difficulty with this, who was the protagonist of two lock-ups on the medium tyre. Meanwhile, what happened to Nico Hulkenberg is curious. The German's Sauber saw a lot of white smoke coming out of the rear end as it exited the pits. However, number 27 is taking part in session activities without any problems at the moment.
Meanwhile, fifteen minutes before the start of FP3 of the Mexican GP, Leclerc, Sainz and Norris also took to the track. The latter has just launched himself, while the Spaniard, on red tyres, crosses the finish line setting the fastest lap. Instead, Leclerc on yellow tyres took third place, right in front of his teammate. However, the two Rossa drivers climb when Yuki Tsunoda passes the finish line, which snatches the third place from the Monegasque. Ferrari is looking for confirmation this Saturday, given what has been demonstrated in yesterday's free practice. This year, however, The discontinuity between Friday and the rest of the weekend was one of the negative aspects of 2025 for the Maranello team.
Lots of traffic on the track, the drivers are trying to push their limits for qualifying
With almost half an hour to go until the start of FP3 in Mexico, almost all the drivers are on the track. The race marshals are incessantly waving the blue flags. Traffic problems in Hadjar for example, that at the entrance to the stadium he found himself in front of Norris who annoyed him. The Englishman, however, in the meantime on yellow tyres has taken the first position in the standings. His teammate, however, is currently almost half a second behind. According to Ivan Capelli's commentary, Oscar Piastri is unable to put in a strong one-lap performance because he makes mistakes in each of the three sectors. The Australian, therefore, starts again from the difficulties he has been suffering from in the last few races.
Max Verstappen, on the other hand, is trying a short race pace simulation on medium tyres. The Dutchman, it seems, feels strong on the qualifying lap. He can therefore focus on a different program, in an attempt to make up further ground on McLaren. In fact, in yesterday's free practice Norris, on soft tyres, set a truly competitive race pace. Meanwhile, Russell and Antonelli also began to spin. Russell took third on yellow tires, while Antonelli went wide at Turn 4. Much like Piastri, the young Italian is also struggling to put together a competitive ride. Meanwhile, the two Alpines with Gasly and Colapinto stand out at the back of the grid. Both drivers achieved their best time on red tyres.
Piastri confirms his difficulty compared to his teammate
With twenty minutes to go in FP3 in Mexico, Norris is in second place, while Piastri is 14th, four tenths behind his teammate. From the team radio, The engineers at the McLaren pit wall are doing a lot of coaching with the Australian driver, That is, they constantly advise him on how to behave on the track, including how and where to brake before the corners. Returning to the activity on the track, Max Verstappen has finished the race simulation. The latter, however, did not seem to improve further compared to the one seen yesterday. McLaren. The rest of the drivers, however, in the last quarter of an hour are starting to take to the track with red tyres, precisely to further prepare for the qualification.
Hadjar, Tsunoda, Lawson and Stroll take the top four positions. Fits Russell the third, while own Oscar Piastri managed to set a time 81 thousandths faster than the Racing Bull of the French driver. The Australian's lead was short-lived, as the first position in the standings was taken by Charles Leclerc. But other times are coming: Antonelli prevails over the Monegasque Ferrari driver, who, despite some difficulties in this session, seems really at ease on the Mexican circuit. Verstappen he places himself fourth, as a super lap from Lewis Hamilton arrives, with the Englishman almost three tenths ahead of the Italian driver.
The track is improving in these final minutes of FP3. Meanwhile, Lando Norris also took to the track with red tyres. McLaren's number 4 takes first place, distancing Hamilton by 3 tenths and Oscar Piastri and Verstappen by 6. The difference between the two drivers seems to be in the central sector, more specifically between turns 7 and 11. Norris thus takes the best time in FP3 in Mexico, scoring a good 1:16.633.
