Mexican Grand Prix: Max Verstappen pips Alex Albon to top FP3

Max Verstappen beat Alex Albon by just 0.070 seconds in the final practice session in Mexico.

The Dutchman was the man to beat having set the fastest time in both Friday sessions but he did not have it all his own way.

As the track ramped up, a number of driver began to set quick times no more so than Albon whose time of 1:17.957 had looked a potential candidate to top the session.

But, as has often been the case this season, it was Verstappen’s session in the end with the three-time World Champion setting the fastest lap of the session with 10 minutes to go.

While there was quite a rush to get out early in the rain-affected FP2, there was less so on Saturday’s session with just five drivers heading out early on.

Of those runners, it was Valtteri Bottas who set the opening time of 1:20.740 but with hard tyres, that mark was soon beaten.

Ferrari were clearly looking to test their quickest pace with both drivers on the soft tyre and it was advantage Leclerc as the Monégasque put in a time 0.166 seconds ahead of Carlos Sainz.

Yuki Tsunoda hinted he may be a contender for Q3 later on with another quick time that put him provisionally third while Lewis Hamilton put his difficult Friday performance behind with a time of 1:19.214 to set him top of the standings.

That was beaten just a few minutes later though by his team-mate George Russell who was 0.570 seconds ahead of Hamilton shortly before Pierre Gasly spun heading into the stadium section.

FP1 and FP2’s star driver Verstappen was in no great rush to get out on track, spotted in the Red Bull garage covering his ears as the cars were fired up, but the Dutchman did eventually emerge with 20 minutes on the clock.

Verstappen’s first effort put him 0.073 seconds behind Russell while Sergio Perez set a purple sector one but a lock up in sector two meant he could only manage fifth quickest.

Further down the grid, Kevin Magnussen had an issue with his rear left tyre, suggesting over the radio that it was not fitted on properly, although Haas may have attempted to avoid an unsafe release penalty from the FIA by describing it as a “handling issue.”

As the track ramped up, Verstappen took top spot from Russell at the halfway mark while Perez also moved up to P3. Daniel Ricciardo was in fourth place despite running on the medium, backing up his optimism of a Q3 spot.

After a disappointing Friday, Aston Martin again ran into trouble with both drivers failing to finish inside the top 10 but of the two drivers, it was Fernando Alonso who was the quickest.

With less then 20 minutes to go in the session, Alex Albon moved ahead of his former team-mate with a time of 1:17.957, almost half a second quicker than Verstappen.

Albon’s time was the signalling of quicker times to come with Bottas moving up to P3 before Oscar Piastri set the quickest sector one but the last third of his lap fell away meaning he could only put the 10th fastest time in.

Russell moved back into the top three with a time 0.291 seconds behind Albon’s while Lewis Hamilton was struggling to find improvement in his lap time.

Late on in the session, Ferrari suffered back-to-back cases of impeding with Leclerc first running into a slow-moving Magnussen before Sainz spun in his attempt to avoid Lance Stroll.

Neither Ferrari driver was happy with Leclerc moving alongside Magnussen to gesture at him while Sainz told his engineer that Stroll needed a penalty or he would do it again in qualifying.

That would prove to be the last meaningful action of the session with Verstappen’s 1:17.887 proving to be the best time of the 20 drivers.