This session has finished. No further updates will be posted.
Third practice for the 2024 Mexican Grand Prix is coming up next.
The session is live and five drivers are out onto the track straight away including Max Verstappen, who did little running yesterday due to a technical problem.
Mercedes have repaired George Russell’s car following his heavy crash yesterday. They had to use another of their exception to the curfew on working hours to do this.
Verstappen has set a 1’18.397 to set the initial pace.
Lewis Hamilton has a twitch as he gets on the power at the exit of the stadium to start a lap. He produces a 1’18.988 on softs which is six-tenths of a second off Verstappen’s time on the same rubber.
Verstappen: “I have no rear grip to be honest, low speed mainly.”
Russell: “I have to pit, the left-hand mirror is loose.”
Dudley: “Is it the glass or the whole housing?”
Russell: “The glass, the glass.”
Russell has gone fastest, 0.045 seconds faster than Verstappen, 1’18.284. He pits to have his wing mirror glass tightened in place.
It’s a Mercedes one-two as Hamilton does a 1’18.123 but here come the Ferrari drivers to put an end to that. Carlos Sainz Jnr does a 1’17.825 to go top by nearly three-tenths of a second, then Charles Leclerc slots into second, 0.064s off his team mate.
Lando Norris starts a lap with plenty of flow-vis on his heavily updated floor. He’s running the team’s only example of it this weekend.
Russell: “That left-hand mirror’s come out again.”
Norris goes fastest of all in the middle sector and ends the lap third quicker with a 1’17.902, 0.77s off Sainz.
The Ferrari drivers embark on another effort. Sainz sets a new fastest time in the first sector but doesn’t improve his overall time. Nor does Leclerc.
Liam Lawson has spun at turn 15, riding the kerb too hard at turn 14, and is partly facing against the flow of traffic. He drives onto the run-off to get going again.
Ferrari are having trouble with their GPS at the moment.
Sergio Perez has gone seventh, leaving Zhou Guanyu the only driver yet to set a time.
Leclerc sets a 1’17.616 to grab the top spot. He was down on his previous best in the first two sectors but gained time in the final sector, where he’s 0.35s faster than Norris. Looks like he kept his tyres alive better for the end of the lap.
Piastri has to abandon a lap after Sainz gets in his way at turn 10 and 11. “Typical Carlos,” he remarks.
Sainz now takes the top time back with a 1’17.447. The fastest Ferrari is now almost half a second quicker than any other car.
Gannon tells Hulkenberg: “try func[tion] four, turn 13.” “Ay, ay, ay,” he replies.
Bozzi warns Leclerc he has been exceeding track limits at turn two. “We’re still exceeding track limits into turn two. Three cases, I’ve been told.” This isn’t policed during practice sessions, but if he cuts the corner too much in qualifying his lap time will be deleted.
Sainz goes fastest with a 1’17.334, just under a tenth of a second quicker than Leclerc.
Yuki Tsunoda does an impressive lap for third place, exactly half a second slower than Sainz but on the medium tyres.
Jego: “Okay we saw it on the data, we’ll have a look when you come in.”
Franco Colapinto: “I hit the floor quite hard at the exit of three.”
Suddenly it’s all change at the top: Verstappen bangs in a 1’17.003 to go top, then Norris comfortably beats that with a 1’16.551. 14 minutes to go.
Now Piastri takes his team mate off the top spot by 0.059 seconds. Hamilton goes fourth, leaving the Ferraris fifth and sixth.
Leclerc goes fifth but McLaren’s one-two is under threat from Sainz who goes fastest of all through sector one.
But Sainz falls well short of the McLarens as well at the end of his lap, 0.34s off Piastri.
Three teams have not used the soft compound tyres at all in this session, potentially to save sets for qualifying. Haas, RB and Alpine have only run on the mediums.
Those three teams are doing their only soft tyres runs at the end of the session. Nico Hulkenberg spoils his lap by running wide at turn 12, however.
Verstappen: “There’s no grip, front and rear,” laments Verstappen, currently fourth fastest.
Perez: “There is no potential on the front to attack the braking.”
Fernando Alonso predicted this wouldn’t be a great track for Aston Martin and with his final lap he only goes 15th.
So McLaren end the final practice session with a one-two, only Sainz able to get within half a second of them. That concludes our live coverage, read the full report here.
2024 Mexican Grand Prix
- McLaren have no regrets over pitting Norris shortly before red flag came out
- Leclerc fined, avoids same penalty as Verstappen after apologising for swearing
- Leclerc not in the clear over swearing as Verstappen claims he went unpunished
- Majority of drivers wanted racing rules to change “straight away” – Russell
- Verstappen was “over the limit” with Norris but others would do same – Leclerc
