Mercedes and Hamilton in the shade as Red Bull and Perez dominate in Mexico
Mercedes and Hamilton in the shade as Red Bull and Perez dominate in Mexico
Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes are staring at being comprehensively out-qualified by Red Bull following a crushing final practice session for the Mexico City Grand Prix.
But it was not Max Verstappen who led the way, instead it was team-mate Sergio Perez, raising home hopes of pole position from their hero at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Perez finished with a time of one minute 17.024s, almost two-tenths of a second quicker than Verstappen, with Hamilton a staggering 0.651s off the pace.
When told of the gap late on, a clearly puzzled Hamilton replied: "Six and a half tenths?", with the reigning champion at a loss to understand the deficit.
Unfortunately, due to an oil spillage on the track through turn four from a support race ahead of final practice, it resulted in a slow start to the session as the majority of the drivers were reluctant to play 'roadsweeper'.
AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda was the first to take to the track and quickly reported the surface to be "slippery" despite the FIA's attempts to cover the spillage with cement dust.
The corner proved problematic through the session, resulting in Verstappen taking to the track last and with only 30 minutes of the hour-long run remaining.
The championship leader, by 12 points over Hamilton, made it count immediately by setting the fastest lap at that stage by four-tenths of a second over Perez with a time of 1:17.537s.
After Valtteri Bottas moved to within two-tenths of a second of Verstappen, the Dutch driver then delivered a stunning lap of 1:17.217s to move half-a-second clear of the Finn.
On a brand new set of tyres late on as the drivers ran their qualifying sims, seven-time champion Hamilton could only muster a time just under seven-tenths off Verstappen.
There was an improvement on his second attempt after a couple of cool-down laps before Perez then sent his home fans into a frenzy with his hot lap.
Verstappen struggled on his final set of soft tyres and failed to find any improvement, leaving Perez out in front.
Bottas finished fourth quickest, 0.684s adrift, followed by Ferrari's Carlos Sainz again fifth fastest but a second back.
Tsunoda was a strong sixth, but will start at the back of the grid along with Aston Martin's Lance Stroll, McLaren's Lando Norris and Esteban Ocon in his Alpine.
With Norris taking a new power unit before the final session McLaren opted to practice the tow down the long straight in order to potentially aid Daniel Ricciardo in qualifying.
Ricciardo showed considerable improvement from his Friday performance to set the seventh-best time, followed by AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly, the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and then Norris rounding out the top 10, 1.288s down.
With the top five covered by a second, from Sainz in fifth down to 16th-placed Ocon, there was just under a second, highlighting the strength of Red Bull, in particular, and Mercedes.
Haas driver Nikita Mazepin brought up the rear, nearly 3.5s down, and 1.2s back on the driver directly ahead of him on the timesheet in Williams' Nicholas Latifi.
Related
Change your timezone:
Latest News
Haas announce Hulkenberg EXIT as F1 star's new team confirmed
- 2 hours ago
F1 champion claims Drive to Survive success was 'very lucky'
- 13 minutes ago
F1 franchise welcomes return of INCREDIBLE feature
- 1 hour ago
F1 News Today: Red Bull star set to QUIT team as F1 driver role CONFIRMED for 2025
- 1 hour ago
F1 team set to axe BOTH star drivers
- 2 hours ago
Red Bull to lose F1 MVP as true cost of Horner saga hits
- Today 09:57
Related news
Ferrari driver confirms he won't be in F1 for 2024
Perez's father makes huge Red Bull claim after Mexican GP
Wolff praises Hamilton for 'best performance' in Mexico
Sainz explains key F1 factor which makes Mercedes faster than Ferrari
F1 Standings
Drivers
- Oliver Bearman
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2024
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Australia 2024
- MSC Cruises Grand Prix of Japan 2024
- Grand Prix of China 2024
- Miami Grand Prix 2024
- Gran Premio dell'Emilia Romagna 2024
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2024
- Grand Prix du Canada 2024
- Gran Premio de España 2024
- Grand Prix of Austria 2024
- Grand Prix of Great Britain 2024
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2024
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2024
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Italy 2024
- Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2024
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2024
- Grand Prix of the United States 2024
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2024
- Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2024
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024
- Qatar Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2024
About GPFans
GPFans is a multi-platform, multi-language brand dedicated to Formula One coverage. We bring you all the ins and outs of the sport, 24/7, everything from up-to-the-minute news and features to the latest viral stories and clips.We believe that a new generation of exciting, outspoken drivers will make F1 more popular than ever before, and we want to give our users access to as much of their heroes as possible, on and off the track. From Lewis Hamilton to Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo to Sebastian Vettel, we provide in-depth analysis of every every Grand Prix in the season, from Australia to Abu Dhabi.
With Formula One under the new ownership of Liberty Media, how the sport is being covered is evolving, and GPFans will look to be at the heart of this progression into new media, as one of the fastest-growing sites covering the king of motorsports.
Follow us on your favorite social media channel
Corporate & Media
Innovatieweg 20C7007 CD, Doetinchem, Netherlands
+31645516860