F1 News: Piastri leads McLaren 1-2 in final Mexico City practice

Oscar Piastri in the superior McLaren-Mercedes, turned a lap of 1m16.492s to top final practice for the 2024 Mexico City GP around the 2.674-mile Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez circuit.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Lando Norris was 2nd fastest in the #4 McLaren, 0.059s behind his teammate Piastri.

Carlos Sainz Jr, who topped Practice 2 in his #55 Ferrari, was 0.340s behind Piastri.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, not happy with the balance of his car after losing both practice sessions on Friday, was 4th quick, 0.511s behind Piastri. The Red Bull simply does not have the downforce that the McLaren nor do they have the Cheater Flex-Front wing that the McLaren has.

Verstappen complained about his car on more than one occasion over the radio, saying “no grip front or rear”, and considering his mechanical woes yesterday, this is not smooth sailing for Red Bull. As for Perez, he couldn’t hook up a lap on the softs late on there.

Perez is really struggling down in P13 in the #11 Red Bull. He went straight on several times into the stadium and bailed on his lap.

This will not be doing much for the Mexican’s confidence in front of his home crowd.

Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top-5 in his #44 Mercedes, 0568s behind Piastri.

The Mercedes form is still a little unknown. They seem to have dropped back, behind the Ferraris and McLarens, and probably behind the Red Bull of Verstappen too.

But with Perez struggling, can Russell and Hamilton get in the mix on the front three rows, or will they be in the clutches of the RB duo?

2024 Mexico City GP Practice 3 Results