That was the third training session in Mexico: McLaren impressively fast, Max Verstappen totally dissatisfied – and the Ferraris difficult to assess
For Sky expert Timo Glock, “Ferrari remains the clear favorite” for pole position. But in the third free practice session for the Mexican Grand Prix, McLaren ultimately dominated and secured 1st and 2nd place, 0.340 seconds ahead of the rest of the world.
Before the usual qualifying simulations on Saturday morning began in the last quarter of an hour, McLaren CEO Zak Brown was still skeptical on Sky’s microphone: “The Ferraris are very fast. I would be surprised if they don’t end up in the front row.” But shortly afterwards, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris took command and took the lead, with best times of 1:16.492 and 1:16.551 minutes respectively.
Times that the Ferrari drivers could not match. Carlos Sainz was 0.340 seconds down, which earned him 3rd place. Charles Leclerc had to abort his hot lap and therefore finished seventh, 0.740 seconds down. Nevertheless, the two continue to be among the favorites.
Max Verstappen (Red Bull/+0.511) came in fourth, incidentally with a new power unit. After the engine problems on Friday (leak in the air intake area), the mechanics were unable to repair the engine for the rest of the weekend on site. So a new power unit from the pool was installed.
There is no penalty for this, but in terms of balance, Verstappen was not at all satisfied: “No rear grip, especially at slow speeds,” he radioed at the beginning of the session, and again shortly before the end: “This is not working at all. I have no grip, neither at the front nor at the rear.”
According to Glock, it’s quite worrying: “It’s definitely not a good sign for Verstappen and Red Bull that they are having problems with the conditions here. The rear is nervous, he has no traction. The stability is not there, and that’s why he is losing time. For Verstappen, only one lap is possible, then the rear tire is through in terms of temperature.”
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) came in fifth, with a “good lap”, as he himself noted. Nevertheless, he was 0.568 seconds behind Piastri. “They’re damn fast,” said the seven-time world champion about McLaren’s strong performance.
Teammate George Russell (8th/+0.849) had a loose rearview mirror at one point. This may have been a result of the chassis change after Friday’s crash. Russell’s mechanics worked an extra shift overnight, violating the FIA curfew. However, this is only the second time this season that this has happened and thus without penalty.
“This is the worst thing for the men and women in our garage,” explains Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff in an interview with Sky: ”We’ve now had three big crashes in a row: two last weekend and a massive one yesterday. The chassis has to be repaired in time for Brazil so that we can use it as a spare there. That’s tough.”
But: “Lewis said the car is good. We just have to analyze why we lose so much compared to McLaren in turn 7 and the ones after that. But it’s close. Only the two McLarens are ahead, before that it was the Ferraris, which were four or five tenths faster than everyone else. Anything is possible between first and seventh place.”
Timo Glock’s conclusion: “I would still say Ferrari is the clear favorite. Verstappen doesn’t look in a good position at the moment. I think the two Ferraris and the two McLarens will be ahead of Verstappen tonight.”
After finishing third on Friday, Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls), who came in seventh in the third free practice session, was once again strong, with Kevin Magnussen (Haas) in P9 and Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) in P10. Nico Hülkenberg (Haas) had to settle for P16. He complained: “The brakes don’t feel good (…), especially from turns 1 to 4.”
Local hero Sergio Perez, who was not completely satisfied with his Red Bull on Friday, lost 1.295 seconds to the top in the final training and came in 14th. At the back of the grid, meanwhile, were the two Alpine drivers and Guanyu Zhou (Sauber), almost two seconds behind in 18th to 20th place.
Where can you watch the Mexican Grand Prix live?
Regardless of the live broadcasts on TV, the Formel1.de YouTube channel (Subscribe to the channel for free!) offers a live summary of the action in Mexico every night. Kevin Scheuren and Christian Nimmervoll present the F1 show at 3:30 a.m. with an analysis of qualifying and the most important news and information from the paddock. As always, channel members have the opportunity to ask us questions in the live chat. (Become a channel member now!)
Attention: In the night from Saturday to Sunday, daylight saving time ends and the clocks are set back one hour to normal time CET. This means for hardcore Formula 1 fans who want to be there live at the F1 show that the stream according to the new time (winter time) already starts at 3:30 a.m., so 4:30 hours after the scheduled end of qualifying.
In Germany, qualifying and the race in Mexico will not be broadcast on free TV. Only pay-TV services such as Sky (all sessions) and RTL+ (qualifying only) will show Formula 1 live this weekend. Qualifying starts on Saturday at 23:00 CEST, the race starts on Sunday at 21:00 CET.