2024 F1 Round 20 Mexico City GP FP3 — Piastri leads McLaren one-two with 1:16.492, Tsunoda seventh, home driver Pérez struggles in 14th

The third practice session for the 2024 Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix, round 20 of the season, took place at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in the early hours of 27 October, Beijing time. McLaren locked out the top two positions. Oscar Piastri led with a 1:16.492, just 0.059 seconds ahead of team-mate Lando Norris. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was third, while RB’s Yuki Tsunoda finished seventh.

Ferrari initially led the session, carrying forward its strong form from the opening day. Once qualifying simulations began, however, McLaren displayed overwhelming pace. Piastri’s lap was 0.7 seconds faster than Charles Leclerc’s pole time at the circuit the previous year. Ferrari could not match its rival’s improvement on the qualifying runs. Sainz was third, 0.340 seconds off the pace, while Leclerc was 0.740 seconds behind in sixth.

After being troubled by unusual noises from his power unit over the previous two days, Max Verstappen fitted another previously used unit for this session to avoid a penalty. A lack of grip, however, left him fourth, 0.511 seconds behind, with Lewis Hamilton a further 0.057 seconds back. Home driver Sergio Pérez continued to struggle. Mistakes on his final flying lap left him 14th, 1.295 seconds off the fastest time. Afterwards, he complained of ‘not enough front-end grip under braking to attack’.

Tsunoda’s seventh place gave him good momentum for qualifying. Team-mate Liam Lawson still finished tenth despite spinning at the penultimate corner, as RB continued its strong weekend in the battle with Haas for sixth in the constructors’ championship. For Haas, Kevin Magnussen was ninth and Nico Hülkenberg 16th. Qualifying was due to take place later that morning, Beijing time.