Sergio Perez brought his fans to their feet as he led the way in final practice at the Mexico City Grand Prix.
The local hero led teammate Max Verstappen by almost two-tenths of a second as Red Bull asserted themselves at the top of the timesheet.
Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were a massive six-tenths off Checo's pace in third and fourth, as Mercedes' weakness at high altitude emerges once again.
Their only saving grace is the midfield don't look able to capitalise with Carlos Sainz four-tenths behind Bottas in fifth.
#Carlos55 improving his lap time: 1:18.029 🌶😎#FP3 #MexicoGP pic.twitter.com/pFW0EuTfIa
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) November 6, 2021
The battle for 'best of the rest' is intense though with just over half a second covering the Ferrari driver in P5 to Sebastian Vettel in P14.
Yuki Tsunoda was an impressive sixth for AlphaTauri, but is one of five drivers now confirmed with grid penalties.
The others are Lance Stroll, Lando Norris and Esteban Ocon, all of whom have new power unit components so will start P17-20, while George Russell will take a five-place grid drop for a gearbox change.
Practice is over in Mexico City. 🇲🇽
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) November 6, 2021
Daniel completes the session in P7 with Lando in P10. 🏁
Quali? We can’t wait. 👊 pic.twitter.com/AUSpXopE3s
After a poor Friday, McLaren have made gains with Daniel Ricciardo seventh, ahead of Pierre Gasly and Charles Leclerc, with all covered by less than a tenth.
Alfa Romeo again look like just missing out on the top 10 on pace alone with Kimi Raikkonen 12th and Antonio Giovinazzi 13th.
Alpine had a poor session in 15th and 16th for Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon respectively.
Mick Schumacher split the two Williams' in 18th for Haas, while teammate Nikita Mazepin was 1.2s slower than the rest of the field in 20th.
Full results from Practice 3 can be seen below:
