George Russell went fastest as Mercedes set a strong pace in final practice at the Mexican Grand Prix.
In a session of big gains compared to Friday, the Briton posted a 1m18.399s on soft tyres, 1.4s faster than his best time in FP2 and a tenth-and-a-half clear of teammate Lewis Hamilton in second.
The key to Mercedes’ performance is in the slow-speed corners, while the thin air at high altitude negates their usual lack of top speed on the straights.
Max Verstappen was almost half a second behind in third, after struggling over the kerbs and failing to get a clean lap when the tyres were at their best.
Charles Leclerc suffered with understeer in fourth in the lead Ferrari, a tenth clear of home favourite Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull, the Mexican losing time after locking up in the stadium.
Carlos Sainz, Lando Norris and Valtteri Bottas all sat in the 1m19.3s bracket in P6 to P8, with a half-second gap back to Yuki Tsunoda in ninth.
Williams’ impressive straight-line speed saw Alex Albon squeeze into the top 10.
Further down, the two Alpine drivers were unhappy in 11th and 13th, with Zhou Guanyu in 12th.
Daniel Ricciardo was on a solid lap but ran wide at Turn 12, meaning he was only 14th, ahead of Pierre Gasly.
Birthday boy Lance Stroll was 16th, while teammate Sebastian Vettel described his car as “shocking” in 19th.
Mick Schumacher had an early spin en route to 17th, in front of Nicholas Latifi and Kevin Magnussen slowest overall in the second Haas.
Full results from Practice 3 can be seen below:
FP3 CLASSIFICATION
Can Mercedes carry their speed into qualifying?
We’ll soon find out! #MexicoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/65qCHh2s1H
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 29, 2022