Charles Leclerc left it until the final moments to set the fastest time in a slow-burner final practice at the Mexican Grand Prix.
The session began is predominantly wet conditions after overnight rain, forcing all drivers onto the intermediates for the first 45 minutes.
When the circuit was ready for slicks though, it triggered a flurry of late laps as teams tried to complete their final preparations ahead of qualifying.
In the early minutes, Red Bull was the only team to complete any notable running with Alex Albon looking to make up for lost time after his crash on Friday.
It would be his teammate Max Verstappen setting the pace in the drying conditions, however, with Lewis Hamilton moving up to second despite reporting a loss of power.
While almost every team opted to stay in the pits, some cars stoppages were enforced due to reliability niggles.
Sebastian Vettel would be compromised by a sensor issue on his Ferrari, while both Renault’s didn’t get out at all after being hit by hydraulic leaks.
At Toro Rosso, Pierre Gasly was hit by a stomach bug which has also impacted other team personnel in Mexico City, only emerging from the motor home with 25 minutes to go.
Soon after, Kimi Raikkonen would be the first to take the gamble on slicks, going four seconds faster than Verstappen on the soft tyre.
Fellow Finn Valtteri Bottas opted for the medium compound but would go another 2.5 seconds faster than the Alfa Romeo with a 1m19.1s.
That was until Red Bull turned up the wick, first with Albon and then Verstappen jumping to the top of the timesheets.
Carlos Sainz got the final series of runs underway by going fastest for McLaren.
Mercedes though would ditch the mediums for softs and briefly go 1-2, boefre Ferrari eventually resumed normal service as Leclerc snatches P1 by just 0.027s from Vettel, posting a best time of 1m16.145s
After the large gap on Friday though, the Silver Arrows are right on the Scuderia’s tail, with Bottas only a tenth back in third and Hamilton, despite a tricky session, within a quarter of a second in fourth.
Red Bull will enter qualifying as the big unknown though, after Albon and Verstappen suffered traffic on their final laps, leaving the Dutchman sixth and the Thai in eighth.
McLaren’s battle with Toro Rosso in the midfield reignited too, with Sainz ending the session fifth and Gasly, despite his illness, still in seventh.
Lando Norris sat in ninth with Sergio Perez giving his Mexican fans reason to cheer in 10th.
Full results from final practice can be seen below:
