F1 title contender Lando Norris topped the final practice session for the 2025 FIA Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix finishing almost four tenths of a second clear of Lewis Hamilton as championship leader Oscar Piastri and title rival Max Verstappen finished in fifth and sixth places respectively.

Verstappen was one of the first out on track at the start of the session and the Dutchman posted the first lap time of the day, a 1:18.914, set on C4 Medium compound Pirelli tyres. 

Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto soon bypassed that marking, with a 1:18.783 and the​n Lewis Hamilton recovered from a pair of lock-ups, at Turn 4 on his out lap and then at Turn 1 on his first flyer, to post a 1:18.730. 

Verstappen’s next run moved him back to P1 by almost seven tenths of a second, but Williams’ Carlos Sainz then jumped to the top, using C5 Soft tyres to log a time of 1:18.028, as Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Yuki Tsunoda posted a Medium tyre time of 1:18.490 to take P3. 

The Japanese driver was soon shuffled back, first by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and then by McLaren’s Lando Norris, with the latter posting a first Medium-compound flyer of 1:18.065 to sit just 0.014s off Verstappen and then improving by six hundredths of a second to leapfrog the Dutchman and Sainz to take top spot. 

Mercedes’ George Russell then popped in a lap 1:18.028 to steal third from Verstappen, despite radioing his team to inform them that he was “not getting the Medium tyres to work, just sliding all over the place”. 

​The Briton further defied his own initial reservations about the Medium by vaulting to top spot with a lap of 1:17.892 as the bulk of the field returned to the pit lane to plan for qualifying simulations. 

Williams’ Alex Albon was the first to bolt on a set of the red-banded Softs but although the Thai driver looked set to make a significant step up the order, a lock up in the Foro Sol stadium section at the end of his lap ruined his chance of progress. 

Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar was more successful and the French driver posted a lap of 1:17.396 on his Soft tyre run to climb from P6 to P1. 

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who seemed to struggle on Mediums in the opening stages of the session, found more pace on the C5 and the championship leader took P1 with a lap of 1:17.315. 

His hold on P1 was brief, however, as both Leclerc and then Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli went quicker with the Italian rookie taking P1 with a lap of 1:17.253 to sit five hundredths clear of the Ferrari driver. 

Verstappen was next across the line but despite posting a purple middle sector, the Dutchman only slotted into P4 with a 1:17.317. And he shuffled down to P6 as first Lewis Hamilton and then Lando Norris took top spot, with the McLaren driver setting a time of 1:16.633 to set three tenths clear of the seven-time champion. Russell then moved to third with a lap of 1:17.145. Verstappen put in a second run and improved to 1:17.272 and then put in a late final flyer to end on 1:17.242, but he still found himself in P6, 0.609s off Norris' benchmark and complaining of "no grip, front and rear." 

Norris, then, took top spot, three tenths clear of Hamilton with Russell in third. Leclerc ended the session in fourth place ahead of Piastri whose best lap left him 0.599s off his team-mate. With Verstappen in sixth, P7 went to Antonelli with Hadjar in eighth ahead of Tsunoda, and top 10 order was completed by Bortoleto. 

2025 FIA Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix – Free Practice 3
1 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:16.633 22 202.189
2 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:16.978 0.345 29 201.283
3 George Russell Mercedes 1:17.145 0.512 19 200.847
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:17.199 0.566 26 200.707
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:17.232 0.599 23 200.621
6 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:17.242 0.609 30 200.595
7 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:17.253 0.620 19 200.566
8 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:17.396 0.763 19 200.196
9 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:17.415 0.782 23 200.147
10 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1:17.526 0.893 24 199.860
11 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:17.552 0.919 20 199.793
12 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:17.574 0.941 26 199.737
13 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:17.598 0.965 23 199.675
14 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1:17.664 1.031 25 199.505
15 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:17.801 1.168 24 199.154
16 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:17.994 1.361 20 198.661
17 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1:18.046 1.413 23 198.529
18 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:18.412 1.779 24 197.602
19 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Renault 1:18.581 1.948 22 197.177
20 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:18.611 1.978 12 197.102