Mexican Grand Prix – Free Practice 3: Russell and Hamilton in the lead before the qualifications!
It's George Russell who posted the fastest time in the latest free practice session for the Mexican Grand Prix, in preparation for the qualifying session. He surpasses his teammate at Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton. The two Mercedes cars take advantage of the altitude of over 2000 meters in Mexico City to stand out.
The teams focused mainly on soft and medium tires in Mexico, on a circuit placed under particular conditions due to the altitude. At over 2000m above sea level, the less dense air allows the cars to experience less drag than usual.
At the present time, it is the Mercedes that seems to be clearly ahead. Usually struggling with too much aerodynamic drag and downforce, the Mercedes cars are comfortable on this Mexican track. George Russell, who was already in the lead yesterday, sets the fastest time in Free Practice 3 ahead of his teammate.
The two Silver Arrows men deliver a significant performance before the qualifiers as the 3rd placed, Max Verstappen, falls behind by nearly 5 tenths. On the contrary, Red Bull, especially Ferrari, must rely on strong aerodynamic support by using front and rear wings that are more inclined than usual. We are talking about wings that are as inclined as those used in Monaco, for example, the most demanding circuit in terms of downforce.
Charles Leclerc is in 4th position, 7 tenths behind the Mercedes. Perez is 8 tenths behind, just ahead of Sainz’s Ferrari, who is 9 tenths behind. Therefore, there is a 9-tenth gap between the top 6, which is greater than usual on a not-so-long circuit.
Lando Norris is the leading among the others. On the McLaren, he manages to settle in 16 hundredths of a second behind Sainz’s Ferrari. The top 7 in the standings set their times on soft tires.
This is not the case for the 8th. Valtteri Bottas, on the Alfa Romeo, set his best time with medium tires. He finished ahead of Tsunoda and Albon to secure a spot in the top 10.
The disappointment from the French side concerns Alpine, which is unable to make the A522 work in these conditions. Alonso and Ocon are outside the top 10 and even seem to be in a struggle with AlphaTauri or Williams. McLaren could benefit from this situation, as their battle intensifies for the 4th place in the constructors’ standings.
Gasly only sets the 15th fastest time, far behind his teammate. The Aston Martins are struggling at the back of the grid in 16th and 19th place, just like the Haas cars in 17th and 20th place.
Meet at 11pm for the qualifications.
The results of Free Practice 3 of the 2022 Mexican Grand Prix
| N° | Driver | Team | Times | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Russell | Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport | 1:18.399 | 22 | |
| 2 | Hamilton | Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport | 1:18.543 | +0.144 | 23 |
| 3 | Verstappen | Oracle Red Bull Racing | 1:18.876 | +0.477 | 18 |
| 4 | Leclerc | Scuderia Ferrari | 1:19.123 | +0.724 | 23 |
| 5 | Perez | Oracle Red Bull Racing | 1:19.241 | +0.842 | 24 |
| 6 | Sainz | Scuderia Ferrari | 1:19.301 | +0.902 | 20 |
| 7 | Norris | McLaren F1 Team | 1:19.317 | +0.918 | 22 |
| 8 | Bottas | Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN | 1:19.390 | +0.991 | 28 |
| 9 | Tsunoda | Scuderia AlphaTauri | 1:19.882 | +1.483 | 24 |
| 10 | Albon | Williams Racing | 1:19.917 | +1.518 | 18 |
| 11 | Ocon | BWT Alpine F1 Team | 1:19.960 | +1.561 | 19 |
| 12 | Guanyu | Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN | 1:20.019 | +1.620 | 25 |
| 13 | Alonso | BWT Alpine F1 Team | 1:20.037 | +1.638 | 16 |
| 14 | Ricciardo | McLaren F1 Team | 1:20.139 | +1.740 | 22 |
| 15 | Gasly | Scuderia AlphaTauri | 1:20.330 | +1.931 | 24 |
| 16 | Stroll | Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team | 1:20.477 | +2.078 | 20 |
| 17 | Schumacher | Haas F1 Team | 1:20.598 | +2.199 | 24 |
| 18 | Latifi | Williams Racing | 1:20.848 | +2.449 | 21 |
| 19 | Vettel | Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team | 1:20.986 | +2.587 | 22 |
| 20 | Magnussen | Haas F1 Team | 1:21.271 | +2.872 | 25 |
