George Russell and Lewis Hamilton showed they’ll be contenders come Qualifying after topping Free Practice 3 at the Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix.
Russell led the way over his team-mate, the pair well clear of next best Max Verstappen while both Ferraris struggled for outright pace.
Charles Leclerc was 0.7s down on Russell’s best, and Carlos Sainz was only sixth fastest and 0.9s away from the pace.
It was an important session given the lack of running in Free Practice 2 given Pirelli’s tyre test took over Friday afternoon.
Teams, therefore, had an hour less insight than usual, which prompted a number of drivers to pinch brakes and run deep throughout the 60-minutes.
An early soft tyre run moved Leclerc to the top of the timesheets with a 1:20.487s, toppling Hamilton’s initial 1:20.505s.
Only 12 of the 20 runners took to the track in the opening 10 minutes, a spread of 3.2 seconds covering the 10 who’d set laps.
Performing an early Qualifying simulation, Russell recorded a 1:19.405s.
Mick Schumacher had a spin at Turn 11, sliding beyond Turn 10 but coming to a halt just prior to the wall – aside from a set of flat-spotted tyres, there was no other harm done.
Going second fastest was Sergio Perez, though the local favourite was 0.461s away from Russell’s effort.
His Red Bull team-mate was immediately fast when he finally headed out of the garage after 20 minutes.
On his first flying lap, he was fastest of anyone through the middle sector, shooting to the top of the timesheets with a 1:19.296s.
Another Qualifying simulation from the Mercedes duo saw Russell pushing on with 23 minutes remaining.
That returned him a 1:18.399s to move out to 0.7s clear of Verstappen.
The Dutchman was shuffled down to third when Hamilton completed his lap moments later, recording a 1:18.543s.
Hamilton had been up to the second split, only to lose out to his team-mate in the final third of the lap.
Lando Norris enjoyed solid pace, the McLaren driver rising to fifth best for a time, splitting the two Red Bulls with a 1:19.317s.
Daniel Ricciardo completed two warmup laps before he began his Qualifying simulation late in the session.
It saw the Australian record a 1:20.139s after running wide at Turn 12, a time 0.6s away from team-mate Norris.
The last 10 minutes of the session saw the focus firmly shift to short-run pace.
Russell and Hamilton remained at the top, with Verstappen third, with Leclerc rising to fourth and Perez fifth.
All drivers used the medium and soft rubber during the session, avoiding the hard stuff that was used during Free Practice 1 and proved the least favourite of the three compounds available.
While Red Bull has not yet shown its full hand, Mercedes looks its strongest challenger with Ferrari seemingly struggling in the high altitude of Mexico City.
Qualifying follows, starting at 15:00 local time (21:00 BST/16:00 ET/07:00 AEDT).
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