Practice report
Formula 1 Mexican GP
F1 Mexico GP: Lando Norris tops final practice by 0.001s from Kimi Antonelli
Lando Norris pips Kimi Antonelli ahead of a finely poised Formula 1 qualifying session at the Mexico GP
Filip Cleeren
Published: Oct 31, 2026, 6:42 PM
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Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images
Reigning world champion Lando Norris has topped third and final practice at Formula 1's Mexico Grand Prix, beating championship leader in a tight session at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Norris dipped just 0.001s under Kimi Antonelli's initial benchmark as all four top teams looked in the mix on the tricky high-altitude circuit, with several midfield running into power unit trouble.
A quiet opening phase saw Ryo Hirakawa get a lot of airtime in the Haas. Having covered FP1, the Toyota-backed driver returned to the Haas as a substitute for Esteban Ocon for the remainder of the Mexico weekend.
Ocon was benched by the squad for reasons which are yet to be fully clarified, with the Frenchman having a heated exchange with his race engineer in FP2.
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While 32-year-old debutant Hirakawa was building up confidence around the difficult and slippery, high-altitude Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, champion-elect Antonelli and Charles Leclerc traded blows during the opening stages of the session as all frontrunners were running medium tyres.
Having missed valuable track time in FP2 with engine trouble, Lewis Hamilton came to the fore just before the halfway mark with a 1m18.268s, picking up where Ferrari left off as the squad was satisfied with the initial set-up direction on Friday.
Leclerc took another tenth out of his team-mate's lap time, before Hamilton took top with a 1m18.162s lap to lead the medium-tyre runs that dominated the first half of practice, followed by Leclerc and Antonelli as both Red Bull and McLaren looked a clear step behind.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: James Sutton / LAT Images via Getty Images
Bolting on softs, reigning world champion Norris briefly claimed top with a 1m17.873s ahead of team-mate Oscar Piastri and George Russell, who lamented a lack of grip through the tricky Turn 12 right-hander entering the Foro Sol stadium.
As Leclerc got out of shape through the Esses and backed out, Antonelli jumped to the top of the timesheets with a 1m17.601s lap, but not before voicing his frustration at Max Verstappen's impeding in Turn 1.
Antonelli then went purple in sector one on his next flyer but ultimately didn't improve. That opened the door for Norris to pip him by just 0.001s to head into qualifying with the fastest time of the weekend.
Leclerc found a late improvement with a rapid first sector but stayed in third, 0.117s behind, closely followed by Piastri. Verstappen was fifth, 0.351s behind as he struggled with his brakes, setting up another close qualifying session between 2026's four top teams.
An untidy third sector left Hamilton over four tenths adrift in sixth, followed by Russell and Hadjar, who called his Red Bull "the worst car I've driven this weekend, it's terrible".
Racing Bulls again looked well poised to win the best of the rest battle, with rookie Arvid Lindblad pipping team-mate Liam Lawson to ninth as they rounded out the top 10.
Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls
Photo by: Manuel Eletto / Getty Images
Hirakawa ended his session in 19th, just ahead of Cadillac driver Valtteri Bottas. Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto didn't manage to set a lap time after encountering a power unit issue on his out-lap, with a puff of smoke emanating from an ill-sounding engine.
Home hero Sergio Perez also failed to set a lap, with Cadillac announcing it would have to perform a "precautionary engine change" ahead of qualifying.
F1 Mexico GP - FP3 results
FP3
All Stats
Cla Driver # Chassis Engine Laps Time Interval Tyres km/h 1 L. Norris McLaren 1
McLaren Mercedes 26
1'17.600
S 199.670 2
A. Kimi Antonelli Mercedes
12 
Mercedes Mercedes 24
+0.001
1'17.601
0.001 S 199.667 3 C. Leclerc Ferrari 16
Ferrari Ferrari 21
+0.117
1'17.717
0.116 S 199.369 4 O. Piastri McLaren 81
McLaren Mercedes 20
+0.195
1'17.795
0.078 S 199.169 5 M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing 3
Red Bull Red Bull 21
+0.351
1'17.951
0.156 S 198.771 6 L. Hamilton Ferrari 44
Ferrari Ferrari 18
+0.469
1'18.069
0.118 S 198.470 7 G. Russell Mercedes 63
Mercedes Mercedes 27
+0.507
1'18.107
0.038 S 198.374 8 I. Hadjar Red Bull Racing 6
Red Bull Red Bull 19
+0.509
1'18.109
0.002 S 198.368 9 L. Lawson Racing Bulls 30
RB Red Bull 28
+0.513
1'18.113
0.004 S 198.358 10 A. Lindblad Racing Bulls 41
RB Red Bull 29
+0.537
1'18.137
0.024 S 198.297 11 N. Hulkenberg Audi 27
Audi Audi 32
+0.960
1'18.560
0.423 S 197.230 12 F. Colapinto Alpine 43
Alpine Mercedes 31
+1.052
1'18.652
0.092 S 196.999 13 P. Gasly Alpine 10
Alpine Mercedes 26
+1.074
1'18.674
0.022 S 196.944 14 F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing 14
Aston Martin Honda 25
+1.250
1'18.850
0.176 S 196.504 15 O. Bearman Haas F1 Team 87
Haas Ferrari 22
+1.327
1'18.927
0.077 S 196.313 16 C. Sainz Williams 55
Williams Mercedes 22
+1.614
1'19.214
0.287 S 195.601 17 A. Albon Williams 23
Williams Mercedes 26
+1.701
1'19.301
0.087 S 195.387 18 L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing 18
Aston Martin Honda 21
+1.776
1'19.376
0.075 S 195.202 19 R. Hirakawa Haas F1 Team 50
Haas Ferrari 32
+1.904
1'19.504
0.128 S 194.888 20 V. Bottas Cadillac F1 Team 77
Cadillac Ferrari 22
+2.742
1'20.342
0.838 S 192.855 21 G. Bortoleto Audi 5
Audi Audi 2
S 22 S. Perez Cadillac F1 Team 11
Cadillac Ferrari 1
View full results
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