F1 Mexico GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP3

That's it from us for now but fear not, we will be back for coverage of qualifying later. 

Read the full FP3 report here!

Thank you for joining us, catch you soon!

A good run for the RBs sets Tsunoda and Lawson up for a decent qualifying. With Haas in fine form, could there be some more big names dropping out before Q3 again?

Hamilton and Perez were the shocks last weekend.

The drivers have gone around to do practice starts on the grid and it has to be said, the dirty side of the grid is very dusty indeed. 

I think I would be choosing to start P3 if I could tomorrow, given the slipstream effect into T1 and the clean side of the grid.

With the session done, McLaren heads into qualifying as the clear favourite with Piastri and Norris miles ahead, frankly.

Sainz is in fine form and the nearest challenger, if you can call it that, with Verstappen and Hamilton trying to keep tabs.

The Ferrari driver failed to improve and remains sixth, the tyres clearly not hanging on during their eighth lap.

Late in the session, Magnussen has jumped into ninth on his attempt. He is seven places ahead of team-mate Hulkenberg, or three-tenths.

"There is no potential on the front to attack the braking."

That's the complaint from Perez and, given Verstappen's struggles on his two runs at the end there, it could be a set-up issue.

It's another lock-up for Perez, this time a corner earlier and that takes away more confidence no doubt. It won't help that both RBs are in the top 10.

Verstappen's car doesn't look brilliant either, mind, and he goes fourth, some five-tenths adrift of Piastri's best effort.

Perez has had a cool lap, lets see if he can get a confidence builder in before qualifying.

It won't be a brilliant lap given the mileage on the tyres but just a clean run will do.

The last four not to post soft tyre laps are the two Alpines and two Haas cars.

Gasly is two seconds slower than the best time of the session and will be 20th, with Ocon up to only 17th.

It's not working out on a second run for him. Behind, Perez is on a personal best but he backed off in the final sector. That's not representative.

He had a big lock-up into the stadium hairpin.

Here comes Sainz in the Ferrari that has looked so good.

Wow! Three-tenths slower than the McLarens. That's ominous from the Woking-based outfit.

Eight minutes remaining and Hamilton is on another lap.

Hamilton's gone fourth for Mercedes with the Ferraris only now coming out of the pits.

Piastri to the top! McLaren looks fast and Verstappen's middle sector proved to be costly it seems.

Just 0.059s separates the two Papaya cars.

Bottas goes up to fifth, make that sixth as Norris now blitzes the timing screens.

A 1m16.551s is scintillating.

Verstappen is all over the place in the Esses but is still nicely up on Leclerc's benchmarks and a 1m17.003s.

This is the important simulation running time.

Back on track, Tsunoda goes third on a set of medium tyres, with Colapinto up to fifth on softs.

They are both bumped down as Albon goes third.

Read the full story here!

A lot of drivers are struggling with grip in the stadium section - Hulkenberg locks-up at the hairpin now. Not the first and won't be the last.

Just over halfway through the session and there's a small lull with some cars in the pits, but Stroll is about to pump a lap in on softs.

It's not a great lap from the Canadian though - he goes only 12th.

The Alpines are really struggling for pace this weekend after a positive result last weekend for Gasly.

The two drivers are 18th and 19th so far, albeit on medium tyres, but still slower than even Bottas in the Sauber.

If we thought Hulkenberg's effort was good on mediums, the Haas pace has been confirmed with Magnussen going marginally faster, also on mediums.

Sainz is in fine form... another improvement and he goes fastest with a 1m17.447s. 

Quite astonishingly, he didn't set a personal best sector during that lap.

Leclerc has gone again and set a fastest final sector to stretch his advantage with a 1m17.616s.

Meanwhile, Norris has gone wide with a snap of oversteer entering the Esses at T7. That could have been a whole lot worse for the McLaren driver.

Hulkenberg goes sixth for Haas on a set of mediums, ahead of both Red Bulls and Piastri as it stands.

Perez is seventh after his first lap and whilst faster than Verstappen, his team-mate set his lap earlier on.

That Norris lap puts him as only the third driver to get into the 1m17s, less than a tenth behind Sainz.

Piastri slots into sixth, behind the two Mercedes drivers as Norris gets his second lap to stick and goes third.

Same as Leclerc though, the extra tour will skew the data somewhat.

Let's see how McLaren's new floor performs with Norris starting his performance lap. He gives up as he gets traffic halfway through the middle sector.

Leclerc is next across the line to go second, albeit perhaps not accounting for the extra lap he had done following his earlier error. 

The Ferrari again looking strong this weekend.

So it proves with Sainz going three-tenths faster and into the 1m17s.

That's more like it from Hamilton! A 1m18.123s puts him top but the Ferraris are flying...

Leclerc has emerged from the pits on a set of softs but throws his first lap away with a lock-up and slide at T4.

Stroll and Alonso have gone within two-tenths of Russell's best effort for Aston Martin as now more cars begin to filter out with a quarter of the session gone.

Bottas crosses the line to go fourth fastest and the fastest of those on mediums so far.