Russell leads Mercedes 1-2 ahead of Verstappen in final practice

Having ended Friday quickest, Russell continued his strong start to the weekend to once again lead the timesheets during the final hour of practice at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.  

Russell was 0.144s faster than Mercedes teammate Hamilton, with Max Verstappen nearly half a second down in his Red Bull. 

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Charles Leclerc put his Ferrari fourth, albeit 0.724s off the pace, a tenth clear of the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez and his Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz, who was nearly a second adrift in sixth. 

With Red Bull and Ferrari seemingly on the back foot, Mercedes appear favourites heading into qualifying at the high-altitude, maximum downforce Mexico City circuit after their most competitive practice showing of what has been a troubled 2022 season. 

McLaren’s Lando Norris was just 0.016s shy of Sainz in seventh, while Valtteri Bottas posted an impressive lap to go eighth in his Alfa Romeo. 

AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and Williams’ Alex Albon completed the rest of the top 10 order. 

Following Leclerc’s heavy crash in second practice, FP3 proved a fairly uneventful affair with no major incidents. 

Mick Schumacher, fighting for his F1 future at Haas, narrowly avoided the barriers when he suffered a big spin through the high-speed Esses. 

Qualifying at the Mexico City Grand Prix takes place at 3pm local time (9pm UK).