Verstappen over Hamilton in final Mexican GP practice

Max Verstappen

Red Bull's Max Verstappen unofficially broke the Mexican GP track record in turning the fastest lap in final practice in Mexico City at 1m19.137s. Red Bull finished 1st and 3rd with Daniel Ricciardo slotting in between the two Mercedes' of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Valtteri Bottas rounded out the top-5 for Williams.

Both Ferraris were slowed by traffic with Sebastian Vettel in 6th 0.8 sec behind Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen 7th.

Williams' Felipe Massa, Force India's Nico Hulkenberg and Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz completed the top ten.

The sun made a welcome and overdue appearance and on a track that had finally begun to rubber in there was generally more grip to be found than yesterday, but heavy traffic made it a messy session which left many questions unanswered heading into qualifying.

Both Ferrari drivers were frustrated. Vettel’s best lap looked like it was going to be better than 1m 19.937, but he too hit traffic, while Raikkonen went wide going into the stadium and only managed 1m 19.994s. They were this sixth and seventh, and their times weren’t fully representative either. That left them ahead of Massa, who did 1m 19.997s in the second Williams.

Hulkenberg continued to hold the upper hand over Force India’s local hero Sergio Perez; the German was ninth on 1m 20.255s, the Mexican 11th on 1m 20.472s. Sainz split them in his Toro Rosso, with 1m 20.325s, and his partner Daniil Kvyat took 12th on 1m 20.586s.

The other crowd favourite, Esteban Gutierrez, was 17th for Haas, he and 19th fastest team mate Romain Grosjean complaining that they couldn’t get their front tyres working.

The McLarens were 13th and 15th, as Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button were split by Jolyon Palmer’s Renault.

Results