» Verstappen fastest in ultra-close FP3

This afternoon’s Mexican Grand Prix qualifying session looks set to be one of the closest of the season after Max Verstappen narrowly claimed the fastest time in final practice. The fastest six runners – once again filled by Red Bull Racing, Mercedes and Ferrari – were covered by just four-tenths of a second at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

Such was the pace in FP3 it is all but certain that last year’s pole position lap record will be obliterated by the afternoon’s dash for pole. In a highly competitive session, Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel all spent periods at the top of the timesheets before being usurped by Verstappen’s Ultra Soft tyre effort of 1:17.113.

The Dutch driver’s time was just 0.075 seconds quicker than Hamilton’s best lap, while the Mercedes driver’s sole championship rival Vettel was a further one-tenth of a second behind.

Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes), Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull Racing) and Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) all closely shadowed their respective teammates to complete the top-six places on the timing screens.

Force India occupied its customary ‘best of the rest’ position, half a second adrift, with crowd favourite Sergio Pérez edging teammate Esteban Ocon. The pair shaded the Renaults of Carlos Sainz Jr. and Nico Hülkenberg, who rounded out the top ten.

Toro Rosso newcomer Brendon Hartley was an impressive eleventh-fastest, giving the Italian team some cheer after teammate Pierre Gasly suffered yet another suspected Renault power unit issue. Having sat out of FP1 for Sean Gelael, the French youngster has managed just 12 laps across his two free practice outings and is desperately short of track mileage. Adding to his woes, he is set to start from the back of the grid amid engine change penalties being applied.

The Williams’ of Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll were cemented in the midfield, with the latter having a wild moment through the final corner and lapping four-tenths slower than his vastly experienced teammate.

After reportedly taking ill on Friday, Kevin Magnussen required clearance from the FIA medics before being allowed to participate in today’s session. The Haas driver finished 14th-fastest ahead of Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson, McLaren’s Fernando Alonso and Haas teammate Romain Grosjean.

Pascal Wehrlein (Sauber) and Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren) were the slowest runners to post a time ahead of the sidelined Gasly.

Saturday’s qualifying session in Mexico City will begin at 13:00 local time.

FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO DE MÉXICO 2017 – FREE PRACTICE 3 RESULTS
	Driver	Team / Entry	Time	Tyre	Laps
1.	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing Tag Heuer RB13	1:17.113		20
2.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W08	1:17.188		23
3.	Sebastian Vettel	Scuderia Ferrari SF70H	1:17.230		21
4.	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W08	1:17.283		18
5.	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing Tag Heuer RB13	1:17.361		10
6.	Kimi Räikkönen	Scuderia Ferrari SF70H	1:17.517		27
7.	Sergio Pérez	Sahara Force India Mercedes VJM10	1:18.040		20
8.	Esteban Ocon	Sahara Force India Mercedes VJM10	1:18.165		18
9.	Carlos Sainz Jr	Renault Sport F1 Team RS17	1:18.208		21
10.	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault Sport F1 Team RS17	1:18.380		21
11.	Brendon Hartley	Scuderia Toro Rosso Renault STR12	1:18.602		23
12.	Felipe Massa	Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW40	1:18.690		23
13.	Lance Stroll	Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW40	1:19.066		20
14.	Kevin Magnussen	Haas F1 Team Ferrari VF-17	1:19.205		19
15.	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C36	1:19.331		27
16.	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Honda MCL32	1:19.565		22
17.	Romain Grosjean	Haas F1 Team Ferrari VF-17	1:19.586		22
18.	Pascal Wehrlein	Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C36	1:19.826		16
19.	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren-Honda MCL32	1:20.030		25
20.	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia Toro Rosso Renault STR12	not time		2