Lando Norris topped the final practice session in Mexico City, narrowly beating Kimi Antonelli by just one thousandth of a second. The McLaren driver posted a 1:17.600 in the closing stages to take first place, ending Charles Leclerc’s run of consecutive practice victories. Antonelli was second with a 1:17.601, while Leclerc finished third, just 0.117 seconds off the pace.
The battle at the front intensified towards the end of the session as teams switched to soft tyres for their final qualifying simulations. George Russell briefly moved to the top of the timesheets before Norris improved the benchmark. Antonelli then produced an impressive lap of his own, but Norris found just enough time to take the lead. Oscar Piastri also showed strong pace, finishing fourth to give McLaren two cars inside the top four.
Verstappen could only manage fifth for Red Bull after an uncomfortable session, which included an excursion at Turn 4 and complaints about his brakes. Hamilton finished sixth, ahead of Russell in seventh, while Isack Hadjar, Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad completed the top ten. Further down the order, Sergio Perez and Gabriel Bortoleto were unable to set representative times after power-unit problems left both teams with additional work ahead of qualifying.
With Norris just 0.001 seconds ahead of Antonelli and Leclerc still firmly in contention, the leading teams look closely matched heading into qualifying.
