As per the United States, FP3 marked a valuable final hour of track time ahead of qualifying, with five drivers sitting out first practice for rookies and second practice dedicated to further evaluation of Pirelli’s prototype 2023 tyres.
Behind the Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari cars, Lando Norris was next up for McLaren, as Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas, AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and the Williams of Alex Albon rounded out the top 10 positions.
Russell was 0.144 seconds quicker than Hamilton – and 0.477secs clear of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull in third place.
The world champion in turn was 0.247secs ahead of the leading Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, who led the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari.
Lando Norris’ McLaren led the midfield, from the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas.Mercedes looked more competitive in a practice session than they have done all year.
But the question remains unanswered as to whether this is a reflection of genuine form, or something anomalous about the timing of conditions of their runs.
The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is a track where Mercedes were hopeful of being in the mix at the front of the field because it is a circuit where cars run at maximum downforce as a result of the high altitude of 7,500 feet.
The Mercedes has been at its most competitive on high-downforce tracks this year. But no one at Mercedes would have expected to go into qualifying looking like the fastest car.
And Leclerc said the Ferrari was “really difficult to drive, especially the front – I don’t know what is going on. So much understeer.”
Ferrari have put in some fast laps on the softs as we head towards the end of this session. Charles Leclerc goes up into fourth place but last weekend’s polesitter Carlos Sainz can only manage sixth.
Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel is having a torrid time in his Aston Martin. “Shocking man,” the four-time world champion tells his engineer, who asks is it an issue with the brakes? “The whole car to be honest,” comes the reply.
Do you think Mercedes are genuinely in the fight for pole later? We’ve seen George Russell celebrate that achievement this season at the Hungarian Grand Prix but we’re yet to Lewis Hamilton add to his 103 pole positions. The thumbs are there to let us know your thoughts.
