Here is our full text transcript from the final free practice session for the 2023 Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix, which took place earlier today at the the 4.304-kilometre Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City:
It’s qualifying day in Mexico City! Max Verstappen made a strong start to his quest for a record 16th Grand Prix victory, but a return to the traditional format after back-to-back Sprints means things could have changed significantly overnight. The Dutchman topped both practice sessions on Friday, with Lando Norris his nearest challenger in the more representative FP2.
Having set high expectations, Mercedes underwhelmed and the W14 will remain under the spotlight on Saturday following Lewis Hamilton’s disqualification in Austin last weekend.
Sergio Perez eased into his home Grand Prix by taking P3 and P5 and yesterday’s practice sessions, but the real challenge for the Mexican comes later today. He has qualified in the top eight just once in the last four races, and needs to better that form if he’s to deliver a statement result with his Red Bull future remaining a topic of significant speculation. One thing he can rely on is the unwavering support of the hugely passionate Mexican fans, who will be out in force once more.
Sky Sports F1’s Karun Chandhok on Ferrari ahead of FP3:
“They haven’t looked on it this weekend. They haven’t looked like they are as quick as McLaren. Neither driver sounded very happy. They would have had the simulator drivers working overnight , changes brought to the setup and today is five degrees hotter, so that will have an effect.”
Former NASCAR and IndyCar driver Danica Patrick adds: “When they hit it, they are good. But they still have basic issues like strategy. Last weekend, the strategy for Charles was just not right and it was the pole-sitter strategy. I still think that’s an issue but when they have a clean weekend, they are really fast so they can compete. They have speed in the car and have to be able to put it altogether but I think they struggle to.”
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P3 is go in Mexico! Not that you’d guess it quite yet from the empty pit lane exit road at the moment. We’ll see cars out on circuit soon enough though as drivers and teams hone their set-ups for qualifying later on.
57 mins to go: Ah, there we go – some cars on circuit! The first was Valtteri Bottas in the Alfa Romeo, who ran very strongly yesterday and finished sixth fastest. Can they maintain that kind of top-10 form today? Aston Martin, who endured a difficult P2 with no representative soft-tyre running on low fuel, are also out early with both Alonso and Stroll. Bottas gets the ball rolling on the timesheet with a 1:20.740, on Pirelli’s hard tyres.
52 mins to go: Straight onto the quickest compound for Ferrari here, the soft compound. Charles Leclerc opens up with a 1:19.283 with team-mate Carlos Sainz, who didn’t enjoy the smoothest of Fridays, a couple of tenths back on his opening effort. Still no movement onto the track from the Red Bulls and Mercedes’. McLaren’s Lando Norris has ventured out though and is on his out lap, also on softs.
47 mins to go: Woh, that’s an early eye-catcher from George Russell as the Mercedes drivers start their sessions. Just after Lewis Hamilton had gone quickest with his first flying lap of the session of 1:19.2, team-mate George Russell somewhat put that into perspective with a 1.18.6! That’s the fastest lap of the weekend so far, and about four tenths quicker than Mercedes went yesterday. Back in the game after those overnight changes?
45 mins to go: Pierre Gasly has just had a moment at Turn 12, spinning his Alpine. He manages to keep it out of the wall but those tyres would appear to be pretty badly flat-spotted.
41 mins to go: There is negative feedback coming from Oscar Piastri over team radio. “The ride and rear grip feels pretty terrible,” he informs his engineer. He’s just pulled back into the garage, with some setup changes surely incoming. There’s certainly going to be no rushing the world champions in this final practice session. Twenty minutes gone and Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez are only just emerging onto track for their opening out laps. We should get a direct comparison to Mercedes’ current leading pace as both the RB19s are on the soft-tyre too.
38 mins to go: Carlos Sainz has just taken an uncomfortable trip over the kerbs. Ferrari might need to take a look at the floor after that bumpy moment.
37 mins to go: Hmmm…interesting. Very interesting! Max Verstappen can’t move to the head of the timesheet ahead of the leading Mercedes on his opening effort at least. He finishes second fastest, 0.073s adrift of Russell’s impressive time. Sergio Perez was fastest of all through sector one but a subsequent lock-up messed up his momentum and he finished 0.7s away. Mercedes one and three, Red Bull two and six.
32 mins to go: That’s a better lap from the world champion, who found more speed deeper into his soft-tyre run. A 1:18.429 moves him two tenths ahead of the lead Mercedes. Similar story for Sergio Perez, who stays behind Russell but has closed up to 0.1s back on the Briton in third. AlphaTauri’s Daniel Ricciardo, meanwhile, is up into fourth after a quick lap on the medium compound. The Australian looks in decent shape here so far after a strong opening day too.
22 mins to go: Unfortunately for Kevin Magnussen, he has yet to set a lap time this session. After biding his time, he should hopefully be let loose shortly.
21 mins to go: Expect drivers to find even more pace in these closing stages of running. Ferrari are out first again on new softs, although appear to be taking a couple of laps to warm their tyres. Williams, currently promising eighth and ninth, are going for it now though. The big surprise on the timesheet at the moment is Daniel Ricciardo up in fourth for AlphaTauri, and with that time having come on a medium tyre. He’s likely to have some extra assistance in qualifying too, with Yuki Tsunoda in position to offer a tow given the other AlphaTauri will start from the back of the grid regardless having gone over his power unit allowance for the 2023 Formula One season.
19 mins to go: Told you there was plenty more time to be had in this session! We’re into the 1:17s!. Williams bolt on new soft tyres to both their cars and Alex Albon finds a whole chunk of time to move into P1 on the timesheet, 0.4s ahead of Verstappen for now. Logan Sargeant is third, 0.289s adrift.
17 mins to go: Esteban Ocon has just had a little trip onto the grass at Turn 1. “Not sure what happened there on braking,” he says over team radio. We’ve now seen both Alpine cars have moments during this session, which doesn’t bode particularly well for them. That lap from the Williams has certainly made everyone wake up and take notice! First it’s the McLaren and then the Mercedes drivers who can’t get anywhere near Albon’s new pacesetting time. Carrying more fuel? Perhaps, they’re between 0.2s-0.5s adrift of the current quickest time. Whatever Mercedes adjusted between their first and second soft tyre runs doesn’t seem to have helped: “I was a little bit surprised by the lack of improvement there,” George Russell says after coming up almost 0.3s short of Alex Albon’s leading time.
9 mins to go: What an encouraging few minutes this has been for Williams after that lap from Alex Albon. Yes, Max Verstappen does take his latest set of soft tyres back to the head of the timesheet, but he only found 0.070s on Albon. Sergio Perez next up in the sister car and he goes third, 0.139s back on Verstappen. So it’s Red Bull one, Williams two, Red Bull three, Mercedes (Russell) four, McLaren (Piastri) five.
Chequered flag: A familiar name at the head of the timesheet, but not a familiar name in second place. Max Verstappen completes a free practice clean-sweep for Red Bull but his advantage over Williams’ Alex Albon in this final session is less than a tenth of a second. Six different teams in the top seven with little over half a second separating them.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were not able to complete one final flying lap due to traffic and finished outside the top ten.
Don’t miss qualifying later today!
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