After Free Practice 2 that for the second weekend in a row featured the Pirelli tests to test and analyze the tires that Formula 1 will use in 2023, the third and last practice session had a more relevant importance than usual in the Mexican Grand Prix in Mexico City.
Due to this, the action on the track of the Autodromo Hermanos RodrÃguez was quite remarkable in practically the 60 minutes of FP3, in which George Russell finally set the best time with a time of 1: 18.399, 0.144s faster than his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, who closed the one-two for the star team.
Behind the Mercedes drivers, Max Verstappen finished second at a distance of 0.477s from the fastest time, ahead of Charles Leclerc, Sergio Pérez and Carlos Sainz.
Seventh was Lando Norris in his McLaren despite having completed his time on softs sooner than the vast majority of his rivals, with Valtteri Bottas putting his Alfa Romeo in a good eighth place.
Yuki Tsunoda and Alexander Albon completed the top ten positions on the time table at the end of the third free practice session of the Mexican GP, prior to a qualifying session that promises a lot of spectacle on a unique circuit.
To see the Alpine, you have to go back even further in the time table, since Esteban Ocon could not get past 11th place, and Fernando Alonso was finally 13th, positions that do not call for optimism in the French garage.
Results of the Free Practice 3 (FP3) of the 2022 Mexican GP of F1
| Cla | Pilot | laps | Weather | Difference | Interval | Km/h | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  George Russell |
 |
22 | 1’18.399 | Â | Â | 197.635 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton |
 |
23 | 1’18.543 | 0.144 | 0.144 | 197.272 |
| 3 |  Max Verstappen |
 |
18 | 1’18.876 | 0.477 | 0.333 | 196.439 |
| 4 |  Charles Leclerc |
 |
23 | 1’19.123 | 0.724 | 0.247 | 195.826 |
| 5 |  Sergio Perez |
 |
24 | 1’19,241 | 0.842 | 0.118 | 195,535 |
| 6 |  Carlos Sainz Jr. |
 |
twenty | 1’19,301 | 0.902 | 0.060 | 195,387 |
| 7 | Lando Norris |
 |
22 | 1’19.317 | 0.918 | 0.016 | 195.347 |
| 8 |  Valtteri Bottas |
 |
28 | 1’19.390 | 0.991 | 0.073 | 195.168 |
| 9 |  Yuki Tsunoda |
 |
twenty four | 1’19.882 | 1.483 | 0.492 | 193.966 |
| 10 |  Alexander Albon |
 |
18 | 1’19.917 | 1.518 | 0.035 | 193.881 |
| see results | |||||||
Photo de: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
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Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Sam Bloxham/Motorsport Images
Foto de: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Summary of the third practices (Free 3) of the 2022 Mexican GP of F1
The first driver to take to the track in the third practice session in Mexico was Valtteri Bottas at the wheel of his Alfa Romeo with medium tires and he opened the time table with a 1:21.462 at a time when calm reigned in the rest of the garages.
Also at the Swiss team, Guanyu Zhou was forced to return to the pits after his first installation lap following a radio message reporting “problems” with his car.
Hamilton was the first brave to put on the soft tires but had to abort in his first laps. Meanwhile, Bottas was the only one who lapped normally and lowered his time to 1:21.041.
With the first ten minutes of FP3 practically over, two of the big favorites took to the track, Leclerc and Sainz, both on soft. Hamilton, at that time, recorded a 1:20.505 that quickly surpassed the Monegasque with a 1:20.487, while the Spanish driver had to abort his lap after painting Sector 1 purple, but on his second attempt he climbed to the top of the time table with a 1:19.884.
Sergio Pérez, also on soft, couldn’t beat the man from Madrid and placed third, 0.833 seconds behind. Meanwhile, up to seven drivers were still inside their garages, including Verstappen and Alonso.
Russell surprisingly put his Mercedes W13 into first place with a 1:19.405 on his first lap on soft tyres, almost half a second quicker than Sainz’s Ferrari F1-75.
After these first laps on soft tyres, many drivers returned to the pits to mount the medium compounds and start some race simulations that they were unable to complete yesterday due to testing of the Pirelli tires for the 2023 season .
In a matter of a few minutes, Mick Schumacher suffered two spins that caused two yellow flags, but luckily for him he managed to control his Haas and returned to the track under his own power.
Entering the last 40 minutes of Free Practice 3, Verstappen and Alonso were the last to go out on the Mexican asphalt, Red Bull on soft and Alpine on medium. The Dutch driver recorded a 1:19.296 on his first lap which helped him to position himself first, while the Asturian suffered a small scare that he saved with a great countersteering and on his second lap he positioned himself eighth, at 1.303s.
In the middle of the session, very few drivers were the ones who improved their times, since a large majority were working on the race simulations with high fuel load and increasingly worn tires.
That did not prevent the current two-time world champion from lowering his time to 1:19.118 with some softs that had already accumulated a total of five laps, 0.287s ahead of Russell, who remained in second place.
With new softs and with 20 minutes remaining in the session, Russell regained the first position with a 1:18.399, ahead of the 1:18.543 of his teammate Hamilton, well ahead of Red Bull and Ferrari, who were still on track with soft old
After that qualifying simulation of the Mercedes, all the drivers returned to the pits to mount new softs and do the same in the last 15 minutes of Free Practice 3.
Lando Norris was one of the first to complete his lap and was placed 0.918s behind Russell, after McLaren’s, Valtteri Bottas stayed practically in the same tenth, while Verstappen, after aborting his first two attempts, made a 1:18.876 that It left him almost half a second behind the best time of the Mercedes. Pérez, for his part, also improved but did not even beat the time set by Norris and Bottas after blocking their tires at Foro Sol.
The two Ferraris were practically the last to go out on the track with new softs and in their first laps they improved their times. Leclerc was fourth and Sainz sixth, well behind the Mercedes, and more or less on par with Red Bull.
Alonso, who made his lap in the last seconds, was positioned 13th, also further back than expected, ahead of drivers such as Daniel Ricciardo, Lance Stroll or Mick Schumacher.
