Autobayng News Team
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In Austin it looked like Red Bull wanted to send Verstappen out of the garage last to maximise the time they could keep his tyres in the blankets. But that left him vulnerable in the last place in the queue. Will they change their approach today?
Drivers often want to run late in qualifying as the track conditions improve. But that can leave them vulnerable if there are delays ahead of them in the queue. This caught out Max Verstappen in Q3 last week – he missed his final run as a result – and several drivers in SQ1. It’s definitely a point to keep an eye on in today’s session.
However all drivers are going to have to watch out for traffic, particularly in Q1. The leading drivers especially will be anxious to get clear laps in and avoid having to use extra sets of soft tyres which could compromise them later on.
The Ferraris and Mercedes look quick enough to capitalise on any front-runners who slip up this afternoon. Lewis Hamilton’s lap in final practice was especially impressive.
As always, don’t discount Max Verstappen. He may have only been sixth in final practice but Red Bull were clearly working on their race pace.
McLaren’s pace is a bit of a puzzle this weekend as Oscar Piastri has been largely nowhere. He was outside the top 10 yestreday and again in final practice until he put softs on, and even then he was almost six tenths of a second slower than Norris. He didn’t make it beyond Q1 at this track last year and although he was fifth in final practice he has looked vulnerable again this year.
Who is favourite for pole position today? Lando Norris was comfortably quickest in final practice but we’ve seen that before and it usually hasn’t resulted in him taking pole position. He’s headed final practice on eight previous occasions but only gone on to take pole once.
Qualifying for the 2025 Mexican Grand Prix is coming up in one hour’s time.
2025 Mexican Grand Prix
- Live: 2025 Mexican Grand Prix qualifying
- Norris flies to fastest time in final practice ahead of Hamilton
- As it happened: 2025 Mexican Grand Prix third practice
- ‘Everything needs to go perfect to the end – but we’ve done it before’ – Verstappen
- Ferrari quick enough to disrupt the battle of the title contenders in Mexico
