Mexico FP3 retrospective: Norris edges Antonelli by one thousandth

Lando Norris edged Kimi Antonelli by just 0.001 seconds in the final practice session for the Mexico City Grand Prix on 31 October 2026. The McLaren driver’s 1:17.600 was the session benchmark, with Charles Leclerc third, 0.117 seconds behind.

Oscar Piastri finished fourth at 0.195 seconds, ahead of Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. George Russell, Isack Hadjar, Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad completed the top ten. Norris completed 26 laps, Antonelli 24 and Leclerc 21, according to the official classification.

Formula1.com’s report describes a late contest on soft tyres. Antonelli had set a 1:17.601 before Norris found the tiny improvement that decided the session. Leclerc recovered from an abandoned attempt to put Ferrari among the leading three teams.

Further down the order, Gabriel Bortoleto and Sergio Perez recorded no lap time. The official report attributes Bortoleto’s curtailed running to a power-unit problem and says Cadillac chose a precautionary power-unit change for Perez. Ryo Hirakawa completed 32 laps for Haas and was classified 19th.

UPDATE FORMULA interpretation: a one-thousandth gap is evidence of how close the fastest practice laps were, rather than a reliable measure of the teams’ underlying race performance. Mileage also matters when assessing preparation: the classification records only two laps for Bortoleto and one for Perez. This retrospective covers Saturday practice; it does not present the session order as the qualifying result.

Official session highlights are available through the credited external video link below. The footage remains on Formula 1’s website.