George Russell leads Lewis Hamilton in surprise Mercedes 1-2 in Mexican Grand Prix final practice
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Updated 29/10/2022 at 18:15 GMT
George Russell led Lewis Hamilton in the third and final practice for the Mexican Grand Prix at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez as Mercedes had a surprise 1-2. It’s a surprising result as Red Bull were expected to dominate the weekend due to the track characteristics, but Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez were quite a bit behind in third and fourth.
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George Russell led a surprise Mercedes 1-2 from team-mate Lewis Hamilton in final practice for the Mexican Grand Prix.
Russell went fastest on a 1:18.399 with 20 minutes ago, which was 0.144 seconds faster than Hamilton who had a scruffy final sector.
Mercedes are yet to win a race in 2022, with Hamilton looking to maintain his streak of taking a victory in every season he’s competed in since making his Formula 1 debut in 2007.
Max Verstappen had problems in the first sector throughout the session and could only go third 0.477 seconds adrift of Russell, although his lap was set on his second push lap.
Charles Leclerc was next, setting his lap towards the end of the session when the track should have been quicker. However, he was still 0.724 seconds behind Russell.
Leclerc said on the team radio after the session that “the car was not turning at all” due to understeer, perhaps due to his tyres not being in the right operating window.
Home hero Sergio Perez was fifth, 0.842 seconds off the pace as he and Verstappen both struggled with locking up.
Carlos Sainz was sixth, in front of Lando Norris, Valtteri Bottas and Yuki Tsunoda, so it’s anyone’s guess as to who will be on pole position later on Saturday.
Further down, Williams look like they could be fighting for points, as Alex Albon was 10th, whilst Alpine and Aston Martin were outside the top 10 which was not expected going into the weekend.
Kevin Magnussen has a five-grid place penalty due to a new internal combustion engine, whilst Lance Stroll will drop three places following his collision with Fernando Alonso in Austin last Sunday.
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