Lando Norris was a commanding 0.345 seconds clear of the field in final practice for Formula 1's Mexican Grand Prix.
What had been an extraordinarily close session - with most of the field within the same second, the top six covered by hundredths and multiple teams taking turns in first place - suddenly became far more spread out when the final qualifying simulation runs happened in the closing minutes.
Norris's 1m16.633s put him at the head of a McLaren-Ferrari-Mercedes top three, with Lewis Hamilton second and George Russell third.
Friday pacesetter Max Verstappen complained of lacking grip as he only managed sixth, 0.609s off Norris's time - albeit running in a lower power setting.
The second McLaren of Oscar Piastri was fifth behind Charles Leclerc's Ferrari, and 0.599s slower than Norris.
Plentiful lock-ups, stadium section errors and traffic delays skewed pace during the session. Williams had particular angst - with Carlos Sainz (who'd been fastest for a spell) shooting over the Turn 1 grass on his last run and Alex Albon convinced he had a car problem after multiple excursions under braking in the stadium section on laps that might've put him top at the time. They were 15th and 16th.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso didn't reappear from the garage after his early runs so managed half the laps of the rest of the field and was last, not running soft tyres at all.
Results
1 Lando Norris (McLaren) 1m16.633s
2 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.345s
3 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.512s
4 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.566s
5 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.599s
6 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.609s
7 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.620s
8 Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) +0.763s
9 Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) +0.782s
10 Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) +0.893s
11 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +0.919s
12 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +0.941s
13 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +0.965s
14 Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) +1.031s
15 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +1.168s
16 Alex Albon (Williams) +1.361s
17 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1.413s
18 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.779s
19 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.948s
20 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +1.978s
