Leclerc leads Ferrari 1-2 in damp final Mexico practice

Charles Leclerc kept Ferrari at the head of the field in a damp final practice session for the Mexican Grand Prix on Saturday morning, heading up a one-two finish for the team ahead of Sebastian Vettel.

Overnight rain left the track wet for the start of the session, with the field only completing exploratory laps on Intermediate tyres until the final 15 minutes when it was finally dry enough to swap to slicks.

The track improved with every lap that went by, allowing Leclerc and Vettel to go P1 and P2 by virtue of being two of the last drivers to cross the line in FP3.

Leclerc put in a best lap of 1m16.145s to edge out Vettel by just 0.027 seconds, keeping Ferrari on top after the team put in an impressive display through second practice on Friday.

Vettel was forced to miss the first half of the session due to a sensor issue on his car, but bounced back to finish second.

Mercedes drivers Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton were left to settle for third and fourth place respectively, while McLaren’s Carlos Sainz put in an impressive display to take fifth, finishing within half a second of Leclerc’s time.

Two-time Mexico winner Max Verstappen wound up sixth for Red Bull, two places clear of teammate Alexander Albon, who was running a new chassis after his crash on Friday.

Pierre Gasly was absent for the majority of the session after coming down with food poisoning overnight, but emerged from Toro Rosso’s hospitality with 20 minutes to go before completing some laps in the STR14 car. He finished seventh overall ahead of Albon, while Lando Norris and home favourite Sergio Perez completed the top 10.

Renault’s running was compromised as both Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg’s cars were hit by an hydraulic leak, preventing either from setting a lap time.

Qualifying for the Mexican Grand Prix will get underway at 7:10pm BST (1:10pm local time).