F1 Mexico GP live: Qualifying start time with Verstappen favourite for pole ahead of Norris

“I think we’re in a reasonable place, I got up to speed very quickly, I feel like I found the limit quickly, not that it was a bad day but usually we’re very good on a Friday and everyone catches up on Saturday – we’re already a little bit behind.

“Some work to do tonight. The balance on the car is a bit all over the place.”

“It was OK, pretty average on the softs, not surprised by the lap time. Tried a lot of things, overall I felt reasonable. See if we can shoot up tomorrow.

Most of the drivers lined up for a practice start and off down the long main straight to turn 1, but Hamilton gets it wrong, goes off-line and off-track at turn 2.

All fine though – he rejoins normally.

So after a host of long runs to end the session, Max Verstappen stays fastest with a 1:17:392 – 0.153 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc in second, with Kimi Antonelli in third.

Lando Norris is fourth, 0.251 secs off Verstappen, with Lewis Hamilton completing the top-five.

6-10: Russell, Tsunoda, Alonso, Sainz, Stroll

10 minutes to go. Long runs well underway.

Top-5: Verstappen, Leclerc, Antonelli, Norris, Hamilton

Piastri, unignorably, down in P12…

“It’s a tremendously exciting team, the excitement is building, the partners we’ve announced, it’s gaining momentum. It’s bursting out of us, we’re on track and looking forward to bringing the Audi car and launching a new team next year.”

The Italian’s car has been fixed and the 18-year-old gets involved with the big boys, sandwiched between the Ferraris in second with – a full second off Leclerc’s new-table topping lap on soft tyres.