F1 world championship leader Verstappen had sat aꦏt the top of the timesheets for much of the session, but Perez edged out his teammate by 0.193s with a late effort to delight his home crowd. 

Perez received a huge roar from his 🐷Mexican fans as he crossed the line with a new fastest lap to set ♕the benchmark time heading into qualifying.

Verstappen looked to have the upper hand over the rest of the field following a dominant showing in second practice on Friday, but the Dutchman was left to settle for second after failing to imಞprove on brand new tyres with a scrappy lap at the end of FP3. 

His title rival Lewis Hamilton took several attempts to set the third-fastest time but stillꦗ ended up a whopping 0.651s adrift of Perez.

Hamilton’s struggles for pace were sum൩med up by his bewildered res൲ponse when informed of the gap to Red Bull. 

“Six-and-a-half-tenths?” the Briton saꦏid over team radio to his race eng🌌ineer Peter Bonnington. 

Teammate Valtt🦩eri Bottas was four🌞th-fastest, just 0.033s behind Hamilton as both Mercedes drivers failed to come close to threatening the Red Bulls. 

Fifth place went the wa♎y of Ferrari’s Ca𝕴rlos Sainz, who was over a second off the pace as he pipped AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda, Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren and Pierre Gasly. 

Charles Leclerc had a nꦫumber of sideways moments as he struggled for grip in 🅰his Ferrari on his way to posting the ninth-quickest time. 

McLaren’s Land📖o Norris completed the top 10 but the Briton will start from the back of the grid as one of four drivers to have taken a new engine in Mexico. 

He will be joined ಌat the rear of the field by Tsunoda, Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon for the start of Sunday’s race. 

Full results from final practice for the 2021 F1 Mexico City Grand Prix.