Nico Rosberg set the fastest time of a close final practice session for the Mexican Grand Prix, with three teams covered by 0.211s.
Having been fastest in the second practice session on Friday afternoon, Rosberg remained quickest but was just 0.014s clear of team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the final hour of running. Hamilton also ran wide on his first flying lap on soft tyres but was able to improve on his final attempt in a tight session.
Daniel Ricciardo was third quickest for Red Bull and just 0.118s slower than Rosberg's best time as the low grip levels appeared to play in to Red Bull's hands. Ferrari is also in the mix with Sebastian Vettel fourth, a little over 0.2s adrift of Rosberg.
Daniil Kvyat was fifth ahead of home favourite Sergio Perez in sixth, with Perez encouragingly just half a second slower than Rosberg. Such was the close nature of the session, the top 12 cars were all within a second of the quickest time of the morning.
While Vettel was close to the front, team-mate Kimi Raikkonen suffered a reliability issue which forced him to stop on his fourth lap of the day. Raikkonen pulled off the track in the Esses with flames emerging from underneath the engine cover, giving Ferrari cause for concern ahead of qualifying.
Jenson Button's difficult weekend continued after he was also only able to complete four laps before being confined to the garage. Button spent most of FP1 unable to run due to a connector issue on his first power unit, and having taken a new one as planned for FP2, that unit proved problematic and needed to be changed during the final practice session.
While track grip was low it appeared to improve compared to Friday, with only Kvyat spinning at Turn 6, though there were a number of occasions drivers ran wide having struggled under braking.
AS IT HAPPENED: Mexican Grand Prix FP3
Eric Silbermann's Mexican grumpy preview
Technical analysis: United States
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| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:21.083 | 23 |
| 02 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:21.097 | 23 |
| 03 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:21.201 | 21 |
| 04 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:21.294 | 24 |
| 05 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull | 1:21.530 | 27 |
| 06 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:21.603 | 27 |
| 07 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:21.772 | 26 |
| 08 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:21.775 | 28 |
| 09 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:21.945 | 27 |
| 10 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:22.010 | 25 |
| 11 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:22.039 | 31 |
| 12 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1:22.042 | 21 |
| 13 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 1:22.184 | 24 |
| 14 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:22.871 | 30 |
| 15 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1:23.065 | 26 |
| 16 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1:23.067 | 23 |
| 17 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:24.648 | 4 |
| 18 | Will Stevens | Manor | 1:25.654 | 20 |
| 19 | Alexander Rossi | Manor | 1:28.176 | 8 |
| 20 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:29.336 | 4 |
