Max Verstappen completed a practice clean sweep as he set the pace in third and final practice for the Mexico City Grand Prix, fending off the impressive Williams of Alex Albon and his Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez.

Verstappen looked hooked up around the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on Friday, and while it was George Russell who was quickest after the first runs on soft tyres, three-time world champion Verstappen moved back on top when the teams took out the fuel and went for a proper qualifying simulation.

He clocked a 1m 17.887s to go just 0.070s quicker than Albon, but immediately came on team radio to say he encountered a lot of traffic on his quick lap – to suggest he could have gone quicker.

Home favourite Perez was very much in the mix in third, 0.139s off the pace, amid bright and sunny conditions in Mexico on a track that ramped up as the one-hour session went on courtesy of rubber going down after light rain overnight.

Russell was the leading Mercedes in fourth, the Briton telling his team on the radio that he was surprised by the lack of improvement when bolting on fresh softs and taking the fuel out of a car that looks reasonably competitive.