Nico Rosberg remained at the top of the timesheets in final practice as an exciting qualifying session beckons with four drivers split by just 0.211s in FP3.
Rosberg's best effort of 1:21.083 was 0.067s faster than Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton, although the latter made an obvious mistake under braking for Turn 13 that accounted for more than the margin to Rosberg. Daniel Ricciardo was 0.118s off the lead Mercedes after setting the fastest times in sectors two and three, proving that Red Bull's extra downforce is paying dividends in the track's slower corners and masking the Renault's lack of power on the straight.
Sebastian Vettel is also within striking distance of the front of the field as he set a time 0.211s off the pace of Rosberg in the Ferrari. Team-mate Kimi Raikkonen completed just four laps after a small fire broke out at the rear of his car and caused him to pull over at the side of the track. Sergio Perez gave the home fans something to cheer about with the sixth fastest time behind the second Red Bull of Daniil Kvyat in fifth. Valtteri Bottas was the fastest of the two Williams in seventh, while Carlos Sainz managed to sneak into the top ten ahead of the second Williams of Felipe Massa and the second Force India of Nico Hulkenberg.
After achieving top ten positions in second practice, McLaren dropped down the field with Fernando Alonso 15th and Jenson Button missing most of the session due to an engine change. Grid penalties for both drivers means they will most likely start from the back of the grid, but Button's second engine change of the weekend will cause more concerns over the Honda's reliability.
Button took two new updated engines this weekend -- along the associated 50-place penalty -- with the plan to use one just for FP1 and a second for the remainder of the weekend. However, persistent problems with the second engine in FP2 and FP3 will see him revert to the FP1 engine for qualifying and the race, which was supposed to be saved for the final two rounds.
The top 12 were split by less than a second as the Hermanos Rodriguez Circuit looks set to deliver one of the closest qualifying sessions of the year. A single mistake on the track's slippery surface could prove to be very costly with the margins as fine as they are, adding extra excitement up and down the field .