Security at Toro Rosso has been spectacularly lax. The guy from slasher flick Scream has been mucking around the paddock all day...

Sergio Perez strolls out of the Force India garage and is met immediately with a wall of noise from the fans in the stands opposite. He soaks it up, waving to the delighted locals. 

Meanwhile, the stadium section is packed. It divided opinion when I asked earlier for your thoughts but, with a fair few thousand people in it, it looks superb.

Looks like the champion is ready...

Image source, Getty Images

Can Lewis Hamilton replicate the achievement of a fellow Brit in Mexico this weekend?

Jim Clark is the only driver to have completed a Formula 1 ‘Grand Slam’ of pole position, fastest lap, led every lap and victory on Mexican soil. 

He achieved the feat at the first race in the country back in 1963.

Meanwhile, in the red garage...

Disappointing news for Jenson Button fans - the Englishman, already destined to start towards the back of the grid due to penalties, will not take part in qualifying. 

Postpublished at 18:39

18:39

It is cloudy in Mexico, but it looks like qualifying will be dry.

BBC weather's Ian Fergusson says: "@UBIMET, external noting cloudier skies have resulted in lower (30%) chance of shower development."

Image source, _

What links the above with the Mexican Grand Prix? 

Find out in our mighty fine collection of stats and facts here.

How do you see qualifying playing out? Let us know via #bbcf1,, external text in on 81111 (UK only) and have your say on the BBC Sport Facebook page.

In case you are joining us for the first time today, here's a reminder of what is coming up and when.

Qualifying gets under way at 19:00 GMT, and you can listen to audio commentary on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra, as well as on this page.

Then, at 22:45 GMT (23:15 in N Ireland; 23:45 in Scotland), there will be qualifying highlights on BBC Two.

Image source, Formula 1

The local crowd are loving Formula 1, and home favourite Sergio Perez is loving the local crowd. He slowed to wave to the fans in the baseball stadium section during final practice.

Perez was sixth fastest, just half a second off Nico Rosberg's benchmark time.

There was also a hint of tension between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg in final practice.

Hamilton complained Rosberg was "backing me up" as they prepared for their fastest runs.

David Coulthard suggested on Friday that the friendship between two has "spectacularly" broken down in their time together at Mercedes. 

You can watch what he has to say here.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Image source, Getty Images

"There has been a lot of talk this weekend about Nigel Mansell and his famous overtaking manoeuvre around the outside of the now-excised Peraltada on Gerhard Berger’s McLaren in 1990, and Mansell - who is in Mexico this weekend as an ambassador for the track - is clearly lapping it up. It was undoubtedly a brilliant move, one of the greatest, but what has been somewhat overlooked is that Mansell finished second in that race. 

“He was 25 seconds behind his Ferrari team-mate Alain Prost, who won remarkably from 13th place on the grid (Mansell started fourth). It was a less spectacular drive than Mansell’s, perhaps, but stunning in its own way. Undoubtedly one of Prost’s very best - and the Frenchman did, after all, win 51 in total, so there are quite a few to choose from. 

"Given the way the previously warm relationship between the two men cooled during that year, doubtless it is not something of which Mansell would enjoy being reminded.”

Hello! Welcome to our coverage of qualifying for the Mexican Grand Prix.

The world titles may have already been wrapped up, but that's no reason to give up on F1 for the remaining three races of the season. 

If practice is anything to go by, we could be in for one of the most open battles for pole so far this season.

Image source, Getty Images