Lewis Hamilton concluded the final practice session at the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix in first place, outpacing Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc as they prepared for qualifying in Austin.
During the last 20 minutes of the third practice session, Hamilton became the sole driver to eclipse the 1m35s mark, as frequent violations of track limits hindered his Ferrari teammate Leclerc from surpassing him in the standings.
After an initial slow couple of laps, the pace increased significantly, with Hamilton clocking a 1m36.716s on soft tires to move ahead of competitors who were completing installation laps on medium tires.
Shortly thereafter, his time was surpassed by Liam Lawson in the Racing Bulls and Oscar Piastri from McLaren, while several prominent drivers continued to post times on medium tires.
Verstappen eventually took the lead with a time of 1m35.702s on yellow-striped tires, despite voicing ongoing concerns regarding unsettling downshifts.
Hamilton quickly responded, improving upon Verstappen’s time with a 1m35.561s using soft tires. However, Leclerc then claimed the top spot with a 1m35.127s, even while running on the slower medium tires, indicating there was still more performance to be extracted.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Anni Graf – Formula 1 via Getty Images
As the session entered its final 20 minutes, Antonelli managed to take a tenth off Leclerc’s best time on soft tires, but his lap was invalidated due to violating track limits at Turn 9.
Verstappen maintained adherence to the track boundaries to record a 1m35.061s, briefly putting himself in the lead, with Red Bull showing strong performance in sector one, only for Hamilton to drop below the 1m35s mark with a time of 1m34.893s.
Track limit infractions, which had been a consistent issue throughout practice, also prevented Leclerc from reclaiming the top position after he exceeded the white line at Turn 10.
This left Leclerc in third place, following Hamilton and Verstappen, setting the scene for an exciting qualifying session scheduled for Saturday afternoon.
Championship frontrunner Antonelli placed fourth, just ahead of Mercedes teammate George Russell, as the Silver Arrows seemed to lag slightly in terms of raw pace, with Piastri rounding out the top six in the challenging MCL40.
Nico Hulkenberg in an Audi managed to keep McLaren’s Lando Norris in eighth, while the reigning champion also had a lap time of 1m35.2s disqualified for violating track limits at Turn 10.
Pierre Gasly from Alpine finished ninth, positioned a full second back from Hamilton, while Isack Hadjar completed the top ten in the second Red Bull amid the French driver’s frustrations with the car’s handling.
F1 United States GP results – FP3
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– The Autosport.com Team
