FP3: Hamilton goes fastest in final practice session for the United States GP ahead of Verstappen and Leclerc

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton ended the third and final practice session for the United States Grand Prix at the top of the timesheets, the Ferrari driver setting the pace ahead of Max Verstappen and team mate Charles Leclerc.

The result marked a practice clean sweep for the Scuderia, with the Mercedes duo of Kimi Antonelli – who could seal his maiden title this weekend – and George Russell rounding out the top five positions.

It was a relatively quiet start to the session when the green light appeared at 1230 local time, with Cadillac’s Sergio Perez, Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto the only three to venture out – the latter two will carry grid penalties into Sunday’s race while the Mexican sat out FP1 as Colton Herta got a run out for the American squad.

With Leclerc topping both of Friday’s practices, plenty of eyes were lasered in on what Ferrari could deliver again out on track – though the Monegasque had warned against any “high expectations” with other rivals having more “to unlock”. As the clock reached the 20-minute mark there was perhaps the first example of that, as Verstappen reached the top of the timesheets courtesy of a 1m 35.702s lap on the mediums.

Antonelli soon slotted into third, behind the McLaren of Oscar Piastri, while Lando Norris and Leclerc’s first efforts were deleted for track limits violations – a theme of the weekend after a whopping 128 laps were deleted in FP2. Hamilton then got in on the action as he usurped Verstappen’s initial benchmark, though the seven-time champion’s effort was on the soft tyre compound.

Elsewhere Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg was involved in a pit lane incident with Lance Stroll, as replays showed the Aston Martin man was coming down the fast lane just as the German set off for a practice start after pulling off to the side. The stewards soon confirmed the moment would be investigated after the session.

As FP3 reached the halfway point, Leclerc soon got a lap time on the board as he returned to the top of the timesheets with an impressive 1m 35.127s on the mediums, a time that was 0.164s faster than his table-topping effort in Friday’s FP2. Behind him was Antonelli, Hamilton and Verstappen – the Red Bull man having just been on the radio to complain about his car’s shifts.

Further push laps were soon on the agenda as the Mercedes duo rocketed around the Circuit of The Americas on softs, with Antonelli claiming top spot while Russell slotted into third behind Leclerc. However, the Italian fell victim to track limits at Turn 9 leaving his Race Engineer Pete Bonnington to tell him, “you were doing so well.”

It was soon the turn of Verstappen to return to the top of the leaderboard, before Hamilton became the first to break into the 1m 34s as he bumped the Red Bull man down into second. Leclerc’s subsequent effort then saw him marginally pip his team mate to first once again, but the now familiar track limits message also saw that effort deleted, with Leclerc dropping back into third.

The chequered flag soon arrived to bring the final practice session of the weekend to a close, with Hamilton’s 1m 34.893s enough to see him fastest and make it a practice clean sweep for the Scuderia. Verstappen’s effort left him second while Leclerc settled for third after that deleted lap time.

The Mercedes pair of Antonelli and Russell occupied fourth and fifth ahead of the McLaren of Piastri and Audi’s Hulkenberg. Norris – who had explained how difficult it was to handle his MCL40 yesterday – was in eighth, with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in ninth and Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar in tenth.

The Racing Bulls pair of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad were next in the order – the rookie is the third driver facing a grid penalty on Sunday – while Gabriel Bortoleto, Ollie Bearman, Franco Colapinto and Fernando Alonso filled in the places down to 16th. Esteban Ocon sat 17th ahead of Lance Stroll, with Williams’ disappointing weekend continuing as Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz were left in 19th and 20th respectively. The Cadillac’s of Perez and Valtteri Bottas rounded out the order in 21st and 22nd.

With practice in Austin now complete, the attentions of the paddock will switch to Qualifying, which is set to get underway at 1600 local time.