Lewis Hamilton was fastest in the final practice session of the United States Grand Prix with a 1:34.893 on soft tyres, 0.168 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen and 0.234s clear of his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc. It is 0.398s quicker than the best lap of any session on Friday, and it came in cooler conditions, with qualifying a few hours away.

Track limits struck again, though less than on Friday: Race Control issued 34 deletion notices, and two of them took away laps that would have changed the top three.

Hamilton quickest, Ferrari on both sides

Hamilton did 21 laps in four stints, all on softs, and set his time on lap 12 on a barely used set. Verstappen, on his lap 10 on softs, was the closest challenger and took the first sector (25.423); Hamilton had the quickest middle sector (37.550) and Leclerc the quickest final one (31.488).

Leclerc’s official 1:35.127 came on lap 6 on a five-lap-old set of mediums. A faster lap of 1:34.810 was cancelled for track limits at Turn 10: it would have been the best of the session by 0.083s.

Mercedes close, Antonelli loses a place

Antonelli was fourth, 0.303s off the pace, and Russell fifth, 0.488s off, which put the championship leader 0.185s ahead of his team-mate. Antonelli’s 1:35.015 had been deleted at Turn 9; it was 0.181s faster than his official time and would have made him second.

Fewer deletions than on Friday

Race Control issued 34 notices deleting lap times for exceeding track limits, touching 14 drivers, against 112 in FP2. The trouble moved around the lap: Turn 20 led with seven notices, ahead of Turn 9 (six), Turn 12 (five) and Turn 19 (four). Alexander Albon collected the most, six, followed by Leclerc with five.

Norris had a 1:35.244 cancelled at Turns 9 and 10, 0.462s faster than his official best, which is eighth on 1:35.706. Carlos Sainz also lost a 1:37.325, 0.386s quicker than his official time.

Midfield and conditions

McLaren were sixth and eighth, with Piastri 0.638s off the top and Norris 0.813s, and Audi’s Hülkenberg split them in seventh. Gasly was ninth and recorded the highest speed through the trap, 344 km/h.

It stayed dry and was cooler than on Friday: air temperature went from 26.7°C to 28.2°C, track temperature from 38.0°C to 40.9°C, and humidity fell from 52% to 44%.

The three fastest laps, compared

The video below puts Hamilton, Verstappen and Leclerc on the circuit together, each on their official best lap — cancelled laps excluded — at twice the real speed. The track takes the colour of whoever was quickest in each sector, and the finish is replayed in slow motion.

FP3 · Hamilton, Verstappen and Leclerc on their best valid laps (x2 speed).

What to watch in qualifying

Qualifying starts at 16:00 in Austin, 23:00 in Paris. Ferrari and Red Bull lead the practice times, Mercedes are a few tenths away, and the corners at Turns 9, 10, 12 and 20 have each cost drivers a fast lap this weekend.

Sources

Classification, laps, tyres, deletions and weather: OpenF1 session results, laps, stints, race control messages and weather for the United States Grand Prix FP3 (session 11391). Deletion counts are the number of Race Control notices that name a lap time; a lap flagged at two corners counts twice.

Championship context and Friday comparison: our United States GP preview and FP2 report.