Lewis Hamilton tops the final practice session at the Circuit of the Americas. Max Verstappen follows in P2 and Charles Leclerc in P3.
Green Light For FP3
We saw the usual quiet start for FP3 as only the Cadillac and Alpine team mates headed out for the first 10 minutes. As we hit the 20 minute mark, Ferrari were one of the only teams to head out on the soft tyres leaving Lewis Hamilton leading with a 1:35.561. Max Verstappen set the quickest medium tyre lap just 0.141s behind.
Charles Leclerc continued his form from Friday as he took the top spot at the halfway point, but struggled to set a clean lap throughout most of the session today. He led the field for most of the session, but fell back during the soft tyre runs.
Soft Tyre Runs
As we hit 20 minutes remaining, the field headed out on the softs. Kimi Antonelli was first to set a lap, which looked extremely lively, but Turn 9 proved an issue as he inched just over the white line, invalidating the lap.
He finished it and hit the front with a 1:35.015, but it was quickly deleted, leaving him P3. Verstappen was next to try out the softs and was quickest in the first two sectors, he momentarily hit the front but was quickly beaten by Lewis Hamilton who set a 1:34.893.
McLaren had an eventful session as they seem to have good pace this weekend. Despite this, both drivers were struggling to set a clean lap with a number of issues. Track limits, oversteer and lock-ups were seen repeatedly from the pair throughout this session so they will need to keep it as tidy as possible to have any hope of a good Qualifying later today.
Red Bull seemed strong with Max Verstappen, but Isack Hadjar had a tough session. He has been further than he’d hope from Verstappen throughout the weekend so far and commented “I don’t know where my car is” in the final stages of FP3.
His frustration was made clear in a moment with Alex Albon at the end of the session. It seemed Hadjar may have been distracted by the Williams ahead as he locked up into Turn 1. He then seemed to let out some frustration on the Thai driver as he drove alongside him waving his hands and almost hitting the Williams.
Track Limits Issues
Track limits continued to be an issue throughout this session for everyone. We saw both Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris off at Turn 15 multiple times early in the session. After 79 deleted laps in FP1 and 128 in FP2, the grid is under pressure to get this under control before Qualifying in just a few hours time.
Turn 9 seemed especially difficult due to the bumpy surface and elevation. Drivers had repeated snaps through the apex and could not keep it on track. Turn 15 and 19 were also spots to watch as many drivers struggled to slow the car enough to make the corners.
Qualifying is an exciting prospect at this point as not only was track limits an issue, traffic was as well. We saw multiple moments between drivers, most notably Lewis Hamilton and Gabriel Bortoleto as Bortoleto loitered on the racing line into turn 15, blocking Hamiltons lap.
Final Classification
Lewis Hamilton was quickest in the final hour with a 1:34.893 with Max Verstappen 0.168s behind in P2. Charles Leclerc finished P3 and 0.234s behind after his quickest lap was deleted for track limits. The Mercedes teammates finished 0.500s behind in P4 and P5 with Russell leading. Oscar Piastri finished P6 with Hulkenberg, Norris, Gasly and Hadjar completing the top ten.
Image Credit: Formula 1 via X