The British driver Lewis Hamilton has finished the last practice session of the United States Grand Prix of Formula 1 with the best time, surpassing Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc ahead of the qualifying session that will take place in Austin.
Hamilton has been the only driver able to clock a time below 1m35s during the last 20 minutes of FP3, despite track limit infringements preventing his Ferrari teammate, Leclerc, from surpassing him in qualifying.
The session started slowly but gained intensity when Hamilton set a time of 1m36.716s on soft tires, leaving behind several drivers who were starting their laps on medium tires.
Posting the best time of the session, Liam Lawson and Oscar Piastri briefly surpassed Hamilton, although several top drivers continued their laps on medium tires.
Verstappen secured first place with a time of 1m35.702s, despite constant complaints about his unreliable downshifts. However, Hamilton responded quickly, setting a new time of 1m35.561s. Nonetheless, Leclerc demonstrated a great pace, posting an impressive time of 1m35.127s on medium tires, indicating that there was still more potential to uncover.
As the session approached its end, Antonelli set a time that was faster than Leclerc’s, but it was canceled for infringing track limits at turn 9. In contrast, Verstappen, respecting the white lines, clocked a 1m35.061s, but Hamilton closed the session with an impressive 1m34.893s, becoming the fastest.
The track restrictions also affected Leclerc, who exceeded the white line at turn 10, causing him to finish in third position behind Hamilton and Verstappen. This generates anticipation for the quick qualifying session scheduled for Saturday afternoon.
The championship leader, Antonelli, finished fourth, followed by his Mercedes teammate, George Russell. The Silver Arrows team seems to have performed slightly below their best pace, with Piastri clocking the sixth-best lap in the struggling MCL40.
In Audi, Nico Hulkenberg kept Lando Norris from McLaren in seventh place, with the current champion’s time also canceled due to track limits at turn 10. Pierre Gasly from Alpine recorded the ninth-best lap, while Isack Hadjar rounded out the top 10 in the second Red Bull, frustrated by his vehicle’s behavior.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI