Dry weather conditions in Formula 1 US GP’s third practice session saw Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel lead Kimi Raikkonen and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.
The weather for Saturday was also predicted to be for a wet running but fortunately for the drivers, the teams and also the fans it was dry all-through – although the conditions remained cloudy and cool.
The two Ferrari drivers only ran the ultrsoft compound in the session as Vettel (1m33.797s) headed teammate Raikkonen (1m33.843s) with a late quick lap from Hamilton (1m33.870s) put him in third – the trio separated by just 0.073s.
Hamilton’s late lap pushed Bottas (1m34.556s) to fourth with Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen (1m34.703s) in fifth leading teammate Daniel Ricciardo (1m34.910s) while Sauber’s Charles Leclerc (1m35.365s) in seventh ended up as the best of the rest.
A late quick lap from Leclerc pushed Racing Point Force India’s Sergio Perez (1m35.411s) to eighth with Renault’s Carlos Sainz (1m35.450s) and Haas’ Romain Grosjean (1m35.468s) making it four different midfield teams in the Top 10.
Grosjean also improved late in the session to bump Racing Point Force India’s Esteban Ocon (1m35.562s) to 11th with Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly (1m35.713s) slotting in 12th from Haas’ Kevin Magnussen (1m35.770s) and Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg (1m35.882s).
Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson (1m36.000s) in 15th led the two Williams of Lance Stroll (1m36.188s) and Sergey Sirotkin (1m36.193s) with McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne (1m36.302s) finishing 18th.
Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley (1m36.330s) was 19th with McLaren’s Fernando Alonso (1m36.332s) rounding the 20 runners. The Kiwi suffered a spin upon exiting the penultimate corner bringing out the yellow flags.