Hamilton stays ahead, competition closes in

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F1 Grand Prix, GP USA, Circuit of The Americasus

Lewis Hamilton has completed his clean sweep of free practice domination by going fastest in FP3 at Circuit of The Americas. His competition however seemed to be much closer, with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel less than a tenth behind.

To underline the competitiveness, their respective team mates were at just 2 tenths, leaving everything open for qualifying that is set to be run 2 hours later than normal.

Max Verstappen was once again the fastest Red Bull on track, going 5th fastest. Felipe Massa ended up 6th, confirming an unexpected upturn in form for Williams. Both Renault team mates were again closely matched in 7th and 8th while Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Perez completed the top 10. Ricciardo was however slightly out of position as his improvement late in the session still included an off-track excursion, leaving some room for improvement.

Esteban Ocon was 11th fastest. Lance Stroll in the second Williams ended up 12th, a full second off of team mate Felipe Massa, but still ahead of the McLaren Honda duo. The latter appeared to be quite competitive on Friday, but have suddenly dropped down the pecking order.

Behind them are only the cars of Toro Rosso, Sauber and Haas.

Results

Pos.No.DriverCarTimeGapLaps
144Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:34.478-15
25Sebastian VettelFerrari1:34.570+0.092s19
377Valtteri BottasMercedes1:34.692+0.214s17
47Kimi RäikkönenFerrari1:34.755+0.277s17
533Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing Tag Heuer1:35.103+0.625s14
619Felipe MassaWilliams Mercedes1:35.346+0.868s11
727Nico HulkenbergRenault1:35.608+1.130s21
855Carlos SainzRenault1:35.650+1.172s16
93Daniel RicciardoRed Bull Racing Tag Heuer1:35.723+1.245s17
1011Sergio PerezForce India Mercedes1:35.802+1.324s16
1131Esteban OconForce India Mercedes1:35.965+1.487s17
1218Lance StrollWilliams Mercedes1:36.118+1.640s12
1314Fernando AlonsoMcLaren Honda1:36.239+1.761s15
142Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren Honda1:36.599+2.121s14
1539Brendon HartleyToro Rosso1:36.818+2.340s26
1620Kevin MagnussenHaas Ferrari1:37.271+2.793s16
179Marcus EricssonSauber Ferrari1:37.319+2.841s17
1894Pascal WehrleinSauber Ferrari1:37.807+3.329s15
198Romain GrosjeanHaas Ferrari1:37.891+3.413s9
2026Daniil KvyatToro Rosso1:38.500+4.022s6