Vettel heads Raikkonen in US GP FP3 at Austin, Hamilton takes third
Sebastian Vettel set the pace in the final Formula 1 practice session for the United States Grand Prix as the teams finally got some dry running
Vettel outpaced Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen by less than a tenth, while championship leader and Friday pacesetter Lewis Hamilton jumped to third late-on as Ferrari and Mercedes adopted different approaches to an unusually busy Saturday practice.
After both Friday sessions took place in wet conditions, there was a flurry of activity at the start of FP3 with qualifying and the race due to be held in the dry.
The Ferraris were alone in using the ultrasoft tyres at first as others focused on longer runs, with Raikkonen heading Vettel by just 0.04s after their first efforts.
Race preparations meant there was little of note in the first half an hour, although Raikkonen did improve to a 1m34.419s.
Valtteri Bottas and Fernando Alonso engaged in an odd wheel-to-wheel scrap when Alonso dived inside the Mercedes heading into the uphill Turn 1 and Bottas repassed the McLaren around the outside going back down the incline into Turn 2.
Mercedes told Bottas Alonso was "playing games" as it continued to focus on long runs, but that changed in the second half-hour when a flurry of fast lap runs were carried out.
Bottas avoided the ultrasofts but did push on supersofts, setting a 1m34.446s, while Hamilton made a small mistake on his first push lap and then posted a time one tenth slower than his team-mate after a couple of laps at lower speed.
The Ferraris completed their third runs of the session on fresh ultrasofts, and Vettel used this to finally leapfrog Raikkonen into P1 by 0.046s with a 1m33.797s.
That remained the benchmark to the end, although a late effort from Hamilton got him ahead of team-mate Bottas.
Hamilton threatened to go fastest by setting the best middle sector of the session with two minutes to go, but he eventually wound up a tenth off Vettel after losing time at the end of the lap.
He managed to get within a tenth of his title rival and go 0.7s clear of Bottas, who set his best time on supersofts.
The Red Bulls trailed a few tenths behind Bottas, with Max Verstappen leading Daniel Ricciardo, while Charles Leclerc snuck to the front of the best-of-the-rest battle in a whirlwind of last-gasp improvement to take seventh.
Leclerc's 1m35.365s put him half a tenth clear of Sergio Perez, as Carlos Sainz Jr and Romain Grosjean lapped within and just outside a tenth of the Sauber driver's effort respectively.
FP3 results
Pos | Driver | Team | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sebastian Vettel | Scuderia Ferrari | 1m33.797s | 20 |
2 | Kimi Raikkonen | Scuderia Ferrari | 0.046s | 21 |
3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport | 0.073s | 23 |
4 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport | 0.759s | 21 |
5 | Max Verstappen | Aston Martin Red Bull Racing | 0.906s | 21 |
6 | Daniel Ricciardo | Aston Martin Red Bull Racing | 1.113s | 20 |
7 | Charles Leclerc | Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team | 1.568s | 21 |
8 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point Force India F1 Team | 1.614s | 21 |
9 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Renault Sport Formula One Team | 1.653s | 21 |
10 | Romain Grosjean | Haas F1 Team | 1.671s | 19 |
11 | Esteban Ocon | Racing Point Force India F1 Team | 1.765s | 22 |
12 | Pierre Gasly | Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda | 1.916s | 27 |
13 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas F1 Team | 1.973s | 19 |
14 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault Sport Formula One Team | 2.085s | 19 |
15 | Marcus Ericsson | Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team | 2.203s | 21 |
16 | Lance Stroll | Williams Martini Racing | 2.391s | 21 |
17 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams Martini Racing | 2.396s | 20 |
18 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren F1 Team | 2.505s | 23 |
19 | Brendon Hartley | Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda | 2.533s | 26 |
20 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren F1 Team | 2.535s | 20 |
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