Lewis Hamilton put Ferrari on top in the final practice session for the United States Grand Prix, setting a 1m 34.893s lap to edge out Max Verstappen and teammate Charles Leclerc at the Circuit of The Americas.
That performance capped a complete sweep of practice for the Scuderia this weekend, following Leclerc's strong pace through Friday. Things began quietly when the green light illuminated at 1230 local time, as Cadillac's Sergio Perez, Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto, and Alpine's Franco Colapinto made the early moves. Both Bortoleto and Colapinto carry grid penalties into Sunday, while Perez spent FP1 watching Colton Herta drive for the American squad.
Track limits quickly became a talking point, echoing the 128 laps deleted during FP2. Lando Norris and Leclerc saw their early efforts erased, while Verstappen briefly grabbed the top spot with a 1m 35.702s lap on mediums before Hamilton answered on soft tyres. Further down the pit lane, Audi's Nico Hulkenberg found himself under investigation by the stewards after a close call with Aston Martin's Lance Stroll as the German went for a practice start.
At the halfway mark, Leclerc posted an impressive 1m 35.127s on mediums, beating his own Friday best by 0.164s. Behind him sat Kimi Antonelli, Hamilton, and Verstappen—the latter radioing in complaints about his car's gear shifts. The Mercedes pair then bolted on soft tyres, with Antonelli briefly claiming the top spot before falling victim to track limits at Turn 9, prompting his race engineer Pete Bonnington to tell him, "you were doing so well."
Verstappen fought back to the top of the leaderboard before Hamilton became the first driver to drop into the 1m 34s, bumping the Red Bull driver down. Leclerc momentarily pipped his teammate before his own deleted lap dropped him back to third.
When the chequered flag fell, Hamilton held the fastest time, leaving Verstappen second and Leclerc third. The Mercedes duo of Antonelli and Russell finished fourth and fifth, ahead of Oscar Piastri's McLaren and Nico Hulkenberg's Audi in seventh. Norris took eighth after noting the difficulties of handling his car, with Pierre Gasly ninth for Alpine and Isack Hadjar rounding out the top ten for Red Bull.
Behind them, Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad formed the Racing Bulls order, with rookie Lindblad facing a grid penalty for Sunday. Gabriel Bortoleto, Ollie Bearman, Franco Colapinto, and Fernando Alonso filled positions down to 16th. Esteban Ocon sat 17th ahead of Lance Stroll, while Williams endured a difficult session with Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz ending up 19th and 20th. Cadillac pair Perez and Valtteri Bottas completed the order in 21st and 22nd.
