Max Verstappen finished the final practice session of the US Grand Prix in first, with Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo not far behind in second.
The two Red Bull drivers both set quick lap times, carrying on their great performance from yesterday. Mercedes attempted a final lap at the end of FP3, but weren’t able to get into the top three.
It wasn’t until 10 minutes into the session that the first lap time of 1:41.767 was set by Esteban Ocon, although Red Bull’s Ricciardo quickly beat that by over two seconds. The Australian also put in a fast lap on the supersoft tyres, which kept him at the top of the timesheets for the majority of the session.
Like in FP2, the session was disrupted by a red flag. Pascal Wehrlein span his car into the gravel at Turn 19, but unlike his teammates close call yesterday he was not able to get back onto the track.
Carlos Sainz also had a session plagued with problems. The Spaniard had two separate punctures that meant the car had to return to the pits. His teammate Daniil Kvyat had a better session, going slightly faster than Sainz late into the session. The Russian was recently confirmed for the second Toro Rosso seat in 2017.
Kimi Raikkonen split Red Bull and Mercedes in the timesheets, setting a time good enough for third. His teammate Sebastian Vettel was down in sixth, staying in the pits at the end of the session with issues arising with the car.
Best of the rest was Nico Hulkenberg, who was faster than Valtteri Bottas in eighth and the two McLaren drivers Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso in ninth and 10th respectively. The German started his session with the fuel cap still open, but it didn’t affect his session too badly.
Sergio Perez just missed out on the top ten, while Jolyon Palmer did a good job to get his Renault into 12th. His teammate Kevin Magnussen was down in 18th.
