Sebastian Vettel led a Ferrari 1-2 in FP3 for the United States grand prix held at the Circuit of the Americas, with Lewis Hamilton in third less than a tenth behind.
With the soaking wet Friday opening practice sessions behind them, FP3 allowed the teams and drivers to get their first dry running of the weekend before qualifying.
As a result all 20 drivers headed straight out onto the 3.4 mile Texan circuit as the session got under way, with a mix of race and qualifying runs on the agenda.
Kimi Raikkonen led early running ahead of team-mate Vettel as Ferrari prioritised running on the ultra-soft rubber, Vettel lapping just 0.039s slower.
Mercedes opted for a different strategy, both Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas focussing on race runs but with Hamilton taking the super-softs and Bottas the ultras.
The pair would later undertake a brief qualifying run, albeit initially on the super-soft compound, Bottas lapping just 0.137s away from Raikkonen’s early benchmark.
The Ferrari duo would then smash their previous best laps by over three-quarters of a second, Raikkonen posting a 1m 33.843s to extend his leading advantage.
Vettel would quickly move ahead however, ultimately securing the fastest time of the session just 0.046s clear of Raikkonen.
Hamilton banged in a late improvement to lap just 0.073s slower than Vettel, therefore leaving the Briton third.
Bottas slotted into fourth in the second silver arrow, albeit over seven-tenths in arrears of the leading times.
The Red Bull’s followed behind in fifth and sixth places, Max Verstappen just ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, while Charles Leclerc led ‘Class B’ for Sauber in seventh.
Sergio Perez led the Racing Point Force India charge in eighth ahead of Carlos Sainz in the Renault, with Romain Grosjeans Haas rounding out the top ten in what is the American squad’s home event.
