F1: Verstappen tops final practice for USGP

World Driving Champion Max Verstappen turned the fastest lap in his #31 Red Bull Honda to lead final practice for the USGP at COTA.

Verstappen’s lap of 1m35.825s was 0.320s faster than the #11 Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

Carlos Sainz Jr. was 3rd in the #55 Ferrari, while Sergio Perez put his #11 Red Bull Honda in 4th, 0.572s behind his teammate.

Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top-5 in his #44 Mercedes, 0.576s behind his arch-rival.

An interesting session, with conditions playing a part. The wind caught a few drivers out there, with nailing the racing line proving more difficult than usual on this challenging ‘driver’s’ track. But the track has rubbered in, they’ve pretty much all had a go on the soft tires… And qualifying isn’t too far away.

Verstappen is the favorite to win pole at 6:00pm ET, although he knows that his rivals didn’t necessarily nail their laps and the gaps aren’t that comfortable. But with both Perez and Leclerc set for grid penalties, it could well be between Verstappen, Sainz and Hamilton for pole later on.

Hamilton does excel around this track and was showing signs of his old confidence around this place, willing to throw his car around and push the limits.

Everyone else is out to lunch.

Practice 3 Results