United States GP FP3: Max Verstappen tops FP3 ahead of Ferrari Duo

Max Verstappen tops the final practice session at COTA. The 2-time world champion posted the fastest time of the weekend so far with a time of 1:35.825. Charles Leclerc finished 0.320s behind in P2. Leclerc is going to take a grid penalty for the Sunday race. The Monegasque driver will start down the grid after taking the new ICE and Turbocharger. Carlos Sainz finished the session at P3 with a time 0.446s slower than Verstappen’s.

Schumacher and Zhou hit with problems

In the early part of the session, Mick Schumacher‘s Haas suffered an ERS water pump issue. While the team assured him they would get him out in 15 minutes, they couldn’t fix the problem before the session ended. Zhou Guanyu was the other driver who faced car problems and only completed one lap in the session. He will also take a five-place grid penalty for taking new engine components, as will Sergio Perez of Red Bull. Fernando Alonso was another driver who took the fresh ICE and will also take a 5-place grid penalty.

Verstappen looked in the groove in the final practice session. His first and second practice sessions’ lap times weren’t much quicker. However, setup changes to his car seemed to do the trick, and Verstappen is looking to take another pole position for Saturday’s Qualifying.

McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo reported brake issues during the session. He was, however, quickly sorted out, and he went back onto the track. The Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell looked slightly off the pace compared to Red Bulls and Ferraris. The team was poised to debut a new front wing; however, they didn’t get approval from the FIA about its legality. Therefore, they decided to abandon the installation of new wings on their cars for this weekend.

FP3 Classification