Hamilton keeps rivals behind in final US GP practice

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Lewis Hamilton kept his rivals chasing in the final free practice session before this afternoon's qualifying for the US Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver clocked in with a lap in 1:34.478, improving on his record setting Friday time, and edging out title rival Sebastian Vettel by 0.092s.

United States Grand Prix - Free practice 3 results

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:34.478s		15
2	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:34.570s	+ 0.092s	19
3	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:34.692s	+ 0.214s	17
4	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:34.755s	+ 0.277s	17
5	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:35.103s	+ 0.625s	14
6	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:35.346s	+ 0.868s	11
7	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	1:35.608s	+ 1.130s	21
8	Carlos Sainz	Renault	1:35.650s	+ 1.172s	16
9	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1:35.723s	+ 1.245s	17
10	Sergio Pérez	Force India	1:35.802s	+ 1.324s	16
11	Esteban Ocon	Force India	1:35.965s	+ 1.487s	17
12	Lance Stroll	Williams	1:36.118s	+ 1.640s	12
13	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:36.239s	+ 1.761s	15
14	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	1:36.599s	+ 2.121s	14
15	Brendon Hartley	Toro Rosso	1:36.818s	+ 2.340s	26
16	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	1:37.271s	+ 2.793s	16
17	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:37.319s	+ 2.841s	17
18	Pascal Wehrlein	Sauber	1:37.807s	+ 3.329s	15
19	Romain Grosjean	Haas	1:37.891s	+ 3.413s	9
20	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	1:38.500s	+ 4.022s	6

Drivers ventured out for 60-minute final practice session under perfect conditions, with a dry track and warm temperatures prevailing.

Max Verstappen, for whom a 15-place grid penalty has been confirmed for Sunday following an engine change, was the first driver to hit the track, his Red Bull mounted on Pirelli's ultrasoft tyres, followed by an incisive Stoffel Vandoorne.

It was Renault's Carlos Sainz however who put himself at the top of the timesheet, with team mate Nico Hulkenberg hot on his heels.

Progressively, the rest of the field sprung into action, although Lewis Hamilton had a tardy start and Williams appeared in no rush to send out Felipe Massa or Lance Stroll.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was the first among the front-runners to put in a hot lap and take command, just edging out Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian vettel.

Meanwhile, rookie Brendon Hartley picked up where he left off yesterday as he continued his F1 crash course. The Kiwi, who complained of helmet lift issues on Friday, reported back that everything was "all okay".

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Drivers gradually picked up the pace with single lap efforts on the ultrasoft tyre, an exercise which quickly put Hamilton back at the top, with Vettel slotting in behind, 0.4s adrift.

Toro Rosso's Dany Kvyat headed back to his garage after reporting that his steering had suddenly become very heavy, perhaps hinting at a hydraulic issue.

Fernando Alonso continued his Friday from, slotting his McLaren into P6 at the half-way mark of FP3.

In the Haas camp, Romain Grosjean's car swapped ends and beached itself in the gravel at Turn 7, bringing out the Safety Car and putting a frustrating end to the Frenchman's session and limiting running for everyone else for the better part of 10 minutes.

When running resumed, Vettel and Raikkonen briefly put Ferrari at the top but Hamilton insisted P1 was his to keep and reclaimed the spot with a new track record.

Bottas in third place split the Scuderia duo while Verstppane concluded his morning fifth, the top five drivers covered within 0.625s.

Massa climbed to P6, in front of Hulkenberg and Sainz, while Perez and Ocon rounded out the top ten.

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Michael Delaney