Verstappen leads Ferrari duo in final US GP practice

Max Verstappen topped the final dress rehearsal before qualifying at COTA, the Red Bull driver leading the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz by a comfortable margin.

Verstappen clocked in 0.320s ahead of Leclerc, while behind Sainz, Sergio Perez and Lewi Hamilton completed the top five.

• 2022 United States Grand Prix Free Practice 3 - Results

Saturday at the Circuit of the Americas dawned warmer, with 28.8°C in the air and 39.6°C on the track. But relative to Friday, the wind had also picked up which meant buffeting flags but also a few trick corners to negotiate for drivers.

Alfa Romeo's chargers kicked off the proceedings while Perez and Leclerc set the first early benchmarks, but Verstappen – running on the softs like his rivals - then overhauled the pair in short order, with Sainz slotting in third.

But as the session unfolded and the track progressively came alive, permutations among the front-runners were fast and furious.

As the session approached its half-way mark, a productive effort by Hamilton pushed the Briton up to P1 but the Mercedes driver's position up front was short-lived, with Perez recouping the top spot for Red Bull.

The second half of the top-ten was an equal blend of Alpine and Aston Martin, with a spice of George Russell.

Over at Ferrari, while Sainz continued to rack up the laps, likely involved in a high-fuel program, Leclerc was sat in the Scuderia garage, helmet off as his crews worked on his car.

Meanwhile, Mick Schumacher finally joined the fray after being constrained for most of the session to his pit box with a mechanical issue.

A flyer from Hamilton put the Mercedes charger on track for a top time but a wide moment at the final corner undermined his effort.

But with less than 10 minutes to go, Verstappen went top with a 1m13.223s that edged Leclerc by just 0.010s.

Shod with a fresh set of softs, Sainz positioned himself third, just 0.038s behind Leclerc. But the Monegasque was determined to have the last word and he duly stole his teammate's thunder.

However, a blistering fast third sector by Verstappen reset the Ferrari pair back to second and third as the Dutchman seized bragging rights for being fastest in FP3 by a comfortable margin.

Behind the top-three, Perez and Hamilton rounded off the top five, while Alonso, Russell, Vettel, Stroll and Gasly completed the top ten.

In the second half of the field, McLaren's Norris and Ricciardo endured a disappointing session that they concluded P12 and P15 respectively.

Among the laggards, Latifi, Schumacher and Zhou closed out the running order.

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter