Hamilton dominant in final practice at Austin
Having topped both Friday sessions, Lewis Hamilton continued to display his dominance, now lapping the Circuit Of the Americas more than 8 tenths faster than his team mate who was second fastest.
Williams was the second fastest team, having its cars in third and fourth positions, ahead of Fernando Alonso and Daniel Ricciardo.
At the very back, Sebastian Vettel continued to lap slowly, similar to what was seen during FP2. The outgoing World Champion is likely running his engine in a very conservative mode during practice to ensure reliable running for the remainder of the season. The use of a sixth Renault engine however will see him start from the pitlane for tomorrow's race, no matter what position he will qualify on.
Results
Pos. | No. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:37.107 | - | 13 |
2 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:37.990 | 0.883 | 15 |
3 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1:38.214 | 1.107 | 19 |
4 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1:38.437 | 1.330 | 20 |
5 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:38.727 | 1.620 | 13 |
6 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:38.927 | 1.820 | 16 |
7 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1:38.960 | 1.853 | 20 |
8 | 99 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:39.000 | 1.893 | 22 |
9 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:39.143 | 2.036 | 17 |
10 | 22 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:39.241 | 2.134 | 22 |
11 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:39.335 | 2.228 | 19 |
12 | 13 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus-Renault | 1:39.448 | 2.341 | 18 |
13 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1:39.561 | 2.454 | 21 |
14 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1:39.582 | 2.475 | 21 |
15 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Str-Renault | 1:39.688 | 2.581 | 19 |
16 | 21 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:40.208 | 3.101 | 22 |
17 | 25 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Str-Renault | 1:41.443 | 4.336 | 12 |
18 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:43.765 | 6.658 | 25 |