Practice report
Formula 1 United States GP
US GP: Perez tops final practice from Sainz, Verstappen
Red Bull driver Sergio Perez set the fastest time in third free practice for the US Formula 1 Grand Prix, while Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen saw their fastest laps deleted.
Filip Cleeren
Edited: Feb 11, 2022, 5:48 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
In Saturday's FP3 session, title rivals Hamilton and Verstappen both showed they still had plenty of pace in hand for qualifying but track limits excursions on their final timed laps meant that pace didn't translate into a valid laptime.
Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel was the first driver to take to a sunny Circuit of the Americas for the final hour of practice in what was a quiet early stage of the session.
After some lone install laps for Vettel and a leisurely timed lap by Alpine's Fernando Alonso the action finally picked up after 10 minutes when world champion Hamilton joined the fray, soon joined by most of his competitors.
In his Mercedes W12, Hamilton clocked a 1m35.814s on his first timed lap to take a provisional lead, using Pirelli's soft tyre that would be used by the entire field.
Hamilton's time was soon improved upon by Red Bull's Perez, who dipped 0.181s below the Briton's benchmark by setting a 1m35.633s.
On his second set of softs Hamilton reclaimed the lead with a 1m35.571s effort, while teammate Valtteri Bottas' first effort was scrubbed for track limits.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc slotted in behind Perez in third, ahead of teammate Sainz.
The ante was upped when championship leader Verstappen joined the track. After not getting a fast lap in during Friday's FP2, Verstappen immediately took over the lead, the Red Bull driver taking over three tenths out of Hamilton's previous benchmark to go top with a 1m35.207s after 25 minutes.
His teammate Perez joined him up front by setting a lap time that was just 0.001s slower, handing Red Bull an early 1-2.
Shortly after the halfway mark, Verstappen improved again to set a 1m34.912s, just dipping below Perez' table-topping FP2 lap.
Verstappen's pace prompted a response from Mercedes. With 20 minutes left to run, Bottas took second just 0.076s behind the Dutchman by virtue of a purple second sector, which includes COTA's long straight on which Mercedes can flex its top speed muscle.
But soon after Sainz set the fastest time for Ferrari, his 1m34.805s a tenth quicker than Verstappen, which suggested that F1's two top teams still had some pace left in the bank.
That was modestly demonstrated by Perez, who took the lead with a 1m34.701s while teammate Verstappen was delayed by a precautionary rear wing change.
With his new wing Verstappen clocked a 1m34.383s, but his time was deleted for exceeding track limits in the penultimate corner.
Hamilton was next to go top for mere seconds as his 1m34.458s effort was too deleted by the stewards due to leaving the track at Turn 9, leaving Perez' top spot intact until the finish.
Sainz finished the session in second, followed by Verstappen, McLaren's Lando Norris and Bottas, while Hamilton's scrubbed lap meant he finished down in sixth.
Daniel Ricciardo was seventh in the second McLaren ahead of AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly.
Leclerc was ninth after reporting struggles with his rear tyres, with Alpine's Esteban Ocon rounding out the top 10, which was covered by one second.
Sebastian Vettel took 11th for Aston Martin followed by the first Williams of George Russell.
Kimi Raikkonen was 13th for Alfa Romeo, narrowly ahead of Nicholas Latifi in the second Williams.
Alfa Romeo's Antonio Giovinazzi was 15th followed by the second Aston of Lance Stroll.
Alonso took 17th after undergoing an engine change in his Alpine, which will relegate him to the back of the grid.
In the second AlphaTauri, Yuki Tsunoda was only 18th, with Haas duo Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin propping up the timesheets.
Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap 1 Sergio Perez
Red Bull 13 1'34.701 2 Carlos Sainz Jr.
Ferrari 16 1'34.805 0.104 3 Max Verstappen
Red Bull 13 1'34.912 0.211 4 Lando Norris
McLaren 13 1'34.945 0.244 5 Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes 15 1'34.988 0.287 6 Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes 16 1'35.219 0.518 7 Daniel Ricciardo
McLaren 11 1'35.345 0.644 8 Pierre Gasly
AlphaTauri 17 1'35.398 0.697 9 Charles Leclerc
Ferrari 17 1'35.688 0.987 10 Esteban Ocon
Alpine 10 1'35.711 1.010 11 Sebastian Vettel
Aston Martin 18 1'35.851 1.150 12 George Russell
Williams 9 1'36.023 1.322 13 Kimi Raikkonen
Alfa Romeo 20 1'36.062 1.361 14 Nicholas Latifi
Williams 8 1'36.118 1.417 15 Antonio Giovinazzi
Alfa Romeo 16 1'36.252 1.551 16 Lance Stroll
Aston Martin 13 1'36.392 1.691 17 Fernando Alonso
Alpine 12 1'36.490 1.789 18 Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri 16 1'36.572 1.871 19 Mick Schumacher
Haas 15 1'36.671 1.970 20 Nikita Mazepin
Haas 15 2'03.456 28.755 View full results
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Alonso set for grid penalty at COTA after F1 engine change
Next article US GP qualifying as it happened
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Filip Cleeren
Five key takeaways from F1's big African Grand Prix reveal in Rwanda
Formula 1
Formula 1 22 h
Five key takeaways from F1's big African Grand Prix reveal in Rwanda
F1 signs historic 10-year Rwanda deal to host African Grand Prix
Formula 1
Formula 1
F1 signs historic 10-year Rwanda deal to host African Grand Prix
Latest news
Laurent Mekies extends contract as Red Bull's F1 team boss
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
20 min
Laurent Mekies extends contract as Red Bull's F1 team boss
Alex Palou to drive Indy NXT machinery in Chris Griffis Memorial Test at IMS
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 47 min
Alex Palou to drive Indy NXT machinery in Chris Griffis Memorial Test at IMS
The six drivers doing double duty in Portimao GTWCE and Barcelona WEC this weekend
WEC
WEC WEC
Barcelona
1 h
The six drivers doing double duty in Portimao GTWCE and Barcelona WEC this weekend
Into the unknown: What to expect from WEC's Barcelona debut
WEC
WEC WEC
Barcelona
2 h
Into the unknown: What to expect from WEC's Barcelona debut
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe