US GP: Perez tops final practice from Sainz, Verstappen

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
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