United States GP: Verstappen tops FP3 as Leclerc hits trouble
Max Verstappen topped final practice for Formula 1's United States Grand Prix, as Lando Norris posted a surprise third-best time for McLaren and Charles Leclerc stopped with a problem.


Red Bull driver Verstappen bested Sebastian Vettel by 0.218s in Saturday's FP3 session, but Vettel ended up the only Ferrari driver to set a laptime.
Twenty minutes into the session his teammate Leclerc seemed to lose power towards the end of the lap and pulled over on the run-off before the penultimate corner.
Ferrari revealed after the session that an oil leak had caused the stoppage and said it would revert to an older engine for the remainder of the weekend, thus avoiding a grid penalty.
Light smoke was emerging from the rear of his Ferrari as he came to a rest and continued to do so as the car was wheeled behind the barriers. The recovery of Leclerc's car, which was eventually returned to the Ferrari garage mid-way through the session, caused a brief virtual safety car period before the session resumed under green flag conditions.
Vettel and Verstappen duelled for the fastest time on the first runs before Valtteri Bottas kicked off the next new-tyre efforts and jumped to first with the first sub-1m34s lap, a 1m33.904s.
After having an earlier lap deleted for running too wide exiting the penultimate corner, Vettel found almost a second on new rubber and lapped almost four tenths quicker than Bottas.
Verstappen initially set a time within two tenths of Vettel's 1m33.523s, and locked up at Turn 1 as he tried to improve. However, Verstappen did eventually depose Vettel one final time, clocking a 1m33.305s.
Read Also:
Neither Mercedes driver seriously threatened to top the session and as Bottas and Lewis Hamilton ended up more than half a second adrift, Norris stole an unexpected third.
The rookie was just 0.533s slower than Vettel as his 1m33.818s beat Bottas by eight-hundredths of a second and Hamilton by just over a tenth.
Alex Albon completed the top six in the second Red Bull, 0.678s slower than teammate Verstappen.
Carlos Sainz was twice as far from the benchmark in seventh as his teammate Norris, but shunned the soft tyre for most of the session.
He was 1.1s off the pace, but a tenth quicker than the Alfa Romeo of Kimi Raikkonen in eighth.
Pierre Gasly's Toro Rosso and Daniel Ricciardo's Renault completed the top 10.
At the back of the field, without a representative time in 19th, Sergio Perez's Racing Point was fitted with a new engine, turbocharger, MGU-H and MGU-K for final practice.
The engine changes and lack of qualifying simulation work were tactical decisions from the team as Perez will start from the pitlane because of a weighbridge infringement on Friday.
Perez will be hit with a grid penalty for the engine component changes but it will be an irrelevant formality for the Mexican, who now has the fresh components available to him for this weekend and rest of the season.
Cla | Driver | Chassis | Laps | Time | Gap | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | | ![]() | Red Bull | 13 | 01'33.305 | |
2 | | ![]() | Ferrari | 17 | 01'33.523 | 00.218 |
3 | | ![]() | McLaren | 14 | 01'33.818 | 00.513 |
4 | | ![]() | Mercedes | 17 | 01'33.904 | 00.599 |
5 | | ![]() | Mercedes | 16 | 01'33.923 | 00.618 |
6 | | ![]() | Red Bull | 14 | 01'33.983 | 00.678 |
7 | | ![]() | McLaren | 15 | 01'34.408 | 01.103 |
8 | | ![]() | Alfa Romeo | 18 | 01'34.513 | 01.208 |
9 | | ![]() | Toro Rosso | 14 | 01'34.517 | 01.212 |
10 | | ![]() | Renault | 11 | 01'34.774 | 01.469 |
11 | | ![]() | Renault | 11 | 01'34.784 | 01.479 |
12 | | ![]() | Racing Point | 14 | 01'34.792 | 01.487 |
13 | | ![]() | Haas | 17 | 01'34.849 | 01.544 |
14 | | ![]() | Toro Rosso | 16 | 01'35.129 | 01.824 |
15 | | ![]() | Haas | 14 | 01'35.305 | 02.000 |
16 | | ![]() | Alfa Romeo | 15 | 01'35.956 | 02.651 |
17 | | ![]() | Williams | 15 | 01'36.256 | 02.951 |
18 | | ![]() | Williams | 17 | 01'36.628 | 03.323 |
19 | | ![]() | Racing Point | 22 | 01'38.426 | 05.121 |
20 | | ![]() | Ferrari | 1 | ||
View full results |

McLaren hints at F1 test for Indy recruits O'Ward, Askew
Veteran F1 tech chief Fry to join Renault in 2020

Latest news
Inside AlphaTauri’s Faenza F1 factory
AlphaTauri’s mission in F1 is to sell clothes and train young drivers rather than win the championship – but you still need a cutting-edge factory to do that. Team boss Franz Tost takes GP Racing’s Oleg Karpov on a guided tour of a facility that’s continuing to grow.
Connecting two of Ferrari's favourite F1 sons: Villeneuve and Leclerc
Gilles Villeneuve's exploits behind the wheel of a Ferrari made him a legend to the tifosi, even 40 years after his death. The team's current Formula 1 star Charles Leclerc enjoys a similar status, and recently got behind the wheel of a very special car from the French-Canadian’s career.
How a 30cm metal wire triggered open warfare in the F1 paddock
Porpoising has become the key talking point during the 2022 Formula 1 season, as teams battle to come to terms with it. An FIA technical directive ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix and a second stay appearing on the Mercedes cars only served to create a bigger debate and raise tensions further
Does Max Verstappen have any weaknesses left?
Having extended his Formula 1 points lead with victory in Canada, Max Verstappen has raised his game further following his 2021 title triumph. Even on the days where Red Bull appears to be second best to Ferrari, Verstappen is getting the most out of the car in each race. So, does he have any weaknesses that his title rivals can exploit?
How F1's future fuels can shape the automotive sector
In 2026, Formula 1 plans to make the switch to a fully sustainable fuel, as the greater automotive world considers its own alternative propulsion methods. Biogasoline and e-fuels both have merit as 'drop-in' fuels but, equally, both have their shortcomings...
The breakthrough behind Sainz's best weekend of F1 2022 so far
OPINION: Carlos Sainz came close to winning in Monaco but needed that race’s specific circumstances for his shot at a maiden Formula 1 victory to appear. Last weekend in Canada, he led the line for Ferrari in Charles Leclerc’s absence from the front. And there’s a key reason why Sainz has turned his 2022 form around
Why “faster” Ferrari couldn’t beat Red Bull in Canadian GP
On paper the Canadian Grand Prix will go down as Max Verstappen’s latest triumph, fending off late pressure from Carlos Sainz to extend his Formula 1 world championship lead. But as safety car periods, virtual and real, shook up the race Ferrari demonstrated it can take the fight to Red Bull after recent failures.
Canadian Grand Prix Driver Ratings 2022
Plenty of high scores but just a single perfect 10 from the first Montreal race in three years, as Max Verstappen fended off late pressure from Carlos Sainz. Here’s Autosport’s assessment on the Formula 1 drivers from the Canadian Grand Prix