Hamilton completes practice sweep in Austin

2017 United States Grand Prix third practice

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Lewis Hamilton completed a clean sweep of practice sessions by heading the final hour of running before qualifying before the United States Grand Prix.

But the Mercedes driver was less than a tenth of a second faster than championship rival Sebastian Vettel.

The Mercedes and Ferrari drivers took to the track together for their qualifying simulation runs on the ultra-soft tyre around quarter of an hour before the end. Hamilton came out ahead despite a scruffy end to his lap. He later set the fastest time for the final sector on another lap which was slower overall.

Vettel, driving a new chassis following his overnight change, was just over a tenth of a second quicker than Valtteri Bottas. Kimi Raikkonen was next, less than three-tenths of a second covering the top four.

The Red Bull drivers had a more challenging session. Max Verstappen had a brief off at turn seven which appeared to be caused by a gust of wing. He then lost time during a Virtual Safety Car as Romain Grosjean spun his Haas into a gravel trap at the same point on the circuit.

Daniel Ricciardo ended up ninth as several drivers lost time in traffic at the end of the session. Felipe Massa and the two closely-matched Renault drivers were ahead of him. Sergio Perez beat Force India team mate Esteban Ocon to the final place in the top ten.

Daniil Kvyat endured a frustrating session, covering just six laps before being confined to the pits with a technical problem.

Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
144Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’34.47815
25Sebastian VettelFerrari1’34.5700.09219
377Valtteri BottasMercedes1’34.6920.21417
47Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’34.7550.27717
533Max VerstappenRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’35.1030.62514
619Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’35.3460.86811
727Nico HulkenbergRenault1’35.6081.13021
855Carlos Sainz JnrRenault1’35.6501.17216
93Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’35.7231.24517
1011Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’35.8021.32416
1131Esteban OconForce India-Mercedes1’35.9651.48717
1218Lance StrollWilliams-Mercedes1’36.1181.64012
1314Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’36.2391.76115
142Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren-Honda1’36.5992.12114
1539Brendon HartleyToro Rosso-Renault1’36.8182.34026
1620Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1’37.2712.79316
179Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’37.3192.84117
1894Pascal WehrleinSauber-Ferrari1’37.8073.32915
198Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’37.8913.4139
2026Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Renault1’38.5004.0226

Third practice visual gaps

Lewis Hamilton – 1’34.478

+0.092 Sebastian Vettel – 1’34.570

+0.214 Valtteri Bottas – 1’34.692

+0.277 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’34.755

+0.625 Max Verstappen – 1’35.103

+0.868 Felipe Massa – 1’35.346

+1.130 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’35.608

+1.172 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’35.650

+1.245 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’35.723

+1.324 Sergio Perez – 1’35.802

+1.487 Esteban Ocon – 1’35.965

+1.640 Lance Stroll – 1’36.118

+1.761 Fernando Alonso – 1’36.239

+2.121 Stoffel Vandoorne – 1’36.599

+2.340 Brendon Hartley – 1’36.818

+2.793 Kevin Magnussen – 1’37.271

+2.841 Marcus Ericsson – 1’37.319

+3.329 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’37.807

+3.413 Romain Grosjean – 1’37.891

+4.022 Daniil Kvyat – 1’38.500

Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.

Combined practice times

PosDriverCarFP1FP2FP3Fri/Sat diffTotal laps
1Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’36.3351’34.6681’34.478-0.1959
2Sebastian VettelFerrari1’36.9281’35.1921’34.570-0.62250
3Valtteri BottasMercedes1’36.9791’35.2791’34.692-0.58766
4Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’37.5981’35.5141’34.755-0.75966
5Max VerstappenRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’37.3391’35.0651’35.103+0.03865
6Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’37.5701’36.4601’35.346-1.11464
7Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’39.3661’35.4631’35.723+0.2655
8Nico HulkenbergRenault1’38.9041’36.5341’35.608-0.92658
9Carlos Sainz JnrRenault1’38.0931’36.5291’35.650-0.87970
10Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’37.8611’36.4811’35.802-0.67964
11Esteban OconForce India-Mercedes1’37.8081’36.4901’35.965-0.52576
12Lance StrollWilliams-Mercedes1’38.5341’37.7881’36.118-1.6764
13Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’36.3041’36.239-0.06547
14Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren-Honda1’37.3521’37.4631’36.599-0.75371
15Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Renault1’36.7611’38.500+1.73946
16Brendon HartleyToro Rosso-Renault1’39.2671’37.9871’36.818-1.16995
17Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1’38.4081’37.2851’37.271-0.01449
18Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’40.4481’38.2621’37.319-0.94358
19Pascal WehrleinSauber-Ferrari1’38.1651’37.807-0.35850
20Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’39.3361’38.3871’37.891-0.49652
21Sean GelaelToro Rosso-Renault1’40.40625
22Charles LeclercSauber-Ferrari1’40.82825

Best times by tyre – final practice

DriverTeamBest ultra-soft timeUltra-soft gapBest super-soft timeSuper-soft gapBest soft timeSoft gap
Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’34.478NoneNone
Valtteri BottasMercedes1’34.6920.214NoneNone
Daniel RicciardoRed Bull1’35.7231.245NoneNone
Max VerstappenRed Bull1’35.1030.625NoneNone
Sebastian VettelFerrari1’34.5700.0924’01.096144.332None
Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’34.7550.2774’19.096162.332None
Sergio PerezForce India1’35.8021.3241’36.9880.224None
Esteban OconForce India1’35.9651.4871’36.764None
Felipe MassaWilliams1’35.3460.868NoneNone
Lance StrollWilliams1’36.1181.64None8’20.096399.293
Fernando AlonsoMcLaren1’36.2391.761NoneNone
Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren1’36.5992.121NoneNone
Daniil KvyatToro RossoNone1’38.5001.736None
Brendon HartleyToro Rosso1’36.8182.34None1’40.803
Romain GrosjeanHaasNone1’37.8911.127None
Kevin MagnussenHaas1’37.2712.7931’37.6680.904None
Nico HulkenbergRenault1’35.6081.13NoneNone
Carlos Sainz JnrRenault1’35.6501.172NoneNone
Marcus EricssonSauber1’37.3192.841None4’09.096148.293
Pascal WehrleinSauber1’37.8073.329None4’15.096154.293

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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8 comments on “Hamilton completes practice sweep in Austin”

  1. Exploiting the run-off area at Turn 19 was taken to farcical levels in FP3. Here’s hoping stewards start to work in qualifying and every single lap time will be deleted if driver fails to stay on track.

  2. This is silly. At the lowest levels of competitive motorsport – SCCA Autocross which is great – this is not an issue. Our course is defined with traffic cones placed in chalked ‘boxes’. Knock one out or over and it costs you two seconds to your time. Big incentive. No debates. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55df1545e4b07afa632b0342/t/57d2c13329687f368b6087c6/1473429827825/DSC_0712.JPG?format=1500w

    Of course, this being F1, they could make them out of some massively expensive blend of carbon fibre and silicone. But really – can’t this problem be solved?

  3. I think there’s a very good chance Hamilton could take the record for most Grand Chelems in a single season this weekend if he takes his fourth this year.

    1. @philipgb More impressive really would be if he could take consecutive ones, which only Clark and Vettel have achieved.

      1. @philipgb Apparently Ascari did so too, which I wasn’t aware off.

  4. @keithcollantine But the Mercedes drivers
    Do you mean “But the Mercedes driver”

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