Lewis Hamilton ended final practice for the United States Grand Prix at the top of the timesheets for Ferrari, with Max Verstappen second for Red Bull and Charles Leclerc third in the other SF-26. Ferrari continued to look convincing at the Circuit of the Americas and, for the first time this season, appears to be firmly in contention for pole position, with Max Verstappen emerging as the most dangerous rival.
Mercedes and McLaren appeared to be a step behind during the final free practice session, although both are expected to turn up their power units for qualifying and could therefore make a significant step forward. Ferrari’s encouraging performance continued the positive trend seen earlier in the Austin weekend, when the SF-26 had already shown strong pace during FP2. Attention now turns to qualifying at 23:00 CEST, when the true competitive picture should become clearer.
Ferrari continues to impress as United States GP FP3 points towards pole fight
The first cars onto the circuit were the two Cadillacs and the two Alpines. As usual, the leading teams waited around ten minutes before beginning their programmes. Lewis Hamilton was the first Ferrari driver onto the track, starting the session on the red-marked soft compound.
Flow-viz paint was clearly visible on Lewis Hamilton’s SF-26, particularly around the floor-edge and underfloor area, as Ferrari worked to assess the aerodynamic flow through that section of the car. The work was particularly relevant following the introduction of Ferrari’s latest SF-26 aerodynamic changes for Austin. McLaren and Mercedes also began their running on soft tyres, while Red Bull chose the medium compound for both Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar.
Ferrari splits tyre strategies between Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc
Ferrari also opted for different programmes between its two cars, with Charles Leclerc heading out on the medium compound. After 25 minutes, Lewis Hamilton led the session by around a tenth and a half from Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. George Russell, Isack Hadjar, Oscar Piastri and Kimi Antonelli followed, while Charles Leclerc had yet to record a valid lap after his first effort was deleted for exceeding track limits.
A few minutes later, Charles Leclerc moved into first place despite remaining on the medium tyres, opening a gap of around three and a half tenths over Kimi Antonelli, who also improved as he crossed the line. Max Verstappen then made progress on the same compound but remained fourth, four tenths behind Charles Leclerc. Lewis Hamilton also improved on his next lap and temporarily recovered second position.
Charles Leclerc made one further attempt to improve his benchmark but missed out by just 0.014 seconds. With 20 minutes remaining, George Russell became the first driver to head onto the circuit with a fresh set of soft tyres as the qualifying simulations began.
Track limits shake up the order during qualifying simulations
Kimi Antonelli followed George Russell onto fresh soft tyres and initially set the fastest time on his first flying lap, beating Charles Leclerc by around one tenth. However, only seconds later, Kimi Antonelli’s lap was deleted for a track-limits infringement.
Shortly afterwards, Lewis Hamilton moved to the top of the standings with an advantage of almost two tenths over Max Verstappen. Charles Leclerc responded on his first flying lap by going nearly one tenth faster than his Ferrari teammate, but that time was also deleted for exceeding track limits. Lewis Hamilton therefore retained first place, ahead of Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc.
Lewis Hamilton leads final Austin FP3 classification
The positions at the front remained unchanged through to the chequered flag, leaving Lewis Hamilton fastest for Ferrari, Max Verstappen second for Red Bull and Charles Leclerc third in the second Ferrari. Kimi Antonelli and George Russell completed the top five for Mercedes, followed by Oscar Piastri, Nico Hulkenberg, Lando Norris, Pierre Gasly and Isack Hadjar.
The result leaves Ferrari heading into qualifying with encouraging evidence from both SF-26 cars, although the final practice classification alone cannot reveal the exact performance available once every team moves to its most aggressive qualifying settings. The differences between practice programmes, tyres and run plans can be explored further through the F1 Practice & Long-Run Analysis.
The decisive session now follows later on Saturday. The complete timings for qualifying and the race are available in the 2026 United States Grand Prix schedule and COTA guide.
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