By Alan Baldwin
AUSTIN, Texas, Oct 24 (Reuters) – Lewis Hamilton was fastest for Ferrari in final practice for the US Grand Prix on Saturday after teammate Charles Leclerc led Friday’s two sessions at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas.
The seven-time world champion had trailed Leclerc a day earlier, complaining about the bumps and the set-up direction of his upgraded car, but he seemed to have got it back to what he wanted.
The 41-year-old lapped in a best time of one minute 34.893 seconds, 0.168 quicker than Red Bull rival Max Verstappen and 0.234 faster than Leclerc, to complete the Ferrari practice sweep ahead of Saturday’s qualifying, with Ferrari chasing a first pole of 2026.
“Ferrari looks to be very strong. They have some nice upgrades, and Red Bull. It looks to me like Ferrari might be the team to beat this weekend,” said McLaren boss Zak Brown.
Leclerc would have been top, had he not had his best lap deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn Nine, while Hamilton also had to take evasive action on a late fast lap to avoid Gabriel Bortoleto’s slow Audi ahead of him.
Mercedes’ championship leader Kimi Antonelli, who can take the title on Sunday if he wins and other results go his way, was fifth fastest — also losing a lap time due to track limits — with closest rival and teammate George Russell fourth.
Antonelli leads Russell by 102 points with five races remaining after Austin, unless the last two in the Middle East have to be cancelled due to conflict in the region.
Four-time world champion Verstappen has won the last two races in Malaysia and Singapore and was also the winner from pole in Austin last season.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was sixth fastest, with teammate and reigning champion Lando Norris eighth. Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg was sandwiched between the pair in seventh.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar completed the top 10 on the timesheets.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; editing by Clare Fallon)
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