United States GP: Hamilton tops FP3 as Leclerc suffers from track limits

Ferrari completed the clean sweep of United States Grand Prix practice, but it is Lewis Hamilton with the momentum going into qualifying.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen split the Ferraris in the final hour of practice, though Charles Leclerc saw his best time deleted for track limits, despite a relaxation of the boundaries at certain corners from the FIA.

Lewis Hamilton sets FP3 pace in Austin

After putting Friday practice on lockdown, Leclerc and Ferrari returned to the track for FP3, looking to continue that momentum into qualifying.

Sergio Perez used the quiet track to deliver a 1:39.880 on hard tyres, getting the timing screens up and running.

With a quarter of the session gone, Hamilton was out on track armed with softs. His 1:36.716 took him top ahead of the action truly heating up.

After a whopping 207 laps were deleted for track limits on Friday, FIA race director Rui Marques announced in his notes that track limits have been relaxed at several corners.

The white lines have been widened at Turns 12, 15 and 20, while the placement of the blue line on track – marking the absolute track limit – also moved to accommodate this.

Meanwhile, asphalt grinding had taken place at T19, with the bumps – addressed by the likes of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris – having been particularly prevalent into that corner.

Back to the lap times. Armed with mediums, Verstappen had gone over half a second clear out front of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, on softs, with 20 minutes gone.

Leclerc, also on mediums, provisionally squeezed his way into P2, a quarter of a second off the pace, though saw that lap chalked off for track limits.

Hamilton soon scored another one for the softs, returning to top spot on a 1:35.561, 0.141s up on Verstappen, who was getting in his customary complaints about the Red Bull’s gear shifts. He bailed out of his latest push lap and returned to pit lane, where he received a new front wing.

Wide at T1, Leclerc still did not have a lap on the board which counted.

Finally, his 1:35.1 stuck and he went fastest at the halfway point.

His teammate, carrying flow-vis paint down the left of the sister Ferrari, returned to second on his latest lap with the softs.

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Qualifying simulations continuing, Antonelli was on the move with his softs, going a tenth clear out front with a little over quarter of the session to go.

Verstappen and Leclerc had joined the soft-tyre action as the former went six hundredths faster. However, Hamilton had taken us into the 1:34s.

Antonelli saw his lap deleted for Turn 9 track limits.

Leclerc thought he had put his track limits frustrations firmly in the rear-view mirror, as a purple final sector lifted him into top spot. It was short-lived. That lap was chalked off for track limits at T10.

Hamilton was going again, but his lap ended at T12 when he came across the slow-moving Audi of Gabriel Bortoleto.

Isack Hadjar was struggling to keep his Red Bull on the track through the esses, sparking a radio message of frustration.

FP3 ended with Hamilton in P1 from Verstappen and Leclerc.

Full results: United States Grand Prix 2026 – F1 FP3 results (Circuit of The Americas)