Max quickest in third free practice Austin

Published on 02 November 2019 by Kees-Jan Koster

Max Verstappen set the quickest time in the third and final free practice for the United States Grand Prix. On the bumpy track in Austin Max set a time of 1:33.305 on the soft tyre compound and drove a total of thirteen laps. Sebastian Vettel was second quickest, with surprisingly on P3 Lando Norris in a McLaren.

Under a blazing sun and a temperature of 18 degrees Celsius the third free practice session starts on the Circuit of the Americas. When the lights go green, Max comes out on track quickly for an installation lap on the hard compound.

The drivers start hesitant. It takes more than fifteen minutes before Romain Grosjean sets the first time on the clocks. Soon after Charles Leclerc has to park his Ferrari at turn 19 besides the track with technical issues. A short Virtual Safety car period follows.

When the track is cleared, Sebastian Vettel, Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton all set some quick times. Max takes a few minutes to come out again. Max sets a 1:34.458 in his first flying lap on the soft tyre compound and is with that in second position.

Subsequently Verstappen improves his time (1:34.186) and goes to first position on the time list. The Dutchman returns to the team and comes out again in the last fifteen minutes, again with soft tyres on his RB15. Max is able to improve his time to a 1:33.305 and is again in first position. Nobody is able to improve that time, so Verstappen finishes this session in P1. Vettel finishes 2 tenths slower in second position, while Norris in P3 finishes half a second behind Verstappen.

At 22:00 Dutch time the qualifying for the United States Grand Prix will start.

USA GP contest: Win the grey Max Verstappen zip hoodie!

Results third free practice United States: