Hamilton stands up to Verstappen and Ferrari is serious before qualifying in Austin; Alonso remains
Ferrari It seems like he’s serious. Very seriously. Although with those in red, and with Verstappen lurking, you always have to wait. For now, those of Maranellowho had already dominated the first two sessions with Charles Leclercwere once again the fastest in the third free practice sessions of the F1 United States GP 2026this time with Lewis Hamilton.
The Briton was far away on Friday, six tenths behind Charlesbut he progressed to get fully into the fight for pole alongside his Monegasque teammate and Verstappen who, despite the good performance of the Ferrarimust be the favorite for everything because he has just swept the two previous Grand Prix.
For now, the evolutions presented Ferrari On this track they seem to be working before a classification in which the fight for pole seems exciting, but also very busy. Above all, because of the mess that can arise with track limits.
You know it well Leclercwho after setting the best time, beating hamiltonsaw that time eliminated for exceeding track limits. In his final attempt, he was able to get within 66 thousandths of Max in third place already 0.234, but Charles has more in store than that time.
But Leclerc was not the only one to have problems with the ‘track limits’, there were many times that were eliminated from the table for this reason and this element can add more spice to the matter in all the battles on the grid.
One of those who saw how some of his times were invalidated is the leader of the World of F1, Kimi Antonelli who finished 4th with his mercedes 0″303 from the best time. And Russelhis teammate, was 5th at 0″488. We will have to see if the mercedes They can continue to raise the bar like their opponents to go for pole, continuing the performance improvement of an evolution that left doubts in the two previous races.
Those who do seem outside of that fight among the best are the McLarenclearly fourth car so far. Piastri was 6th to six tenths and Norris, who had another time eliminated, was 8th to 8 tenths, surpassed by a surprising Audi of Hulkenbergwhich finished 7th between the two orange cars. They closed the Top-10 on Gasly’s Alpine and Red Bull of a Hadjar that should improve.
Alonso, on the limit of Q2
In this layout, Aston Martin it’s better than in Singaporebut not enough to fight in the upper part of the middle zone. It gives him, for the moment, to aspire to Q2 with Alonso who finished 16th, just marking the cut-off time for access to that second qualifying phase.
His direct battle for that Q2 is with the haas. In this FP3, Alonso was able to beat Ocon (17th) by 0.287 and his teammate by seven tenths Stroll. He stayed 0″204 from the Alpine of Colapinto (15º) and less than three tenths of bearman (Haas). But it was far from Audi (Bortoleto was 13th) and the Racing Bulls, 11th and 12th with Lawson and Lindbladrespectively.
However, Alonso could gain two positions on the grid on Sunday, since Lindblad has a 5-position penalty and Colapinto, a 10-place penalty on the grid.
Carlos Sainz, without options
One of the teams that is suffering the most in this F1 2026 United States GP is Williams. They have only been able to surpass the cadillac. Carlos Sainz He was 20th, 43 thousandths behind his teammate Albon (19th). His only goal should be to beat the Thai. With the Williamsin austincan’t aspire to much more.
