Hamilton completes US GP practice hat-trick in FP3

Lewis Hamilton completed a hat-trick of P1 results in Formula 1 practice for the United States Grand Prix by topping the third and final open session of the weekend on Saturday afternoon in Austin, edging out Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.

Hamilton swept practice on Friday, finishing four-tenths of a second clear of the pack in FP2, but faced much stiffer competition through final practice courtesy of championship rival Vettel.

Vettel was able to lay down an impressive benchmark on the ultra-soft tyre entering the closing minutes of the session, only for Hamilton to dig deep and go 0.092 seconds faster, with his time of 1:34.478 going unbeaten to the end of the session.

The time goes down as a new track record and comes as an added boost to the four-time Circuit of The Americas race winner on a weekend that could see him be crowned world champion for a fourth time.

Valtteri Bottas was once again unable to match Hamilton's pace in the sister Mercedes, finishing third-fastest, two-tenths of a second adrift, while Kimi Raikkonen took fourth place for Ferrari.

Red Bull struggled to repeat its impressive Friday pace as Max Verstappen took fifth overall, six-tenths of a second behind Hamilton at the top, with teammate Daniel Ricciardo finishing down in ninth.

Williams' Felipe Massa was the leading midfield driver in sixth place, finishing ahead of the Renault pair of Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz Jr., while Sergio Perez of Force India followed in P10 behind Ricciardo.

The session went by without any major incidents, with the most notable moment being a spin for Romain Grosjean that saw him beach his Haas car, bringing his session to an early end and triggering a Virtual Safety Car period.

Qualifying for the United States GP begins at 10pm BST on Saturday.