Vettel leads Ferrari fightback in final US GP practice

Sebastian Vettel led Ferrari to a one-two finish in final practice for the United States Grand Prix on Saturday in Austin, edging out Formula 1 title rival Lewis Hamilton by 0.073 seconds.

After rain impacted running throughout FP1 and FP2, drivers enjoyed their first dry laps of the weekend at the Circuit of The Americas in FP3 in cool conditions.

Having seen Mercedes' Hamilton lead both sessions by over a second on Friday, Vettel managed to lead a Ferrari fightback in final practice as he finished fastest of all, narrowly beating teammate Kimi Raikkonen.

Vettel's lap of 1m33.797s was good enough to give him P1 by just 0.046 seconds come the chequered flag, leaving Raikkonen to settle for second place in a close-fought session.

Hamilton put in a late lap on the Ultrasoft tyre to finish third-fastest, and had been on course to beat Vettel's time before losing half a second in the final sector, leaving him 0.073 seconds adrift.

Valtteri Bottas took fourth in the sister Mercedes entry, seven-tenths of a second off Vettel, but set his fastest time on the Supersoft tyre before making an error on his final Ultrasoft run.

Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo wound up fifth and sixth respectively, while Charles Leclerc was the leading midfield driver, taking seventh for Sauber.

Sergio Perez closely followed Leclerc in eighth place for Force India as Carlos Sainz Jr. and Romain Grosjean rounded out the top 10 for Renault and Haas respectively.

Qualifying for the United States Grand Prix begins at 4pm CT (10pm BST) on Saturday.