Max Verstappen improved his pace significantly to comfortably beat the 1:37 to post the fastest time of the 3rd Practice Session before qualifying in Austin, Texas. The Red Bull driver set a 1:36.766 just over two tenths ahead of his team mate Daniel Ricciardo. Kimi Raikkonen also set a good time for third place also beating the best time set by Nico Rosberg in the 2nd Practice Session. Times continue dropping, Mercedes usually go faster in the three practice sessions before qualifying but as team manager Totto Wolf was saying at the press conference yesterday, the difference now between their car, Red Bull and Ferrari, is just of a few tenths when at the beginning was over a second.
Here’s the results and our improvement analysis:
| Results Free Practices 1-2-3 | ||||||||
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Team | FP1 | FP2 | Improvement | FP3 | Improvement |
| 1 | 33 | M. Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:39.379 | 1:38.258 | -1.121 | 1:36.766 | -1.492 |
| 2 | 3 | D. Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:39.963 | 1:37.552 | -2.411 | 1:37.032 | -0.520 |
| 3 | 7 | K. Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:39.407 | 1:38.865 | -0.542 | 1:37.284 | -1.581 |
| 4 | 44 | L. Hamilton | Mercedes Benz | 1:37.428 | 1:37.649 | 0.221 | 1:37.483 | -0.166 |
| 5 | 6 | N. Rosberg | Mercedes Benz | 1:37.743 | 1:37.358 | -0.385 | 1:37.784 | 0.426 |
| 6 | 5 | S. Vettel | Ferrari | 1:39.988 | 1:38.178 | -1.766 | 1:37.894 | -0.284 |
| 7 | 27 | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:39.712 | 1:38.508 | -1.204 | 1:37.948 | -0.560 |
| 8 | 77 | V. Bottas | Williams | 1:39.776 | 1:39.197 | -0.579 | 1:38.188 | -1.009 |
| 9 | 22 | J. Button | McLaren | 1:41.663 | 1:38.713 | -1.950 | 1:38.212 | -0.501 |
| 10 | 14 | F. Alonso | McLaren | 1:40.362 | 1:38.801 | -1.563 | 1:38.452 | -0.349 |
| 11 | 11 | S. Perez | Force India | DNS | 1:38.568 | 0.000 | 1:38.512 | -0.056 |
| 12 | 30 | J. Palmer | Renault | 1:42.332 | 1:39.455 | -2.877 | 1:38.528 | -0.927 |
| 13 | 19 | F. Massa | Williams | 1:40.191 | 1:39.281 | -0.910 | 1:38.607 | -0.674 |
| 14 | 26 | D. Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1:40.131 | 1:39.202 | -0.929 | 1:38.691 | -0.511 |
| 15 | 55 | C. Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:40.140 | 1:38.971 | -1.169 | 1:38.710 | -0.261 |
| 16 | 21 | E. Gutierrez | Haas | 1:40.970 | 1:40.114 | -0.856 | 1:38.939 | -1.175 |
| 17 | 8 | R. Grosjean | Haas | 1:40.826 | 1:39.554 | -1.272 | 1:39.097 | -0.457 |
| 18 | 20 | K. Magnussen | Renault | 1:41.942 | 1:39.159 | -2.783 | 1:39.105 | -0.054 |
| 19 | 9 | M. Ericsson | Sauber | 1:41.170 | 1:40.219 | -0.951 | 1:39.239 | -0.980 |
| 20 | 12 | F. Nasr | Sauber | 1:40.287 | 1:39.189 | -1.102 | 1:39.509 | 0.320 |
| 21 | 31 | E. Ocon | Manor | 1:43.874 | 1:40.086 | -3.788 | 1:39.771 | -0.315 |
| 22 | 94 | P. Wehrlein | Manor | DNS | 1:41.131 | 0.000 | 1:41.427 | 0.296 |
| 23 | 34 | A. Celis | Force India | 1:41.422 | DNS | 0.000 | DNS | 0.000 |
| 24 | 42 | J. King | Manor | 1:42.012 | DNS | 0.000 | DNS | 0.000 |
| Fastest Lap | ||||||||
