Motor racing-Hamilton fastest to complete Ferrari's US Grand Prix practice sweep

Formula One F1 - United States Grand Prix - Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas, U.S. - October 24, 2026 Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton during practice IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters/Jerome Miron

AUSTIN, Texas, Oct ⁠24 (Reuters) - Lewis Hamilton was fastest for Ferrari in final practice for the ⁠US Grand Prix on Saturday after teammate CharlesLeclerc led Friday's two sessions ‌at Austin's Circuit of the Americas.

The seven-time world champion had trailed Leclerc a day earlier,complaining about the bumps and the set-up direction of his upgraded car, but he seemed to have got it ​back to what he wanted.

The 41-year-old lapped in a ⁠best time of one minute ⁠34.893 seconds, 0.168 quicker than Red Bull rival MaxVerstappen and 0.234 faster than Leclerc, ⁠to ‌complete the Ferrari practice sweep ahead of Saturday's qualifying, with Ferrari chasing a first pole of 2026.

"Ferrari looks to be very strong. They have some ⁠nice upgrades, and Red Bull. It looks to me ​like Ferrari might be ‌the team to beat this weekend," said McLaren boss Zak Brown.

Leclerc would ⁠have been top, ​had he not had his best lap deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn Nine,while Hamilton also had to take evasive action on a late fast lap to avoid GabrielBortoleto's ⁠slow Audi ahead of him.

Mercedes' championship leader Kimi ​Antonelli, who can take the title on Sunday if he wins and other results go his way, was fifth fastest -- also losing a lap time due to track limits -- ⁠with closest rival and teammate George Russell fourth.

Antonelli leads Russell by 102 points with five races remaining after Austin, unless the last two in the Middle East have to be cancelled due to conflict in the region.

Four-time world champion Verstappen has won ​the last two races in Malaysia and Singapore and ⁠was also the winner from pole in Austin last season.

McLaren's Oscar Piastri was sixth ​fastest, with teammate and reigning champion Lando Norris eighth. ‌Audi's Nico Hulkenberg was sandwiched between the ​pair in seventh.

Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Red Bull's Isack Hadjar completed the top 10 on the timesheets.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; editing by Clare Fallon)

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一级方程式赛车（F1）——美国大奖赛——美国德克萨斯州奥斯汀美洲赛道——2026年10月24日，法拉利车队的刘易斯·汉密尔顿在练习赛中。（图片来自路透社/杰罗姆·米隆）

德克萨斯州奥斯汀，10 月 24 日（路透社）——周六，刘易斯·汉密尔顿在奥斯汀美洲赛道举行的美国大奖赛最后一次练习赛中为法拉利车队跑出了最快圈速，此前他的队友查尔斯·勒克莱尔在周五的两节练习赛中均处于领先地位。

这位七届世界冠军前一天还落后于勒克莱尔，抱怨赛道颠簸以及升级后的赛车的调校方向，但他似乎已经把赛车调整回了自己想要的状态。

这位 41 岁的车手跑出了 1 分 34.893 秒的最佳圈速，比红牛车队的竞争对手马克斯·维斯塔潘快 0.168 秒，比勒克莱尔快 0.234 秒，完成了法拉利车队在周六排位赛前的练习赛包揽，法拉利车队正在追逐 2026 年的第一个杆位。

“法拉利看起来实力非常强劲。他们进行了一些不错的升级，红牛车队也是如此。在我看来，法拉利可能是本周末最难击败的车队，”迈凯伦车队领队扎克·布朗说道。

如果不是因为在九号弯超出赛道限制而被取消了最快圈速，勒克莱尔本可以名列榜首；而汉密尔顿在最后阶段的快圈中也不得不采取规避措施，以避开前面速度较慢的加布里埃尔·博托莱托的奥迪赛车。

梅赛德斯车队的冠军领跑者基米·安东内利如果赢得比赛并且其他比赛结果对他有利，就能在周日夺得冠军。他排在第五位，由于赛道限制，他的单圈时间也少了一圈。他最接近的竞争对手兼队友乔治·拉塞尔排在第四位。

安东内利领先拉塞尔 102 分，奥斯汀站之后还剩下五场比赛，除非由于中东地区的冲突，最后两场中东比赛不得不取消。

四届世界冠军维斯塔潘赢得了马来西亚和新加坡的最近两场比赛，上赛季他还在奥斯汀从杆位发车并最终夺冠。

迈凯伦车队的奥斯卡·皮亚斯特里排名第六，他的队友兼卫冕冠军兰多·诺里斯排名第八。奥迪车队的尼科·霍肯伯格夹在两人之间，排名第七。

Alpine车队的皮埃尔·加斯利和红牛车队的伊萨克·哈贾尔位列计时榜前十。

（艾伦·鲍德温报道；克莱尔·法伦编辑）

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