United States Grand Prix: Vettel Fastest in P3

Sebastian Vettel. Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) scored a hat trick in practice session three at Circuit Of The Americas this morning, duplicating his front place finishes during yesterday's practices one and two.

Vettel ran in third much of the time, but after a change from hard to medium tires he went straight to the top of the leader board, but without as much space as he enjoyed yesterday.

Vettel posted a time of 1:36.490, just 0.256s faster than second place finisher Lewis Hamilton (McLaren). Rounding out the top three was Pastor Maldonado who had a great run this morning and finished third with a time of just 0.511s behind Vettel. It is clear he is in the hunt for the front of the grid this weekend. 

Fernando Alonso finished fourth as he struggled for grip on the cool track surface. He came in and out of the pits trying to bring his tires up to temperature more quickly during qualifying.

Jean-Eric Vergne had his share of trouble after stopping on track with a broken suspension. Sergio Perez may have his own set of problems. He may incur his second penalty of the weekend for a collision with Charles Pic which sent Pic spinning.

If this morning was any judge, qualifying should be exciting and tomorrow will be off the hook!

Here are your top 10 finishers in today P3 at Circuit Of The Americas in Austin, TX:

Vettel- Red Bull:  1:36.490
Hamilton- McLaren:  1:36.748
Maldonado- Williams:  1:37.001
Alonso- Ferrari:  1:37.180
Rosberg- Mercedes:  1:37.242
Massa- Ferrari:  1:37.262
Webber- Red Bull:  1:37.298
Perez- Sauber:  1:37.415
Hulkenberg- Force India:  1:37.495
Button- McLaren:  1:37.538

Stay with us as we cover Qualifying this afternoon!

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