Damon Hill
1996 world champion on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra in Austin

As an experienced grand prix driver I've been through all of the emotional ups and downs but I think George Russell will be looking at this season thinking 'wow, what happened, where did it all go so wrong?' But he's got more than a better chance at stopping the championship being settled here.

Max Verstappen: "Nice! Yeah, **** this. Honestly! It's stupid, it's so dumb. Why are the shifts so bad?"

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Now this one sticks.

Charles Leclerc puts a smooth run together on the mediums and is able to jump above Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton - and now title leader Kimi Antonelli - by 0.326 seconds.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent in Austin

That flo-vis paint on the Ferraris is because they have upgrades here this weekend. A new floor and sidepod inlet and diffuser. Usually quite a big upgrade when that happens but both Leclerc and Hamilton have been talking it down all weekend. Some people in the paddock have been saying it's the biggest upgrade the team have brought all year but Hamilton is saying it's only worth half a tenth.

Charles Leclerc just can't get a lap on the board so far. The Ferrari driver oversteps the mark once again on his medium-tyre run and has his time scrubbed from the timesheets.

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As one Ferrari props up the timesheets, the other is riding high at the top. Lewis Hamilton is taking the softs out for a spin and is able to beat Max Verstappen's medium time by 0.141 seconds.

George Russell is next to complete his flying lap and the Mercedes goes third on the softs, which is now fourth following Lando Norris' latest attempt on the red rubber.

Verstappen is on the radio to his Red Bull engineer to say the gear shifts are terrible, so in comes the Dutchman to the pits to see what the problem is.

Damon Hill
1996 world champion on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra in Austin

Both Ferraris have run hi-vis telltale fluid that they put on the side of the car, so this lovely red Ferrari is now covered in this lime green juice all down one side. They'll be looking at that and trying to work out what aerodynamically needs tending to. Ferrari are interested in what is going on with their sidepods.

Max Verstappen is a medium runner in the early stages of third practice and the Dutchman puts down a marker of 1:35.702 to go to the top of the timesheets.

Charles Leclerc, who was quickest on Friday and is also on the medium tyre, goes second behind Verstappen, but the Monegasque driver's lap time is deleted for track limits, so down the board he goes.

Lewis Hamilton has joined the action on a set of the soft C4 tyres but as he does his out lap, a big puff of smoke comes out the rear of his Ferrari. It hasn't slowed the seven-time world champion down, though, as he goes to the top of the pile with his opening flyer with a time of 1:36.716.

Liam Lawson then goes quicker in the Racing Bulls on the mediums but now it's world champion Lando Norris' turn to be the fastest man on track. But hang on, the McLaren driver, who is on the softs, has been flagged for track limits at Turn 12, and now his lap time is deleted.

Damon Hill
1996 world champion on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra in Austin

Williams have work to do. They know that only so much can be done with this season's car and they want to build a foundation for the future, so resources are going elsewhere

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Williams used Friday's first hour of practice as a learning session, trying to understand the limitations of the car for the remainder of the season and also looking ahead to next year.

Both Carlos Sainz and team-mate Alex Albon finished towards the bottom of the timesheets on Friday, with Albon in particular struggling to control his car and going off the track, eventually finishing P22 in second practice.

Spaniard Sainz was honest with his team over the radio, saying his car was a "mess" and he had "no confidence" in it.

Williams have scored only 12 points so far this year and are behind the likes of newcomers Audi in the constructors' championship. “We know that we’re pretty much nowhere to be seen this year and we’re braced for a tough weekend," said Sainz.

"We’ll try to learn as much as possible which might give us some information for the future, but we’re not expecting any miracles going into the weekend."

Some drivers will be dropping down on the order for the start of Sunday's 56-lap grand prix in Texas.

Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto, Alpine Franco Colapinto and rookie Arvid Lindblad over at Racing Bulls have all received grid penalties for various engine changes this weekend.

Brazilian Bortoleto will move 20 places, Argentine Colapinto shifts 10 spots and Briton Lindblad has been handed a five-place grid drop.

Meanwhile, Colapinto's team-mate Pierre Gasly has put some flying laps together and the Frenchman is top of the timesheets with a 1:36.861 on the medium compound.

Image source, PA Media

Image source, Getty Images

Ferrari have brought an upgrade package to this weekend's United States Grand Prix but Charles Leclerc didn't want to get fans' hopes up after topping the times in both practice sessions yesterday. "It felt good but it is not the gain I have seen or heard about," said Leclerc, adding Friday was a "small step forward".

Leclerc also shared his thoughts on the state of the track at Cota. Four-time world champion Max Verstappen said on Thursday the bumps were "unacceptable" and "out of control", and the Ferrari driver agrees. "It was very poor. The first sector is particularly poor and very bumpy," he said.

Like every Saturday third practice session, there's no real rush to get out on track early. Oscar Piastri is chatting to his McLaren crew, Mercedes are busy working on championship leader Kimi Antonelli's car.

Mexican Sergio Perez has ventured out on a set of the hard compound. This is a home race weekend for newbies Cadillac, but the American team are yet to score a point in Formula 1.

The Alpines of Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly have joined Perez at Cota, but the two drivers are taking the medoum tyre out for a few laps in the opening minutes of this session instead.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent in Austin

It's really close. On the race runs, which are the better indication of pace, it looked like Max Verstappen and Red Bull were the quickest but it was hard to tell. Yes, Charles Leclerc was fastest overall in terms of one-lap pace but it's very difficult to predict who will come out on top.

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The mindset for Kimi Antonelli this weekend is just to have fun and forget about the possibility of becoming the youngest ever F1 world champion.

"It's crazy if you think about it, but that's why I won't think about it," Antonelli said on Thursday.

We'll get a better idea of where we stand once qualifying is over but here's what the Mercedes driver needs in order to claim the title at the United States Grand Prix.

As it stands, the Italian is 102 points ahead of team-mate George Russell in second and 111 points clear of third-placed Lewis Hamilton.

To lift the championship he needs to win the race on Sunday and Russell has to finish ninth or lower and Hamilton outside the top four.

Yeehaw.

Final practice is green.

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BBC Sounds

Harry Benjamin and F1 correspondent Andrew Benson are joined by 1996 world champion Damon Hill for the rest of the weekend.

To tune in to commentary, you can either click the listen live tab at the top of the page, search for 5 Sports Extra via the BBC Sounds app if you're heading out, or you can ask your smart speaker to "play 5 Sports Extra".

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent in Austin

Image source, Getty Images

Max Verstappen appeared fastest on the race-simulation runs later in the second session, which often provide a more accurate read of overall competitiveness than the single laps.

The Dutchman could be compared directly only with the Ferrari drivers, as all were running the soft-compound tyres on their long runs.

Verstappen was marginally faster than Charles Leclerc on average but the consistency of his pace suggested he was in the best shape, at least on Friday.

Lewis Hamilton appeared to be struggling for pace compared with Leclerc whether on short runs or long.

However, all the top teams' times were close enough for it to be very difficult to ascertain an order of competitiveness.

Image source, Getty Images

Charles Leclerc set the pace in yesterday's opening practice sessions at Cota, topping the times ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen in the opening hour and championship leader Kimi Antonelli in the second.

The Ferrari driver was 0.042 seconds quicker than Mercedes' Antonelli in FP2, with Malaysia and Singapore winner Verstappen not too far behind in third place. Lewis Hamilton was fourth fastest, but he was 0.615secs off the pace of his Scuderia team-mate Leclerc.

George Russell, who needs a perfect weekend to keep in touch with Antonelli in the title fight, was fifth, while Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson finished his session above the two McLarens of world champion Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in seventh.

Norris might have more to offer, though, as he failed to set a time on the soft tyre during qualifying runs after making a mistake at Turn 16.

The other Red Bull of Isack Hadjar and Haas' Oliver Bearman completed the top 10 in ninth and 10th respectively. Hadjar was vocal over team radio about the performance of his car, calling it "undriveable" after the session.

The other main talking point yesterday was the dreaded track limits, with plenty of drivers having times deleted throughout each session.