No Qualifying Saturday after torrential rain

The United States GP Qualifying has been postponed until Sunday following several delays and tremendous rain that never ceased to fall at the Circuit of the Americas.

Race control confirmed qualifying is scheduled for Sunday at 09:00 local time, five hours before the race. The weekend timetable has suffered various changes throughout as Hurricane Patricia reached Austin with strong winds and heavy rain.

After a Friday afternoon washout for FP2, it was Lewis Hamilton for Mercedes who led the way in the third and final practice this Saturday, though it always was under difficult conditions and downpour.

Championship leader Hamilton was eight-tenths faster than Sebastian Vettel, with Nico Hulkenberg third, Valtteri Bottas fourth, and Carlos Sainz fifth.

Ferrari’s Vettel was one of the first to aquaplane and tell his team about the weather, stating 'conditions are quite bad, I keep spinning'. Several drivers pointed towards the same feeling.

With the day cut short, fans were truly special after withstanding such conditions in the grandstands, and were rewarded late in the afternoon when following the postponement announcement, Bernie and company invited them all to a free pitwalk with all teams and drivers present for pictures and signings.

FP3 Top times

Pos.	Driver	Team	Time
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:59.517
2	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	+2:00.380
3	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	+2:00.496
4	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	+2:00.523
5	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	+2:00.687
6	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull	+2:00.694
7	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	+2:00.785
8	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	+2:01.008
9	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	+2:01.474
10	Felipe Massa	Williams	+2:02.199