McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris remarkably finished bottom of the timesheet at the end of a stunning final practice session for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Following a damp start, the track ramped up late on as the drivers switched to the soft rubber to conduct qualifying simulation runs.
Norris, though, appeared to encounter an electrical issue with his MCL39 that confined him to the garage for the closing minutes at a time when those around him strapped on new rubber and track evolution kicked in.
The Briton finished slowest, three seconds behind pacesetter Mercedes' George Russell, who posted a 1:34.054s, and a tenth off of 19th-placed Piastri who encountered a telemetry problem that hampered his late running.
It was a circuit that had required overnight repairs following an FIA inspection in the wake of a loose manhole cover into Turn 17 that had curtailed the final 22 minutes of running in the second session.
A specific fault was discovered with the closure mechanism, leading to it being welded shut. In reviewing other covers around the track either on, or close to, the racing line, a further 14 required attention.
Result Free practice 3 - Las Vegas
Norris set 'zero risk' task
Rain throughout the late morning and early afternoon, which relented two hours before the start of FP3, meant the track was damp once running commenced, in particular given the low temperatures of 13.7°C for the track and 12.9°C air.
Piastri and Hamilton were the first out on intermediate tyres to get a feeling for the circuit in such conditions, with other pockets of light rain expected over the remainder of the weekend.
The early lap times of 1:47.162s for Piastri and 1:48.241s for Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton were naturally irrelevant, and instead, it was all about needing to understand the damp low-grip track.
As the cars toured and a dry line started to appear, the lap times lowered, with Hamilton leading the way after 20 minutes with a 1:42.809s. At that stage, there were still five drivers - Gabriel Bortoleto, Pierre Gasly, Lance Stroll, Nico Hulkenberg and Franco Colapinto - who had not turned a wheel.
Moments later, Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda was told to box due to "an issue with the car. Whatever the problem, the Japanese driver was soon back in the action.
Approaching the halfway stage, Norris was the first driver to switch to dry tyres, taking on a pair of softs, and under instruction to "take zero risk".
On his first push lap there were clear snaps of oversteer, catching one that prevented him going into a wall, and the poor lap time reflected that.
As Kimi Antonelli's engineer, Pete Bonnington, noted over the radio, "the soft tyre of Norris looks a mile off at the moment", and so it continued to prove.
Hamilton in scary near-miss
But others followed suit, such as Leclerc, Hamilton, and Piastri, albeit with times off of those on the inters, but at least getting a feel for the rubber.
As the track rubbered in on the softs, Hamilton was poised to set a new fastest lap until coming within millimetres of running into the back of Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson who was at the back end of a trio of cars going incredibly slowly going into Turn 14.
Eventually, the laptime was lowered on softs, initially by Leclerc with a 1:41.687s, before Verstappen rolled in with a time 2.7s faster, clocking a 1:39.156s, before Tsunoda moved ahed by 0.260s.
Appreciably, the leading times continued to tumble, with Leclerc lowering it to 1:38.251s, then Hamilton with a 1:37.315s, before Verstappen posted a 1:36.820s, before Leclerc returned with a 1:36.469s.
It was a fascinating watch as the track action ramped up, seeing the evolution of the conditions and the drivers approaching the leading FP3 time from a year ago of 1:33.570s set by Russell.
With 12 minutes remaining, Verstappen went quickest by 0.638s, and stayed there for the next eight minutes until Lawson edged ahead by just nine-thousandths of a second with a 1:35.637s.
On fresh sets of softs for most of the drivers, Lawson's time lasted a matter of seconds. He was down in P10 two minutes later as Verstappen recaptured top spot with a 1:34.281s.
As the clock ticked down to zero, Russell went fastest with a 1:34.054s. Verstappen then purpled the sector and appeared poised to reclaim top spot until he suffered a moment that forced him into a run-off area.
The duo finished one-two, ahead of Williams' Alex Albon and Isack Hadjar in his Racing Bulls, followed by Hamilton, Antonelli and Lawson.
Aston Martin duo Stroll and Fernando Alonso, along with Alpine's Gasly, completed the top 10, the latter 1.5s down.
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