Leclerc leads Austin FP1 by 0.084s from Verstappen
Charles Leclerc topped first practice (FP1) for the United States Grand Prix with a 1:36.052. Max Verstappen was 0.084s back in second and Lando Norris 0.245s off in third. With only FP1 and FP2 on the Austin schedule this year, this session is the first real benchmark of the weekend.
FP1 top ten
PlanetF1's classification puts the first six cars within 0.503s of Leclerc, with Lewis Hamilton sixth. Tenth-placed Liam Lawson was 1.257s off the pace.
| Pos | Driver | Team | Best lap | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:36.052 | - |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:36.136 | +0.084 |
| 3 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:36.297 | +0.245 |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1:36.378 | +0.326 |
| 5 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 1:36.533 | +0.481 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 1:36.555 | +0.503 |
| 7 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 1:36.786 | +0.734 |
| 8 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | 1:36.995 | +0.943 |
| 9 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | 1:37.063 | +1.011 |
| 10 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | 1:37.309 | +1.257 |
What happened in the session
According to formula1.com, Verstappen set a 1:35.862 that was deleted for track limits at Turn 19, so +0.084s is his official gap. Verstappen reported "some kind of friction" when turning left, though it did not appear to hold him back, formula1.com said. Isack Hadjar and Lawson also lost lap times to track limits.
Leclerc and Hamilton started on mediums, most drivers switched to softs for their quick laps, and Russell and Antonelli set their times on hards. Nico Hulkenberg was among the first to run the C4 compound and reported a "weird noise" from his power unit. Hamilton ran wide onto the dusty part of the track on his first attempt, nearly eight tenths off Leclerc, while Russell reported heavy understeer and asked the team to check his front wing.
Bottom of the order and a stand-in
PlanetF1 reports that Alex Albon set no representative time after three track-limits violations, with his quickest lap 31 seconds off the pace. Neither Williams set a time early on, and the team said it was doing data collection runs. The sources disagree on the rest: formula1.com says Carlos Sainz and Albon eventually posted times for 19th and 20th, while PlanetF1's table lists Albon last with no time (NC).
Colton Herta drove for Cadillac in place of Sergio Pérez in FP1, finishing 21st, one place behind Valtteri Bottas in 20th. Most of the field ran race-simulation programmes late in the session.
What's next
FP2 starts at 16:00 local time on Friday (21:00 UTC), the last practice before qualifying. The race-simulation data collected at the end of FP1 will be the first thing to watch for in that session.