Charles Leclerc has topped the opening practice session of the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix weekend, setting a time of 1m 36.052s on Soft tyres.
Max Verstappen was just 0.084s behind in P2, with Lando Norris 0.245s back in P3.
Verstappen had a new voice on the radio, with Tom Hart taking over race engineer duties for the Dutchman this weekend.
Cadillac handed Colton Herta another Formula 1 practice outing, the F2 driver borrowing Sergio Pérez’s car for the hour, with the Mexican set to return for FP2.
The session opened on a mix of compounds, with all but nine drivers starting on the Hard tyre. Past the halfway mark, runners began switching to softs. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell both made the move, giving an early read on the gap between Ferrari and Mercedes. Russell’s hour wasn’t clean, as he locked up and ran into the Turn 5 run-off.
It was a difficult session for Williams. Both cars sat in the garage for most of the hour, and with ten minutes left neither had set a time. When they finally emerged, apparently testing parts, Carlos Sainz set a lap good enough for P19, while Alex Albon had his time deleted for track limits.
Williams were the only team not to run the Soft tyre.
Arvid Lindblad will take a 10-place grid penalty for Sunday’s race after exceeding his power unit allocation with a new internal combustion engine.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown was upbeat. “I think we’ll be good here this weekend,” he said. “The team to beat is hard to tell as the top four teams have been alternating every weekend. It’s been Red Bull for the last few, Ferrari have come out of the gate strong. I feel good, but I think it’s too early to tell out of the big four who will be on the front row.”
Pierre Gasly, for the first time in F1 coverage, has talked Sky Sports viewers through a live practice start. He summed up the conditions of the track well: “Good session, quite a lot to work on, track is extremely bumpy.”
READ MORE – F1 2026 United States GP – FP1 Results
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