Ferrari Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc set the fastest time in opening practice for the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas, ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
The session had the feel of a pre-season test since the condensed schedule of the sprint races in Singapore and a week off before that race, after a triple header, meant the teams immediately implemented the more traditional three-weekend training schedule.
Regardless of tire or course, Leclerc repeatedly set the fastest times throughout the session and beat F1 driver Verstappen by 0.084 seconds.
It was an unusual session where we had to wait until later to see real, comparable pace from the leading teams as they had initially shared their tire strategies.
Ferrari and McLaren dominated the start of the session on the mediums while Mercedes and Red Bull tried the hardest and ran roughly in that order, before converging later in the session as all teams chose the soft tires to try.
Once on the softs, Lando Norris showed well for McLaren, beating both Mercedes and the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton to take third place, with teammate Oscar Piastri more than three tenths behind seventh.
George Russell finished fourth ahead of his Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli.
It was an eventful session as Mercedes used a new front wing, with Russell having a front wing problem early on which caused understeer, while he also later flattened a series of hards, which involved a change of plan which kept Russell on the hards and replaced Antonelli on the softs.
This confused Antonelli, who had been clearly told he had to take a tough series of tests late.
Hamilton’s sixth place masked his pace as he went very wide into Turn 1 around the time Leclerc set the fastest lap of the session, and later Hamilton had another lap on soft tires cleared for track limits.
Behind Hamilton and Piastri, Gabriel Bortoleto (who must serve a 20-place grid penalty this weekend) was eighth for Audi at the head of the mid-pack, having started the session with a huge aerodynamic rack attached to his car. Cadillac was also equipped with an even larger and more ridiculous door-shaped device.
Arvid Lindblad – facing a five-place grid penalty for taking a sixth internal combustion engine – and Liam Lawson completed the top 10 for Racing Bulls.
Ollie Bearman finished 11th for Haas ahead of the two Aston Martins, led by Fernando Alonso. He was impressive – by 2026 Aston Martin standards, anyway – at 1.636 seconds from first place.
Isack Hadjar was 14th for Red Bull, having set his best time on the hard compound.
Williams had an unusual session. Alex Albon went 17 laps without setting a competitive lap time as he and Carlos Sainz completed their exit and refueling plans almost immediately afterwards.
Colton Herta was the only FP1 rookie replacement for this session at his home grand prix. He was 21st and slowest of those who set a representative time, 0.926 seconds behind teammate Valtteri Bottas, but he was clearly doing developmental work.
Time FP1
1Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 1m36.052s
2Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.084s
3Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.245s
4 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.326s
5Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.481s
6 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.503s
7Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.734s
8Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +0.943s
9 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +1.011s
10 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.257s
11 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1.613s
12Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +1.636s
13 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +1.731s
14 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +1.738s
15 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.749s
16Esteban Ocon (Haas) +1.844s
17 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +2.069s
18 Nico Hülkenberg (Audi) +2.070s
19Carlos Sainz (Williams) +2.794s
20 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +3.001s
21 Colton Herta (Cadillac) +3.927s
22Alex Albon (Williams) +31.812s
Gn sports
