FP1: Sainz heads Ferrari team mate Leclerc in sole United States Grand Prix practice session as Sprint format returns

With the Sprint format returning at the Circuit of The Americas for the United States Grand Prix, it was Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz who went fastest in the sole hour of practice across the three days of running, heading team mate Charles Leclerc and the Red Bull of Max Verstappen ahead of Friday afternoon’s Sprint Qualifying.

With all teams bar Ferrari and Williams running upgrades in Austin – as Formula 1 resumed racing following a three-week break – there was plenty of action from the moment the green light came on at the end of the pit lane, as the drivers tried to get their cars dialled in for Sprint Qualifying and Saturday’s Sprint.

Mercedes – running what the team’s Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin called their “most substantial update of the year” – caught the eye initially, but for all the wrong reasons, as first Lewis Hamilton and then George Russell suffered dramatic spins out on the re-surfaced Circuit of The Americas track.

While the hard tyre was favoured by the majority of teams for the main part of the running, with 10 minutes to go, many of the squads made their move to softs to test out their one-lap pace – with Sainz stopping the clocks with a 1m 33.602s, to head Leclerc by just 0.021s in the un-upgraded Ferraris.

Max Verstappen took P3 in his upgraded Red Bull RB20, albeit two and a half tenths adrift of the Ferraris, as his chief title rival Lando Norris took fourth after waiting until the very final moments of the session to post his lap.

Norris headed team mate Oscar Piastri, who gave McLaren a scare after being forced to abort an attempt to pit after going in too hot, with Hamilton and Russell ending up P6 and P7 in Mercedes W15s that looked a handful out on track.

Rounding out the top 10 came Haas’s Kevin Magnussen, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and RB’s Yuki Tsunoda.

Nico Hulkenberg was P11 in the Haas VF-24 that was running the team’s sole upgrade package, while Pierre Gasly overcame an early spin to take P12 in his special orange-liveried Alpine that bears more than a passing resemblance to McLaren’s standard papaya look out on track.

Replacing Daniel Ricciardo at RB for the remainder of the season, Liam Lawson took P13, ahead of Alex Albon – who endured a scrappy first attempt on his soft tyres for Williams – while Lance Stroll was 15th in the second Aston Martin.

Rounding out the order came Red Bull’s Sergio Perez in P16, ahead of the Alpine of Esteban Ocon, the twin Kick Saubers of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu in P18 and P20, with the second Williams of Franco Colapinto slotting into P19.

The drivers and teams will now reflect on their set-ups before their cars slip into parc ferme ahead of Sprint Qualifying and the Sprint – with the teams then able to tweak their set-ups again ahead of qualifying on Saturday.