F1 United States GP: Sainz tops first practice late on
21st October 2022Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz topped the first practice session, of the United States Grand Prix, ahead of Red Bull Racing’s newly-crowned, two-time world champion, Max Verstappen.
How the first practice unfolded…
As the pit lane exit light went green to signal the start of the first practice session, there was a flurry of action as a number of drivers rushed out onto the Texas circuit. This was down to the limited amount of running with a Pirelli tyre test dictating the second practice session.
At the same time, there was a number of new – and returning – faces out on the track with a number of teams running their allocated rookie driver tests in FP1.
The new, and returning, drivers were:
- Antonio Giovinazzi replaced Mick Schumacher, at Haas
- Logan Sargeant replaced Nicholas Latifi, at Williams
- Robert Shwartzman replaced Charles Leclerc, at Ferrari
- Alex Palou replaced Daniel Ricciardo, at McLaren
- Theo Pourchaire replaced Valtteri Bottas, at Alfa Romeo
However, the session was soon red flagged – after 10 minutes – as Giovinazzi found himself in the barrier at the run off area on the exit of turn six. The Italian wasn’t able to quickly remove the stuck Haas from the barrier before the red flag was brought out.
Giovinazzi was soon able to remove the rear-right tyre from the barrier and trundle his way back to the pit lane, under red flag conditions. After he returned to the pit lane, the Italian’s first run out had met a premature end.
After the session got back underway, the newly-crowned double world champion, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, quickly jumped to the top of the timing board with a 1:38.272 on the soft – red-walled – tyre compound tyres. Alpines’ duo of Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso, McLaren’s Lando Norris and Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) rounded out the top five.
With just over 20 minutes left on the clock of FP1, Verstappen remained on top of the timing board ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Alonso who rounded out P2 and P3 respectively. Quickly after, Stroll jumped to the top of the timing board.
In the dying embers of the session, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz topped the timing board ahead of Verstappen and Hamilton who were second and third respectively at the end of the session.
In the battle of the quickest rookie, Shwartzman was the fastest in P16 ahead of Palou, Pourchaire and Sargeant who were 17th, 18th and 19th respectively. While, at the bottom of the timing sheets, Giovinazzi finished P20 after his early excursion into the barrier.
That’s it for the article; F1 United States GP: Sainz tops first practice late on! Who was the stand-out rookie in FP1? Let us know in the comments!
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
