Carlos Sainz fastest in US Grand Prix sole practice ahead of Leclerc

Carlos Sainz fastest in US Grand Prix sole practice ahead of Leclerc

18th October 2024 0 By Kamron Kent

Ferrari’s drivers, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc topped the only practice session, first and second, of the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix. 

Feature image credit: Scuderia Ferrari

Due to the sprint weekend format, Free Practice 1 stood as the only practice session on Friday with the teams jumping into Sprint Qualifying later on in the day. 

As such, it was a flurry of action out on track with many drivers dipping straight out to dial in their set-ups and test the limits ahead of the competitive sessions. 

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was one such driver who had a moment in the session as he tried to avoid a Haas car towards the Circuit of the America’s famous esses. 

As such, the seven-time world champion found himself in a high-speed spin in the track section. Fortunately, he was able to regain control of his W15 before returning to the pits. 

How FP1 ended…

Sainz topped the timing boards as the fastest driver out on the American track with a lap time of 1 minute, 33.602 seconds. The Spaniard was closely followed by his Monegasque teammate, Leclerc, who was 0.021s behind. 

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen completed the top three with a lap time which was 0.253s slower than the fastest Ferrari. However, the Dutchman had his championship rival, McLaren’s Lando Norris, for company on the timing boards in fourth. 

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri completed the top five, 0.306s off the pace.

The Mercedes duo of Hamilton and George Russell occupied sixth and seventh, respectively, ahead of Haas’ Kevin Magnussen in eight. This left Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and VCARB’s Yuki Tsunoda to round out the top 10 in ninth and 10th. 

Nico Hulkenberg found himself as the trailing Haas driver and the fastest driver inside the bottom 10, in 11th. The German was kept company by Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and, returning driver, Liam Lawson – who replaces Daniel Ricciardo for the rest of the season – in 12th and 13th.

Williams’ Alexander Albon finished 14th, in his 100th race weekend, with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll rounding out the top 15 drivers. 

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez stood as the fifth slowest driver in the sole practice session in 16th, ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon in 17th. 

Kick Sauber’s pairing of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu completed the session in 18th and 20th, with Williams’ Franco Colapinto down in between the two drivers (19th). 

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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.

CategoryFormula 1 Formula Series News

About the author

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.

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