Charles Leclerc tops the opening hour of US Grand Prix practice

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topped the opening hour of practice at the United States Grand Prix ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and McLaren’s defending world champion Lando Norris. 

Feature image credit: By Courtesy of Pirelli

Leclerc stood after the first 60 minutes of practice as the fastest driver out on track, holding the quickest time of one-minute and 36.052 seconds. 

The Monegasque found himself narrowly ahead of Red Bull’s resurgent Verstappen by 0.084s, who is on the back of two consecutive victories in the Bahrain in Malaysia and Singapore Grand Prix. 

Norris trailed the duo, 0.245 seconds further back, but found himself ahead of the Mercedes pair of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, in fourth and fifth, respectively. 

When the action officially got underway in Austin, a handful of teams had opted to use their initial runs as a data-gathering exercise, with many drivers installing air-rakes on their cars. Cadillac’s was most impressive, with an excessively large rake attached over the engine cover of the car.

Results: United States Grand Prix – Practice 1

There was only one free practice rookie in attendance at the United States GP opening hour of practice as Colton Herta replaced Sergio Perez at Cadillac. 

Of the opening stints, it was a mix of soft, medium and hard compound tyres for the field, which was quickly topped by the two Ferraris. 

At the halfway mark, Leclerc was the pace setter on his medium compound tyres, setting a 1m 36.761s, 0.074 seconds faster than his teammate, Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar (+0.157s). But, on his first set of soft compound tyres, Leclerc went over half a second faster, extending the gap to Hamilton to 0.783s. 

With 12 minutes left on the clock, Carlos Sainz and Alexander Albon, of Williams, were yet to clock their first timed laps of the session. Albon was the first of the pair to set a lap time, with just over 10 minutes left on the clock, with Sainz finally completing his first timed lap with nine minutes remaining.

The Williams pair sat 19th and 22nd, with Sainz and Albon, respectively, as the latter had their lap time deleted for track limits. By the end of practice, Albon was not able to improve his fortunes, putting in a lap time 40.416 seconds off the pace of Leclerc.

FP1 classification

1. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari – 1m 36.052s
2. Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing +0.084s
3. Lando Norris, McLaren +0.245s
4. George Russell, Mercedes +0.326s
5. Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes +0.481s
6. Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari +0.503s
7. Oscar Piastri, McLaren +0.734s
8. Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi +0.943s
9. Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls +1.011s
10. Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls +1.257s
11. Oliver Bearman, Haas +1.613s
12. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin +1.636s
13. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin +1.731s
14. Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing +1.738s
15. Pierre Gasly, Alpine +1.749s
16. Esteban Ocon, Haas +1.844s
17. Franco Colapinto, Alpine +2.069s
18. Nico Hulkenberg, Audi +2.070
19. Carlos Sainz, Williams +2.794s
20. Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac +3.001s
21. Colton Herta, Cadillac +3.927s
22. Alexander Albon, Williams +40.416s

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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.

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.