Carlos Sainz topped the sole practice session for the 2024 FIA Formula 1 United States Grand Prix, beating Ferrari team-mate by just 0.021s as F1 Drivers’ Championship leader Max Verstappen took his Red Bull Racing RB20 to third place, 0.253s off top spot.
Leclerc set the pace in the opening part of the session, running Hard compound Pirelli tyres to sit in top spot with a time of 1:34.966 as the half way mark approached. However, Sainz then trimmed two tenths off that with a final run on Hard tyres.
Drivers then began to make the switch to Soft compound tyres and it was Verstappen who posted the first Soft benchmark with a lap of 1:33.855. The Dutchman’s team’s-mate Sergio Pérez slotted into second place, though the Mexican driver was almost 0.8s off Verstappen’s P1 time.
While the Red Bull drivers put in early performance runs the bulk of the expected front runners left their quali sims until the last 10 minutes of the session. And it was Sainz who made the biggest gain, setting a time of 1m33.602 to take top spot.
With just over a minute remaining in the session, Leclerc jumped to second place just two hundredths of a second behind his team-mate. Verstappen’s early soft-tyre effort was good enough for third as McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri took fourth and fifth respectively.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were next, with seven-time champion Hamilton a little over a tenth ahead of his team-mate. Haas’ Kevin Magnussen ended the session in P8 ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and the top 10 order was completed by RB’s Yuki Tsunoda who finished ahead of Nico Hülkenberg and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly. In the second RB, Liam Lawson, who returns to F1 this weekend in place of Daniel Ricciardo, took P13.
2024 FIA Formula 1 United States Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
1 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:33.602 25 212.033
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:33.623 0.021 27 211.986
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:33.855 0.253 23 211.462
4 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:33.868 0.266 25 211.433
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:33.908 0.306 26 211.343
6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:33.963 0.361 22 211.219
7 George Russell Mercedes 1:34.093 0.491 27 210.927
8 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1:34.096 0.494 24 210.920
9 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:34.112 0.510 24 210.884
10 Yuki Tsunoda RB/Honda RBPT 1:34.313 0.711 20 210.435
11 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 1:34.364 0.762 24 210.321
12 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:34.375 0.773 24 210.297
13 Liam Lawson RB/Honda RBPT 1:34.443 0.841 28 210.145
14 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:34.618 1.016 26 209.757
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:34.619 1.017 24 209.754
16 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:34.638 1.036 24 209.712
17 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:34.806 1.204 24 209.341
18 Valtteri Bottas Sauber/Ferrari 1:35.041 1.439 26 208.823
19 Franco Colapinto Williams/Mercedes 1:35.248 1.646 27 208.369
20 Zhou Guanyu Sauber/Ferrari 1:37.219 3.617 15 204.14
