FP1: Leclerc fastest in first practice for the United States GP ahead of Verstappen and Norris

Charles Leclerc topped the times during the opening practice session for the United States Grand Prix, the Ferrari man setting the pace ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and McLaren’s Lando Norris.

The Mercedes duo of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli were fourth and fifth respectively – with the young Italian having the chance to potentially seal his maiden title this weekend – while Leclerc’s Ferrari team mate Lewis Hamilton settled for sixth.

With the drivers keen to get going at the Circuit of The Americas, Alpine’s Franco Colapinto led the pack out as the session got underway at 1230 local time. Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto and Cadillac’s Colton Herta – taking the seat of Sergio Perez for FP1 – were both sporting large aero rakes at the start as they sought to gain valuable data.

As the lap times started to come in, with the track bathed in Texas sunshine, there was initial concern from Verstappen over the radio about his steering as he reported to his team that there was “some kind of friction” while turning left. However, it didn't seem to hinder the four-time champion as FP1 continued.

With a quarter of the session gone it was Leclerc who topped the initial times after posting a lap just 0.074s faster than team mate Lewis Hamilton on the medium tyre. Much had been made about the upgrades the Scuderia had brought to Austin with the signs looking promising.

Meanwhile Russell was reporting back to his Mercedes team to check the front wing, citing that he suddenly experienced lots of understeer. Soon after, however, the Briton posted a time good enough for fifth on the hard compound, just behind his team mate Antonelli who had elevated himself to fourth on the same tyre.

As FP1 ticked past the halfway stage more drivers bolted on the soft tyre as the time for hot laps arrived, with Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg – one of the first to post a lap time on the C4 – reporting a weird noise from his PU on his effort.

Leclerc continued to impress on the softs, cementing his position at the top with an improved 1m 36.052s time while Hamilton was nearly eight tenths back on his initial attempt having gone wide onto the dusty part of the track.

Verstappen then got in on the act at the top of the timesheets, initially splitting the two red cars before going fastest with a 1m 35.862s – though that time was subsequently deleted for track limits at Turn 19. That left the Red Bull man back in second as Norris, Russell and Antonelli slotted into third, fourth and fifth respectively.

Hadjar and Lawson also lost lap times to track limits, as the drivers experimented with how far they can push the racing line on the circuit.

With the time continuing to tick down neither Williams car had set a lap time, the team reporting that the duo had only been doing data collection runs, before Sainz and Albon eventually posted times good enough for 19th and 20th.

The action then slowed down in the final stages with the majority of the field focusing on higher-fuel, race simulation runs leaving Leclerc top of the order as the chequered flag fell. Verstappen was second with Norris, Russell, Antonelli, and Hamilton completing the top six.

Oscar Piastri was seventh, with Gabriel Bortoleto an eye-catching eighth for Audi ahead of the Racing Bulls pair of Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson. Ollie Bearman was 11th for Haas with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll taking 12th and 13th respectively ahead of the Red Bull of Isack Hadjar – who fell victim to track limits on more than one occasion.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was in P15, ahead of Esteban Ocon, Franco Colapinto, and Nico Hulkenberg. The Cadillac pair of Valtteri Bottas and Herta occupied P20 and P21 while Sainz remained in 19th and Albon was last, ultimately having his timed effort deleted.

The drivers and teams will now reconvene and examine their data before Free Practice 2 takes place at 1600 local time.