Carlos Sainz Jr. topped Free Practice One as Formula 1 returned from a three-week break for the 2024 United States Grand Prix.
Scuderia Ferrari came flying out the blocks, with Charles Leclerc just behind his teammate in second and with just the one practice session, they’ll be hoping to take this momentum into Sprint Qualifying later today.
Pierre Gasly had a moment at Turn 1, coming up the hill before losing his Alpine under braking. The Frenchman kept it out the wall and got going again. It was then Lewis Hamilton’s turn to spin, losing the rear after hitting a bump on the circuit.
Hamilton’s teammate, George Russell, then spun his W15 at Turn 1. The Mercedes–AMG Petronas F1 Team car looked difficult to handle throughout the first practice session in Austin and with just one session before Sprint Qualifying, that’ll be a worry for the Brackley squad.
Liam Lawson was getting his first full-time F1 laps under his belt and was sitting 12th after 25 minutes of the session, although half a second away from Yuki Tsunoda in the other Visa Cash App RB.
Zhou Guanyu had issues, losing power before slowly going back to the pits. The Chinese driver, who looks unlikely to be on the grid for 2025, didn’t go out again in the session.
The drivers all went late to go on their final qualifying simulations with Sprint Qualifying just around the corner. Sainz and Leclerc were separated by just +0.021s with Sainz’s time of 1:33.602 being the fastest of the session.
Reigning champion, Max Verstappen was +0.253s away from Sainz, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri further back in fourth and fifth. The McLaren F1 Team pair didn’t look comfortable throughout the first session in COTA.
They were followed by the Mercedes duo in sixth and seventh. Kevin Magnussen showed promise at MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s home Grand Prix, ending the session eighth ahead of Fernando Alonso and Tsunoda, who rounded out the top ten.
Nico Húlkenberg was eleventh, ahead of Gasly, who managed to recover and get plenty of laps in after his early spin. Lawson wound up in thirteenth, ahead of Alex Albon and Lance Stroll.
Sergio Pérez had a difficult hour, ending up in sixteenth and over a second off the pace. Esteban Ocon was seventeenth ahead of Valtteri Bottas, Franco Colaptino and Zhou.