Leclerc tops Verstappen in opening U.S. GP practice

Charles Leclerc edged Max Verstappen to top the first practice session for the U.S. Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas.

Leclerc set the benchmark at 1m36.052s on a set of softs, including a purple time in the final split despite a small slide through Turn 19, to haul his Ferrari to the top of the time sheet.

Verstappen was fastest in the first sector but faded marginally in the final split, leaving him 0.084s down on the session’s best time despite early complaints about “weird” steering problems. The Red Bull Racing driver momentarily went ahead of Leclerc with a second flying lap on the same set of softs, but the time was deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 19, the penultimate corner.

Lando Norris was third for McLaren, 0.245s off the pace, ahead of George Russell in fourth, 0.081s further back. The Englishman complained of “a lot of three-wheeling” late in the session after a big lock-up on a set of hards he had originally intended to use for a long run.

Title leader Kimi Antonelli was fifth, 0.155s slower than his teammate but quickest in the middle sector.

RELATED: Bumps in the road for F1 drivers’ love affair with COTA

Lewis Hamilton needed two attempts on softs to set the sixth-best time, 0.503s off the pace, having lost his first attempt to a slide at Turn 1. Oscar Piastri was seventh, 0.734s off the pace, ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto in eighth.

Racing Bulls teammates Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson were ninth and 10th, the former with a new internal combustion engine that will see him penalized five places on the grid.

Oliver Bearman was 11th for Haas ahead of a competitive showing from Aston Martin, with Fernando Alonso 12th and Lance Stroll 13th.

Isack Hadjar set his quickest time on the hard tire on his way to 14th for Red Bull Racing. Pierre Gasly was 16th ahead of Esteban Ocon and Franco Colapinto.

Nico Hulkenberg’s session ended early after notifying his team of an engine or gearbox issue, leaving him 18th.

Carlos Sainz set his quickest time on mediums in an unusual session for Williams, which treated FP1 more like a test, with multiple single laps out of pit lane completed without a time until late in the hour.

Cadillac teammates Valtteri Bottas and development driver Colton Herta were 20th and 21st ahead of Alex Albon in the second Williams, who did not set a representative time as part of the team’s test program.