United States Grand Prix Practice Round-up

The only practice session for the United States Grand Prix saw everyone come out on the C1 hard tyre to really test how slow and durable they are for the main race on Sunday, the drivers just getting their foot in for the condition on track. It was a scorching day in Texas and 6 new liveries were revealed to fans throughout the week: Mercedes, Redbull, Kick and Ferrari staying with what they have run before.


Early pace came from the Williams and the Redbulls with the track improving all the time, teams spitting their programs, some going slower and others seeing the limits of their cars already. Hadjars race engineer had a confusing moment saying 'Valterri Bottas' was on track with Hadjar explaining back to "stop mentioning Bottas". The French man went very wide at turn 19, complaining about traffic. Verstappen and Tsunoda top 2, 15 minutes in. Both VCARBS were struggling with their cars Hadjar again going of at turn 5 and Lawson abandoning the entry of turn 11.


A red flag fell from some small debris from Strolls Aston Martin, going wide over the kerb at turn 19 losing 5 minutes of the session time. Bad news for Carlos Sainz as his Williams was on stands and in pieces with the engine cover off with an issue with the gear box, which ended his session and on the back foot for the sprint qualifying later on. Ocon also had a brake issue (brake by wire) with his Haas, pulling into the pits and the team pulling up the software. Antonelli had a moment with Albon at the newly renamed 'Andretti corner" (turn 20), Albon starting a lap too late as Antonelli was finishing his.


Hamilton looked quick with a 1.34.857 ahead of Norris and Verstappen, the Ferrari sticking to the ground nicely on the hard tyre however , Leclerc had an issue with gears in the other Ferrari smelling 'oil' and saying his car wasnt "going into 7th (gear)". Yuki Tsunoda had a very scary moment at turn 4-5, the rear end very unstable, just managing to regain control of his car. Towards the end of the session, softer tyres came out of the pits with everyone testing the waters of qualifying pace, Norris setting the time a light at the top with a 1.33.294 with a surprise visit from Hulkenburg in P2, 2.5 tenths back and Piastri rounding out the top 3.

This was the full result of the United States Grand Prix free practice:











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