Leclerc Tops Austin FP1 With 1:36.052, Beating Verstappen by 0.084s
Updated
Updated · Autosport · Oct 23
Leclerc Tops Austin FP1 With 1:36.052, Beating Verstappen by 0.084s
3 articles · Updated · Autosport · Oct 23
Summary
Charles Leclerc set the pace in first practice at the U.S. Grand Prix with a 1:36.052 for Ferrari, edging Max Verstappen by 0.084s at Circuit of the Americas.
Lando Norris finished third, 0.245s off the lead, while George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli completed the top five as Mercedes continued evaluating updates.
Track limits repeatedly wiped out laps at Turns 12 and 19, and teams spent much of the session adjusting ride height and setup to cope with Austin's bumps and fast corners.
Williams struggled badly: Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon had laps deleted and handling issues, with one car ending last on the timesheets and the other only 19th.
Colton Herta took Sergio Perez's Cadillac for the session's only rookie outing, while the FIA also used FP1 to test a revised low-power software setting on in-laps.