Lando Norris led Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber in the sole Formula 1 practice session before sprint qualifying at the United States Grand Prix.
Norris emerged quickest in a late flurry of soft tyre sprint qualifying simulations in Austin, setting a 1m33.294s, 0.255s faster than surprise runner-up in the session, Hulkenberg.
Hulkenberg hasn’t scored a point since his Silverstone podium but did earn his best grand prix qualifying result of the season (11th) last time out in Singapore.
Piastri was third, 0.279s slower than Norris, who is facing as-yet-undetermined ‘consequences’ for causing their Singapore GP opening lap clash.
Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest for Aston Martin ahead of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull and Alex Albon’s Williams.
George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were seventh and eighth and set their fastest times on the medium tyres - the mandated tyre for SQ1 and SQ2.
Isack Hadjar was ninth in his Racing Bulls ahead of Ollie Bearman in the older spec Haas VF-25.
Esteban Ocon was carrying the VF-25 upgrade package and ended up 11th, 0.033s slower than Bearman.
He’d made a brief trip to the run-off earlier in the session with suspected brake problems. It looked like the front left locked on and he said the brakes were "at 100%".
Haas will decide after the session whether to fit the upgrade to both cars ahead of sprint qualifying or not.
Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc also battled car problems that meant they couldn’t join in with the late-session qualifying simulations. They ended up 19th and 20th.
The sole red flag of FP1 was caused by debris that appeared to come off the back of Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin when he ran wide at the penultimate corner.
That debris was quickly cleared and the session resumed without further major incident.
Results
1 Lando Norris (McLaren) 1m33.294s
2 Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) +0.255s
3 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.279s
4 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +0.345s
5 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.354s
6 Alex Albon (Williams) +0.626s
7 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.637s
8 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.671s
9 Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) +0.861s
10 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1.039s
11 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +1.074s
12 Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) +1.184s
13 Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) +1.237s
14 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +1.316s
15 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.325s
16 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.359s
17 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.371s
18 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +1.443
19 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +2.580s
20 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +2.786s
