Practice 1 Report - Norris sets early pace in busy Austin session

Lando Norris
© McLaren

Lando Norris led the way in a busy single practice session for Formula 1’s United States Grand Prix, as McLaren topped the times ahead of an impressive Nico Hulkenberg for Sauber and team-mate Oscar Piastri.

With the Austin weekend running to the sprint format, Friday’s lone 60-minute session took on added significance as the only opportunity for setup work before qualifying later in the day. The result was constant activity from the outset, with all 20 cars logging early laps on a freshly resurfaced Circuit of the Americas.

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was the first to set the pace with a 1m34.857s on hard tyres, over half a second ahead of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull before a brief red flag was triggered when debris from Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin littered the track after 21 minutes. Once the session resumed, teams continued with their long-run evaluations until the final quarter, when most switched to softer compounds for qualifying simulations.

Fernando Alonso briefly went fastest with a 1m33.639s for Aston Martin on the softs, edging Verstappen by just 0.009s. But Norris quickly eclipsed them both, delivering a 1m33.294s that proved unbeatable as track conditions rapidly improved. Hulkenberg produced a late-session surprise for Sauber, setting a 1m33.549s to go second and split the McLarens. Piastri followed closely in third on 1m33.573s.

Alonso’s fourth-place lap underlined Aston Martin’s encouraging baseline speed, while Verstappen settled for fifth, narrowly ahead of Williams’ Alex Albon and the leading medium-tyre runner George Russell in seventh for Mercedes. Hamilton slipped to eighth by the flag after his early pace, while Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar and Haas driver Oliver Bearman completed the top 10.

Behind them, Esteban Ocon was 11th ahead of Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto, with Yuki Tsunoda 13th for Red Bull. Stroll and Liam Lawson followed in 14th and 15th, while Alpine pair Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly ended 16th and 17th. Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli was 18th after focusing on longer runs.

Charles Leclerc aborted his fast laps after reporting gear irregularities and an oil smell, ending 20th on 1m36.080s, while Carlos Sainz suffered a gearbox problem that limited him to just nine laps and 19th overall.