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F1 United States GP: Verstappen quickest from Leclerc, Hamilton in practice

A flurry of soft-tyre runs in preparation for qualifying later on Friday defined the final 10 minutes of practice, and Verstappen was one of the earlier takers to punch in a 1m35.912s to overturn Alex Albon's timesheet-topping lap as Williams opened running on the softest compound.

The Dutchman's time could not be beaten; team-mate Sergio Perez set a time 0.3s shy, but Leclerc got closer and was about half a tenth short in each sector of the ultimate headliner.

Lewis Hamilton reeled off best splits in the opening pair of sectors, but lost time in the final part of the lap to cross the line a tenth short of Leclerc's effort - and two hundredths clear of Perez's soft-tyre time.

Kevin Magnussen took his vastly upgraded Haas - which now features the in-vogue downwashing sidepods to match the other teams - to fifth on the timing boards, a scant 0.002s ahead of George Russell's Mercedes.

Albon's time was good enough for seventh over Carlos Sainz, who noticeably struggled with the bumpiness of the circuit on board a stiffly sprung Ferrari, but nonetheless made incremental gains over the course of the session.

Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly rounded out the top 10, just clear of home favourite Logan Sargeant.

The early phases of the session prioritised running on the harder tyres, and Verstappen took the early advantage on the hard compound tyre despite several instances of surpassing track limits - which are not monitored in practice.

Hamilton, trialling Mercedes' new floor that it hopes will offer insight towards its progress for 2024, then moved ahead following the opening 15 minutes of the session by a tenth and on the same compound of tyre, having set the best second sector up to that point.

His 1m37.394s set on the hards remained the best lap for over 20 minutes, but this was then overcome by Lando Norris's 1m37.256s on the medium compound as the session drew towards its final quarter.

Norris did not set a time on softs and only stacked up in 15th overall, behind Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda, and the returning Daniel Ricciardo.

Ricciardo moved back into his AlphaTauri F1 seat having been deputised for by Liam Lawson over the previous five races as the Australian recovered from his broken hand, sustained in an FP2 crash at Zandvoort.

Alfa Romeo pair Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas were 16th and 17th, while Fernando Alonso was only 18th having only used the hard tyres throughout the session.

Qatar sprint winner Oscar Piastri was 19th having avoided a moment on the exit of Turn 8 after clipping the kerb and running wide, which put him on the grass as he wrestled with the wheel to reclaim control. He eventually managed to find enough grip to quell his bucking McLaren and did well to keep it out of the gravel.

Lance Stroll suffered with braking issues on the left front wheel on his Aston Martin AMR23 and was restricted to just two laps of practice to severely compromise his weekend.

 
 
       
Driver Info
 
 
 
   
Cla Driver # Chassis Engine Laps Time Interval km/h
1 Netherlands M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1 Red Bull Red Bull 23

1'35.912

  206.927
2 Monaco C. Leclerc Ferrari 16 Ferrari Ferrari 25

+0.156

1'36.068

0.156 206.591
3 United Kingdom L. Hamilton Mercedes 44 Mercedes Mercedes 23

+0.281

1'36.193

0.125 206.322
4 Mexico S. Perez Red Bull Racing 11 Red Bull Red Bull 23

+0.300

1'36.212

0.019 206.281
5 Denmark K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team 20 Haas Ferrari 21

+0.560

1'36.472

0.260 205.726
6 United Kingdom G. Russell Mercedes 63 Mercedes Mercedes 25

+0.562

1'36.474

0.002 205.721
7 Thailand A. Albon Williams 23 Williams Mercedes 21

+0.580

1'36.492

0.018 205.683
8 Spain C. Sainz Ferrari 55 Ferrari Ferrari 24

+0.621

1'36.533

0.041 205.596
9 Germany N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team 27 Haas Ferrari 21

+0.790

1'36.702

0.169 205.236
10 France P. Gasly Alpine 10 Alpine Renault 22

+0.793

1'36.705

0.003 205.230
11 United States L. Sargeant Williams 2 Williams Mercedes 26

+1.075

1'36.987

0.282 204.633
12 France E. Ocon Alpine 31 Alpine Renault 22

+1.154

1'37.066

0.079 204.467
13 Japan Y. Tsunoda AlphaTauri 22 AlphaTauri Red Bull 25

+1.192

1'37.104

0.038 204.387
14 Australia D. Ricciardo AlphaTauri 3 AlphaTauri Red Bull 24

+1.240

1'37.152

0.048 204.286
15 United Kingdom L. Norris McLaren 4 McLaren Mercedes 21

+1.344

1'37.256

0.104 204.067
16 China G. Zhou Alfa Romeo 24 Alfa Romeo Ferrari 25

+1.506

1'37.418

0.162 203.728
17 Finland V. Bottas Alfa Romeo 77 Alfa Romeo Ferrari 24

+1.605

1'37.517

0.099 203.521
18 Spain F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing 14 Aston Martin Mercedes 19

+1.928

1'37.840

0.323 202.849
19 Australia O. Piastri McLaren 81 McLaren Mercedes 22

+2.508

1'38.420

0.580 201.654
20 Canada L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing 18 Aston Martin Mercedes 5

+4.028

1'39.940

1.520 198.587
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