#F1 #USGP FP1 Report: @Max33Verstappen 0.156s ahead of @CharlesLeclerc.

Verstappen US GP FP1 – Red Bull’s Max Verstappen topped the time-sheets in the opening FP1 session at the US GP ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc as Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top three.

Newly-crowned three-time world champion Verstappen posted the benchmark of a 1:35.912 on the C4 red side-walled softer compounds and was 0.156 seconds clear of Leclerc with Hamilton a further 0.281 seconds adrift in third.

A flurry of soft-tyre runs in the final ten minutes in preparation for the qualifying session to decide the grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix coming later on Friday and Verstappen’s effort overturned Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon opened the qualifying simulation stints on the C4 softs.

The Dutchman’s time was unable to be beaten, his Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez posted a time that was 0.300 off, but Leclerc got closer and was half-a-tenth short in each sector of the benchmark lap-time.

Hamilton reeled off the best splits in the first two sectors, but the Mercedes driver lost time in the final sector to be a tenth off Leclerc and two-hundredths clear of Perez.

Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen took his heavily-upgraded VF-23 racer – which features the in-vogue down-washing sidepods to match their rival outfits – to fifth place on the time-sheets, a very narrow 0.002 seconds ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell.

Albon’s effort was good enough for seventh over Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who noticeably struggled with the bumpiness of the Circuit of the Americas in his SF-23, but nonetheless, the Spaniard improved over the course of the session.

Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly completed the top ten.

The early proceedings prioritised running on the C2 white-marked harder compounds and Verstappen took the early on those tyres despite several moments of surpassing track limits – which are not taken seriously in practice.

Hamilton, trialling a new floor on his F1 W14, which the Brackley-based squad hopes will give them some insight into it’s progress for 2024, then moved ahead on the same rubber, having set the best middle sector up to that point.

The Briton’s 1:37.394 posted on the hards remained the best effort for over 20 minutes but was then beaten by McLaren’s Lando Norris who set a 1:37.256 on the C3 yellow-branded mediums as the session drew closer to its final 15.

Williams Racing’s Logan Sargeant placed 11^th in the classification and ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who took 12^th and the AlphaTauri pairing of Yuki Tsunoda and the returning Daniel Ricciardo who came 13^th and 14^th in the order.

McLaren’s Lando Norris finished opening practice 15^th and in-front of Alfa Romeo duo Zhou and Bottas who were 16^th and 17^th respectively.

Aston Martin’s Alonso ended a low-18^th and ahead of McLaren’s Piastri and team-mate Stroll who brought up the rear.

Stroll suffered with braking issues on the front-left wheel of his AMR23 and was restricted to only two laps to severely compromise his United States Grand Prix weekend.

You can see the full Formula 1 Lenovo United States Grand Prix 2023 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1222/united-states/practice-1.html

#F1 Lenovo #UnitedStatesGP 2023 Preview. #Formula1 #USGP