The sole free practice session ahead of the United States Grand Prix saw Lando Norris go fastest. His time of 1m33.294s was enough to secure P1, two tenths ahead of the session’s standout entry: Nico Hulkenberg. A late run on used softs yielded an impressive time for the Sauber. Oscar Piastri took third with a final time two tenths slower than his teammate. The championship leader will be looking for a good result, having come off worse after a first corner tussle with Norris last time out in Singapore. Norris is reported to have taken responsibility for the incident and has stated that he will face “repercussions until the end of the season” as a result. Though the exact nature of these repercussions remains to be seen.
Having played down his chances coming into this weekend, given his poor showing at the last two United States Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso defied expectations by briefly topping the timesheets with a time of 1m 33.639. He may have been swiftly surpassed by Max Verstappen, but Alonso did well to end the session in fourth, 0.009s ahead of the reigning world champion. Verstappen comes to Austin as an outsider contender for the world championship. He currently lies third, 63 points behind Piastri. Realistically, a slew of victories as well as a couple of lacklustre weekends for McLaren is what it will take for Verstappen to pull off a herculean comeback. Having claimed victory here on three previous occasions, Verstappen will be eager for a fourth in 2025.
Alex Albon ended the session in fifth, three tenths of a second behind the leading quartet. With Williams having long since halted development of the FW47, it's up to the drivers to make the most of what they have, as the team aims to hold on to fifth in the constructors’ championship. George Russell’s long-awaited contract extension has finally been confirmed. The five-time grand prix winner will stay at Mercedes until at least the end of 2026, with possible extensions keeping him there until 2027. He ended the session sixth, three hundredths of a second off his former teammate Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time world champion held the fastest time with 20 minutes to go but suffered a ‘slippery’ throttle pedal and subsequently ran wide at the hairpin.
Isack Hadjar had an unusual miscommunication with his race engineer as he was repeatedly told of Valtteri Bottas’ whereabouts on track, despite the Finn not being on the grid this year. His fastest time was enough for ninth place, one place ahead of Ollie Bearman.
Esteban Ocon took to the gravel, before reporting that the brake pedal “stayed 100 per cent the whole way” en route to 11th. Gabriel Bortoleto could not replicate his teammate’s heroics and ended the session 12th ahead of Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll, whose off-road excursion at turn 19 dragged debris onto the track and engendered the red flag with 40 minutes remaining. Liam Lawson, Franco Colapinto, Pierre Gasly, and Kimi Antonelli filled the remaining positions ahead of the session’s two biggest casualties: Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, who both found themselves the victims of mechanical issues.
Sainz managed to complete just nine laps before suffering a gearbox problem and ending up 19th, while Leclerc’s non-representative time of 1m 36.080 was the slowest of the session. Not the result either driver needed as they look to bounce back after frustrating weekends last time out in Singapore.
With three drivers in with a shout of the world title and the contractors’ title wrapped up, the typically enthralling Circuit of the Americas looks set to serve up another thriller.
