UNITED STATES GP – Lando Norris fastest by a quarter of a second in practice ahead of sprint qualifying
Lando Norris was fastest in practice for the United States Grand Prix, the McLaren driver set a 33.294 to put himself a quarter of a second ahead of Nico Hulkenberg. The Sauber driver managed to spilt the two McLaren’s after going three hundredths ahead of Oscar Piastri.
McLaren go into this weekend having sealed the constructors but are facing questions about ‘repercussions’ for Norris following contact with his teammate Oscar Piastri in Singapore. Piastri continues however, to lead the championship by twenty-two points with thirty-four points on the table this weekend.
But they have not said what those repercussions will be, although it has emerged they will be of a sporting nature, and relatively minor, befitting the scale of the incident. These could become clear as soon as sprint qualifying later on Friday or in tomorrow’s sprint race.
Speaking to Sky Sports during the session, CEO Zak Brown said, “A little bit of a sporting repercussion in lieu of what happened. We move forward. The drivers are comfortable, they are free to race, and we are looking forward to a big race weekend.”
And on the scale of the repercussion being imposed, Brown added: “It’s very marginal. It probably won’t be noticed. Lando and Oscar know what it is, which is what’s most important.”
As usual, being a sprint weekend, the session proved busy as teams tried to find their feet at the Circuit of the Americas but there were no major dramas. Sprint Qualifying could be a very interesting session with seven teams in the top ten covered by around a second and at many points this season, it being about fine margins.
Hulkenberg set his fastest time in the final moments of practice as he took advantage of the rapidly improving track to split the times. This shouldn’t be seen as a big surprise after the German was in the mix at Silverstone, where he scored his maiden podium.
Fernando Alonso put his Aston Martin fourth; he was nine thousandths ahead of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. George Russell, who signed a new contract with Mercedes this week, was a hundredth behind Alex Albon, as he put his Silver Arrow three hundredths ahead of Lewis Hamilton. But neither Russell or Hamilton did a soft run.
There, however, looked to be problems for Albon’s teammate Carlos Sainz, who could only manage nineteenth, after he was ordered to return to the pits because of a gearbox issue. Meanwhile, Hamilton struggled with a throttle issue after setting his fastest time he ran wide at the hairpin before returning to the pits.
While Leclerc, winner of last year’s Grand Prix, reported an “oil smell” before heading back to the pits.
Isack Hadjar put his Racing Bull ninth the French-Algerian nearly two tenths behind the Ferrari as he went over a quarter of a second ahead of Ollie Bearman. Bearman secured his place in the top ten after going three and a half hundredths ahead of Haas teammate Esteban Ocon.
The top ten were covered by a second a slightly bigger gap than we would expect, but it is a sprint weekend making it interesting when we get into sprint qualifying, how close it could be of the five remaining races after this weekend, two are sprint weekends as well.
Gabriel Bortoleto put his Sauber just over a tenth behind Ocon as the Brazilian went half a tenth faster than Yuki Tsunoda. Lance Stroll was fourteenth as he went a hundredth faster than Liam Lawson, while Franco Colapinto was just over a hundredth fast than Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly.
Kimi Antonelli was eighteenth over a second ahead of Sainz and Leclerc. Based on FP1 cut-off for Q1 was 34.6, meaning Colapinto would have missed out by three hundredths while the Q3 cut was 34.3, where Bearman was a tenth three and a half hundredths faster than teammate Ocon.