UNITED STATES GP – Carlos Sainz leads a Ferrari one-two in practice ahead of title contenders Lando Norris and Max Verstappen
Carlos Sainz led a Ferrari one-two in practice for the United States Grand Prix, the Spaniard set a 33.602 to put himself two hundredths ahead of his teammate Charles Leclerc. Max Verstappen put his Red Bull third fastest going two tenths behind the two Ferrari’s.
Although they did there qualifying simulations a lot earlier in the session, while the ferrari’s did there simulations right at the end Sainz going fastest ahead of Verstappen. Then with a minute left Leclerc put himself fastest.
Verstappen went third ahead of the two MClarens, Lando Norris fourth despite going too deep at Turn Twelve and Oscar Piastri aborting his lap after going wide at Nineteen. The two title rivals covered by just over a hundredth but were over a quarter of a second behind the Ferrari’s.
The Dutchman leads Norris by fifty-two points with six races to go, the McLaren driver has slowly been reeling in the reigning world champion. The title fight has been ignited by Red Bull making changes to a contentious ride-height device, which may have influenced their performance.
Lewis Hamilton put his Mercedes sixth going ahead of teammate George Russell by over a tenth. Mercedes is among the teams with a significant upgrade on their car, along with Red Bull, McLaren and Aston Martin. The weekend has started with a controversy over a device on the Red Bull that can be used to adjust the height of the front of the floor.
Red Bull have responded by pointing out that McLaren have made changes to their rear wing – an extension of the conversations they had with governing body the FIA after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where it was seen to flex on the straight.
Kevin Magnussen put his Haas eighth just three tHosandths of a second behind Russell and a tenth and a half ahead of Fernando Alonso while the RB of Yuki Tsunoda completed the top ten. Magnussen’s teammate Nico Hulkenberg missing out by half a tenth.
Pierre Gasly put his Alpine twelfth, he was seven hundredths faster than the RB of Liam Lawson. Lawson being brought in during the break as a replacement for Daniel Ricciardo to allow the team to assess its options for 2025.
Alex Albon was over a tenth and a half behind Lawson, as he went fractionally faster than Lance Stroll. Sergio Perez who remains under pressure to keep the Red Bull seat was only sixteenth just over a tenth faster than former teammate Esteban Ocon.
Valtteri Bottas was eighteenth he was two tenths faster than Franco Colapinto, the Argentine splitting the two Saubers as he was nearly two seconds faster than Guanyu Zhou.