Red Bull’s Max Verstappen edged Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel during opening practice for Formula 1’s United States Grand Prix, as Mercedes finished off the pace.
Chilly and sunny conditions, with air temperature struggling to reach 10c, greeted Formula 1 teams on Friday morning at the Circuit of the Americas, with drivers also encountering a bumpy track surface.
Formula 1 teams also got their first chance at evaluating the 2020-spec tyres, with Pirelli bringing two sets of next year’s C4 for each driver to run either in FP1 or FP2.
Verstappen clocked a time of 1:34.057 to finish 0.169s clear of Vettel, while Red Bull’s Alexander Albon placed third, 0.259s behind his team-mate.
Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly was the only other driver to finish within a second of ex-team-mate Verstappen as he classified fourth, with Daniel Ricciardo fifth for Renault and Romain Grosjean sixth for Haas.
Charles Leclerc had a wild moment through Turn 9, and an early throttle pedal problem, as he classified seventh, using the 2020 test tyres, while Mercedes’ drivers atypically featured away from the front end of the timing screens.
Lewis Hamilton placed eighth, having had a time quick enough for fourth deleted due to exceeding track limits at Turn 19, while Valtteri Bottas finished only 17th.
Racing Point’s Lance Stroll and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen capped the top 10, in front of Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz Jr., who both had spins during the session.
Sergio Perez split Alfa Romeo duo Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi, while outgoing Renault driver Nico Hulkenberg was 11 spots behind team-mate Ricciardo.
The Racing Point drivers were the only representatives to set their best efforts on the Medium compound, as opposed to the Softs or the 2020 test rubber.
Lando Norris briefly had to endure a loose headrest en route to 18th spot, as Williams’ drivers again finished substantially off the pace.
Tester Nicholas Latifi had another FP1 run but completed only seven laps as his FW42 went into neutral.
Second practice will begin at 15:00 local time
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