Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz set the quickest time during the opening practice session for Formula 1’s United States Grand Prix.
Sainz clocked a time of 1:36.857s to finish two-tenths of a second faster than double World Champion Max Verstappen at the Circuit of the Americas.
Lewis Hamilton was third for Mercedes as the team introduced a raft of floor and rear wing updates to the W13.
READ MORE: F1 US GP – FP1 Results
Lance Stroll was an eye-catching fourth for Aston Martin, which enters the weekend after a couple of strong results in Singapore and Japan, while Sergio Perez was fifth for Red Bull.
Perez is one of two drivers, along with Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu, who will take a five-place grid penalty for taking on a fresh engine.
Fernando Alonso was sixth for Alpine, ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell, AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top 10 for Aston Martin.
Several new faces appeared as part of teams undertaking rookie running – though it was a familiar name who had a miserably brief outing.
Ex-Alfa Romeo racer Antonio Giovinazzi returned to Haas for the second of two planned sessions, but crashed on only his fourth lap.
Giovinazzi lost the VF-22 through Turn 6 and spun into the barriers, bringing out the red flags, though he was able to extricate the car from the wall and return to the pit lane.
However an overheated clutch ruled Giovinazzi out of the remainder of the session while Haas also expects a gearbox change to be required.
Giovinazzi’s Ferrari colleague Robert Shwartzman had the first of two planned outings in the F1-75 and finished 16th, in front of 2021 IndyCar champion Alex Palou, who tested for McLaren.
Alfa Romeo youngster Théo Pourchaire was 18th, ahead of prospective Williams candidate Logan Sargeant, with Giovinazzi bringing up the rear.
Friday’s extended second practice session is scheduled for 17:00 local time
