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Formula 1 United States GP

F1 United States GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP1 & FP2

All of the live updates from Friday practice ahead of the F1 US Grand Prix.

A view of the start-finish straight

The 2022 F1 world title might be decided after Max Verstappen clinched the drivers’ crown in Japan last time out, but there’s still plenty at stake and many talking points both off and on the track.

Red Bull can clinch the F1 world constructors’ title at the Circuit of the Americas, while the team is under the spotlight following its breach of the F1 cost cap and what potential penalties, if any, could follow.

Elsewhere, Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez will battle for the runner-up spot in the drivers’ standings, with just a point separating the pair with four races to go.

 

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Among those are some of the drivers who sat out FP1 as young drivers took their place. Bottas, Ricciardo, Leclerc, Latifi and Magnussen will all now be getting their first chance to lap the COTA track this weekend
It may be a longer session than normal, but that hasn't stopped a bunch of cars from wanting to head out straightaway. Ten drivers immediately head onto the circuit.
Green flag
And we're off! US GP FP2 begins!

Also watching the action was a familiar face from Hollywood. Brad Pitt has been meeting teams to discuss the new F1 film project he is involved in:

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-team-bosses-meet-brad-pitt-as-film-project-takes-off/10387792/

For those of you who missed out FP1 earlier, there were five drivers deputising for regular racers and among those was Logan Sargeant, who is seemingly on the brink of his securing a 2023 Williams driver:

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/sargeant-closes-on-williams-race-seat-with-solid-austin-f1-debut/10387815/

Anyway, it's now just under 10 minutes until teams get to grips with this new Pirelli rubber, tyres they were supposed to experience in Japan before the rain intervened.
But, for those of you who are Green Day fans, I'm afraid our coverage will not extend to their performance at COTA later this evening...
And to reward those of you following along to our live text commentary in Europe (great effort, by the way), there's an extra 30 minutes to this session so you've got an hour-and-a-half of fun to come
We've got a real treat for you in store this evening as it's a special FP2 dedicated to test running on Pirelli's new-for-2023 tyre compounds, meaning the times will be even less significant than usual
Hello and welcome back to Autosport's coverage of Friday of the US GP!
With that we'll take a quick breather ahead of the extended second practice which starts at 11pm BST (5pm local time). Speak soon!
Breaking news

Here's the full report on FP1: 

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-united-states-gp-fp1-sainz-heads-verstappen/10387771/

Shwartzman ends the session as top rookie with a 1m38.951s but he was the only one put on to the softs for a quali-style run. The Ferrari driver ends up P16 ahead of Palou, Pourchaire and Sargeant.
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"There must be something wrong with the car because I have no front end in low speed," Verstappen reports over team radio. Set-up tweaks-a-comin'.
Ah, Shwartzman is forced to back out of his final push lap at the final corner after getting stuck behind a slow moving Verstappen. World champion holds up F1 debutant - this session has had it all.
Checkered flag
And out comes the chequered flag to call time on FP1. Sainz takes the top spot from Verstappen and Hamilton.
This session is calmly winding down now with all drivers returning to high fuel running. Almost time for a breather.
Vettel saves a potential trip into the scenery by catching a slide and backing out of Turn 7.
Stopwatch
Here comes Verstappen who goes up to second with a 1m37.081s on the softs - 0.224s off Sainz's leading effort.
Rookie watch: P16 Palou for McLaren, P17 Shwartzman for Ferrari, P18 Pourchaire for Alfa Romeo and P19 Sargeant for Williams. Yes, that's not great reading but Palou, Pourchaire and Sargeant all haven't been on soft tyre quali-style runs. So take it with a pinch of salt.
Lots of qualifying-style runs being completed, as Norris ends his one by going up to ninth place for McLaren, a whole 0.999s off Sainz's leading effort. Let's call that a second off the pace.
Hamilton goes second but almost half a second off Sainz's leading effort, with the Ferrari driver gaining four-tenths of a second in the first sector alone.
Stopwatch
The Stroll supremacy is over as Sainz shots into top spot with a 1m36.857s.
Stopwatch
Stroll goes fastest! The Aston Martin driver puts in 1m37.460s to show the rest how it is done.
Alonso, who improves again but stays third, loses a chunk of time as his Alpine gets sideways exiting the final corner, which has been renamed to 'The Andretti' this weekend. Not sure why the 'The' is in there.
Stopwatch
Hamilton is the next to take second place with a 1m37.645s to go 0.183s off Verstappen. Getting closer.
Ocon asks his Alpine team to check over his car after going over the kerb at Turn 10 and bounces down the track. All looks OK and he continues on.
Stopwatch
Alonso is the next to take his turn as second fastest behind Verstappen, as he puts in a 1m37.957s, 0.495s off the 2022 champion. Seems nobody can get close to Verstappen's benchmark currently.
Stopwatch
Vettel puts in a decent lap to go second with a 1m38.041s, half a second off Verstappen on the softs.
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"I just get there too fast man, this car is insane!" Palou says over McLaren team radio. He's leading the FP1 rookie runners in 12th overall, just 0.3s off team-mate Norris.
Stopwatch
Sainz splits the Red Bulls with a 1m38.287s to go second.
Verstappen sets up the pace on the softs with a 1m37.462s, while Perez makes it a Red Bull 1-2 albeit eight-tenths of a second back. Hospitality cake all round, just make sure it is the cheap stuff. Got to keep an eye on the costs, right?
Over at Mercedes there is a lot of aero testing going on to try out their big raft of final upgrades for the season. Here's the latest:

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/mercedes-reveals-final-2022-f1-car-updates-ahead-of-us-grand-prix/10387678/
Penalty
Penalty news: Perez and Zhou will both take grid drops this weekend as both are taking on new engines which are outside their allocation.
Oh dear, Haas has confirmed it is session over for Giovinazzi due to damage to his car's clutch. Not a good FP1 run for the Italian.
Stopwatch
Verstappen does his customary trick of going fastest with his first push lap, putting in a 1m38.272s to go half a second quicker than Ocon.

By: autosport.com

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