Live text
Formula 1
United States GP
F1 United States GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP1 & Qualifying
Friday's action from the 18th round of the 2023 Formula 1 season
Live AppleTV Race Audio
Max Verstappen and Red Bull may have wrapped up the Formula 1 world drivers’ and constructors’ championships respectively, but there is still a five-race sprint to the end of 2023.
The rush to the conclusion of the F1 season starts with the United States GP, which hosts another sprint race weekend format. That means Friday’s action is a sole practice session before grand prix qualifying.
Verstappen remains heavy favourite given he’s won 14 out of 17 races so far this year and shows no sign of letting up his F1 domination. Behind him, the gap between Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton has narrowed to 30 points for the runner-up spot in the drivers’ standings.
Meanwhile, McLaren’s surge continues having moved to 11 points behind Aston Martin that holds fourth place in the F1 world constructors’ table after its consecutive double podium finish in Japan and Qatar.
The US GP’s single practice session starts at 6:30pm BST, followed by grand prix qualifying at 10pm BST.
Live Standings
presented by
Stopped
Summary
Live Text
Sort by
Currently in the elimination zone are Magnussen, Ricciardo, Sainz, Zhou and Sargeant
Hulkenberg goes top - by over 0.2s! Team-mate Magnussen is currently 12th
Stopwatch
Wobbly moment for Hamilton there at Turn 19 but he goes fifth quickest, 0.27s off Verstappen
Stopwatch
Verstappen goes fastest by 0.15s ahead of Leclerc
Stopwatch
Sergio Perez slots into third between Norris and Piastri, with Bottas in fifth for Alfa Romeo
Stopwatch
Charles Leclerc is top of the timesheet with a 1m36.622s, ahead of the McLaren pair
Just an exploratory jaunt for Sargeant as he heads back into the pits
Logan Sargeant is on his first flying lap - will he make it into Q2 at his home race?
It's pretty warm at COTA, with an air temperature of 35.3 °C and a track temperature of 42.4 °C.
Sergio Perez, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton are the only other drivers to take pole so far this season. Could one of them take the top spot?
Newly-crowned champion Verstappen has taken 10 pole positions so far in 2023 - can he make it 11 at COTA?
Just a reminder: tonight's qualifying session sets the grid for Sunday's race, while tomorrow's sprint has its own standalone shootout.
Max Verstappen topped FP1 earlier this evening - catch up on all the action here: https://autosport.com/f1/news/f1-united-states-gp-verstappen-leads-sole-practice-from-leclerc/10535205/
Howdy, we're back ahead of qualifying for F1's US GP
That's practice over now, next we qualify. Join us again in around two hours' time when we'll be back with all the build-up to US GP qualifying. Bye for now.
Breaking news
In case you missed anything, here's your rundown of the key moments from that solitary practice session: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-united-states-gp-verstappen-leads-sole-practice-from-leclerc/10535205/
Verstappen has set the pace but Ferrari and Mercedes - on this limited evidence - don't seem too far behind. Let's see if they can close in further during qualifying.
So, what have we learned from that one and only practice session? Aston Martin and McLaren seem to be on the backfoot. Aston because of reliability issues with Stroll just completing five laps, while the McLarens haven't looked quick and bizarrely haven't tried the soft tyres either.
And, sure enough, he does and there aren't any other improvements. So it's Verstappen, Leclerc, Hamilton, Perez, Magnussen and Russell as your top six.
Leclerc goes purple in the first sector but doesn't improve in the middle segment so looks like he'll stay second.
Checkered flag
The chequered flag is now out, will there be any final improvements?
Norris has a big lock-up at Turn 11 and Piastri has a few wobbles too, so the McLarens aren't looking too planted around the Texan track.
With two minutes to go, it's just the McLarens and Astons yet to run the softs - ironically the two teams battling for fourth in the constructors' standings. Worth remembering that Stroll has basically spent the entire session in the pits.
It's worth noting how many cars are running beyond the track-limit boundaries here. They won't get sanctioned now, but will in qualifying later - and that could be, er, fun.
Except he doesn't improve so much in the final sector as he has to settle for third, three tenths behind Verstappen.
But Hamilton is flying! He's purple in sectors one and two!
Leclerc gets the gap down to Verstappen to just 0.156s, while Perez goes three tenths slower than his team-mate.
But Magnussen now goes second as he gets the gap down to Verstappen to half a second. Yet he's quicker than Russell by two thousandths - good effort from the Haas.
Sargeant improves to go third and closes to four tenths of Albon ahead - only for Hulkenberg to then split the Williams drivers.
Tsunoda and Ricciardo go third and fourth on their softs and this time it's just 0.048s between them.
Stopwatch
Six tenths of a second is the answer - so a great effort from Albon there but it's still comfortably fastest for Verstappen.
Verstappen goes purple in the first sector on his softs - but how much quicker will he end up than Albon?
Quote
But McLaren is not following suit with Norris still circulating in these closing stages on the mediums, so a split of strategies here. "Lando, experiment with lines between Turn 13 and Turn 16," Norris is told - not often you get to hear that sort of message!
Yes, is the answer to that as Verstappen, the AlphaTauris and Alfa Romeos - try saying that after a few drinks - are all on out-laps on the softs.
Will others now follow Williams' lead and bolt on the soft rubber in preparation for qualifying later?
Stopwatch
But that effort is some 1.1s slower than what Albon does on his soft rubber! He goes top with a 1m36.535s.
The softs are now making an appearance for the first time and Sargeant jumps up to fourth on the red-walled rubber!
And Alonso is back on form now as he instantly displaces Sainz in fourth and is three tenths behind Verstappen with both on the hards.
Sainz is another to improve as he moves into fourth, four tenths behind Verstappen in third.
Ricciardo is now the latest one getting all crossed up out there. He's currently eighth - which sounds good - but he's three tenths slower than team-mate Tsunoda up in fourth.
By: Autosport Staff
Published:
Page:
