Sainz leads the only free practice session in Austin Formula 1 with the Ferrari double
The three-week break in Formula 1 ended when the drivers took to the track. Exercise US Grand Prix 2024, the only free workout in austin due to the sprint format.
During the first and last 60 minutes of practice, the on-track action was at its maximum as drivers acclimatized to the new Austin asphalt and tested all the new parts that virtually every team introduced this weekend.
At the end of practice (P1), Carlos Sainz led the table with the best result. 1:33.602which was only 0.021 seconds faster than the time of his teammate Charles Leclerc, who was second.
Max Verstappen finished in the top three positions, 0.253 seconds behind the Spaniard (although he completed his best lap well before the others), while Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finished fourth and fifth, both very close to the Dutchman. Also very close Lewis Hamilton was sixth and his teammate George Russell seventh.
Kevin Magnussen surprised in eighth place, Fernando Alonso took ninth place and Yuki Tsunoda completed the top ten positions, 0.711 seconds off the best time of the day.
The big disappointment was Sergio Perez in 16th place, although Franco Colapinto didn’t have the best session either, finishing 19th.
P1 Results (Practice) 2024 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix Austin
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24, Yuki Tsunoda, RB F1 Team VCARB 01
Photo: Sam Bloxam/Motorsport Images
P1 Summary (Practice) 2024 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix Austin
As expected after three weeks of inactivity on the track and with many teams having several new parts on a weekend where this was the only practice, all cars were on the track from the first second.
With the hard tires dominating after the opening laps, it was Max Verstappen who topped the time sheet with a 1:37.593, ahead of the two Mercedes, although it didn’t take long for Charles Leclerc to beat that time with a 1:37.593. .:36.724, a record that Lando Norris was 0.001 seconds behind.
With so many things to do and so little time on the track before qualifying for the penalty shootout (sprint), all the drivers drove normally for the first few minutes, without going through the pits.
Carlos Sainz was next to improve and moved to the top of the classification with a time of 1:36.140, but he did not lead for long as Russell and Verstappen also improved, with the Dutchman dropping his session benchmark to 1:35.538.
Saubers were the first cars to remove the hard ones so that Valtteri Bottas could drive the mediums and Guanyu Zhou could drive the softs – a move that other teams began to copy within 15 minutes.
On the other side, Hamilton raised the first yellow flag after losing control of his Mercedes on the connected corners of Sector 1, fortunately without serious consequences. Immediately after this, his teammate George Russell turned around.
Sainz continued to do his thing and lowered the bar to 1:35.231, but Leclerc did the same later with a 1:34.966 before the vast majority of drivers had pitted.
While some returned to the tarmac with hard tyres, the Red Bulls were the first to ride on soft tyres, finishing top of the table with Verstappen setting a time of 1:33.855, which obviously put him in first position.
On the other hand, Sergio Perez was a long way behind him at 0.862s, although he reduced that difference to 0.793 on his second fastest lap. The rest of the riders were still very far behind the Austrian team, but this was largely because they were still running on a white compound.
In the last 10 minutes, all the drivers mounted soft tires to run a qualifying simulation and the times quickly began to change and turn green.
Hamilton was the first to improve and was 0.4 seconds behind Verstappen. Sainz did the same and beat the Dutchman’s time with a time of 1:33.602.. Alonso, meanwhile, took third place, half a second behind his compatriot.
Leclerc was also improving and at times was similar to the Sainz days, but VSC, due to an unknown problem that forced the pit lane entrance to be closed, spoiled his lap when the Monegasque was already in the third sector. On the second lap he moved up to second place, 0.021 seconds behind his teammate.
The McLarens were the last to use soft tyres, although this did not help them beat the two Ferraris: Norris finished fourth and Piastri fifth, 0.2 and 0.3 seconds behind Sainz respectively.