Lando Norris, McLaren, Circuit of the Americas, 2025

Lando Norris set the pace in the opening practice session at the Circuit of the Americas but McLaren were denied a one-two by an unexpected driver.

Nico Hulkenberg relegated Oscar Piastri to third place with a rapid final lap, including the fastest run through the middle sector of any driver.

Max Verstappen went quickest with his first run on the soft tyres but immediately lost the top time to Fernando Alonso. The Aston Martin driver ended the session fourth ahead of the reigning world champion.

As Verstappen tried to improve his time, he caught a dramatic switch of oversteer in the high-speed sequence of corners at the beginning of the lap. He told race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase he wanted to pit, but Red Bull advised him to stay out as the session was about to finish and he needed to perform a practice start.

The session was red-flagged briefly when a piece of debris was spotted at the exit of turn 19. It appeared to have come from Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin after he ran wide and rejoined the track.

Soon after the session restarted Williams called Carlos Sainz Jnr into the pits due to a suspected gearbox problem. They quickly began dismantling his FW47 but the team said they expect it will be repaired in time for him to take part in sprint race qualifying later today. His team mate Alexander Albon ended the session sixth.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc also stopped running late in the session. He reported an odour of oil in his cockpit before pitting and being pushed back into the team’s garage.

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Lewis Hamilton led the times on hard tyres early in the session but chose the medium compound for his final run. That left him eighth behind George Russell, who also ran mediums instead of softs at the end of the session.

Isack Hadjar ended the session ninth ahead of the Haas pair, led by Oliver Bearman. His team mate Esteban Ocon had a strange incident at turn 11 when he ran wide into a gravel trap, leaving thick black lines behind him. He reported on his radio one of the brakes had locked solid and returned to the pits.

2025 United States Grand Prix first practice result

P.#DriverTeamModelTimeGap
14Lando NorrisMcLaren-MercedesMCL391’33.294
227Nico HulkenbergSauber-FerrariC451’33.5490.255
381Oscar PiastriMcLaren-MercedesMCL391’33.5730.279
414Fernando AlonsoAston Martin-MercedesAMR251’33.6390.345
51Max VerstappenRed Bull-Honda RBPTRB211’33.6480.354
623Alexander AlbonWilliams-MercedesFW471’33.9200.626
763George RussellMercedesW161’33.9310.637
844Lewis HamiltonFerrariSF-251’33.9650.671
96Isack HadjarRacing Bulls-Honda RBPT021’34.1550.861
1087Oliver BearmanHaas-FerrariVF-251’34.3331.039
1131Esteban OconHaas-FerrariVF-251’34.3681.074
125Gabriel BortoletoSauber-FerrariC451’34.4781.184
1322Yuki TsunodaRed Bull-Honda RBPTRB211’34.5311.237
1418Lance StrollAston Martin-MercedesAMR251’34.6101.316
1530Liam LawsonRacing Bulls-Honda RBPT021’34.6191.325
1643Franco ColapintoAlpine-RenaultA5251’34.6531.359
1710Pierre GaslyAlpine-RenaultA5251’34.6651.371
1812Andrea Kimi AntonelliMercedesW161’34.7371.443
1955Carlos Sainz JnrWilliams-MercedesFW471’35.8742.580
2016Charles LeclercFerrariSF-251’36.0802.786

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2025 United States Grand Prix

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