Leclerc tops FP1 in United States Grand Prix as Verstappen’s fastest lap is deleted

By Vancouver Television Sports Desk

Charles Leclerc topped the times during first practice for the United States Grand Prix, setting the pace ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and McLaren’s Lando Norris at Circuit of The Americas.

Leclerc’s best lap came on soft tyres as the session progressed, with Ferrari’s pace building through the morning. He ultimately posted a lap of 1m 36.052s to secure first place as Free Practice 1 wound down, with Hamilton finishing ahead of the chequered flag in sixth after an earlier wide run that left him further back on his opening soft attempt.

Verstappen appeared to confirm his car’s responsiveness as the session continued despite a radio concern early on. While FP1 was underway, the Red Bull driver reported “some kind of friction” while turning left, but he remained able to fight at the front and later moved to the top of the sheets with a lap of 1m 35.862s.

That improvement did not ultimately stand: Verstappen’s fastest time was subsequently deleted for track limits at Turn 19. After the deletion, Verstappen remained in second behind Leclerc, with Norris, George Russell and Kimi Antonelli slotting into third, fourth and fifth respectively.

Russell and Antonelli rounded out the front group on the hard compound at one point, with the Mercedes duo separated by timing at different stages of the session. Russell also reported understeer to his team while checking the front wing, before his lap was sufficient for fifth on the hard tyre.

As the track evolved, additional tyre work and track-limit experimenting shaped the middle and back of the field. Nico Hulkenberg reported a “weird noise” from his power unit (PU) during one of his early C4 efforts on the soft options.

Williams did not set a lap time until later, with the team indicating its cars were focusing on data collection runs before Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon finally posted timed efforts. However, Albon’s timed lap was later deleted, leaving the final classifications to reflect only the valid timed attempts.

In the closing phase, many drivers shifted to higher-fuel, race-simulation runs. Leclerc stayed top as the session ended, with Verstappen second and the rest of the top six completed by Norris, Russell, Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton.

Beyond the front, Oscar Piastri finished seventh, followed by Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto in eighth for the most attention-grabbing performances outside the leading group. Racing Bulls pair Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson were ninth and 10th respectively, while Haas’ Ollie Bearman finished 11th.

Fernando Alonso took 12th and Lance Stroll 13th ahead of Red Bull driver Isack Hadjar, who was repeatedly caught out by track limits. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly placed 15th, one spot ahead of Esteban Ocon, with Franco Colapinto and Hulkenberg next in sequence.

The session also featured Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas and Colton Herta in 20th and 21st, with Sainz completing 19th and Albon finishing last after his timed effort was deleted. Teams will now review their data before Free Practice 2 begins at 16:00 local time.

The key takeaway from FP1 is that Ferrari set a clear early benchmark through a soft-tyre performance that held despite Verstappen’s pace when his final run was removed for track limits. For Red Bull and McLaren, the session provided both a reference for car behaviour at speed and a reminder that closing laps can be heavily affected by circuit boundaries at Turn 19 and elsewhere. Meanwhile, the spread behind the leaders—along with power-unit and set-up feedback from multiple teams—sets up a more data-driven approach for FP2 as everyone refines tyre usage and run plans.