Verstappen heads Leclerc and Hamilton in sole US GP practice
The newly-crowned three-time world champion, who has won the past two races at the Circuit of the Americas, finished just 0.156s clear of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari.
Lewis Hamilton was third-quickest and got within 0.281s of Verstappen’s benchmark in his upgraded Mercedes, which is sporting a modified floor for the Austin weekend.
The seven-time world champion did spent a brief spell at the top of the timesheets ahead of his old title rival Verstappen half-way through FP1.
The under-pressure Sergio Perez was fourth in the other Red Bull, three-tenths of a second behind teammate Verstappen.
Kevin Magnussen popped his Haas into fifth place ahead of George Russell’s Mercedes, Alex Albon’s Williams, and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly completed the top-10 order for Haas and Alpine respectively during the limited practice running ahead of qualifying later on Friday.
After missing five races with a broken hand, Daniel Ricciardo impressively got within a tenth of AlphaTauri teammate Yuki Tsunoda and took 14th in his first session back.
It proved to be a tricky session for McLaren, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri only 15th and 19th fastest.
Lance Stroll goes into qualifying on the back foot after being limited to just five laps, with Aston Martin discovering a brake issue on his front left.
