F1 United States GP live updates: Latest with FP1 underway ahead of sprint qualifying in Texas – The New York Times

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Updated 4m ago
The United States Grand Prix weekend is underway today with practice and sprint qualifying at Circuit of the Americas.
Austin, Texas is the second of three U.S. rounds on the F1 calendar. Lando Norris was fastest in FP1 today, with ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and Oscar Piastri in P2 and P3.
After months of rumors swirling about the next holder of Formula One’s television rights in the United States, it was confirmed earlier today that Apple will become the sport’s exclusive broadcast partner from 2026.
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Well, that looks like a more familiar order for 2025 compared to the last few events, with Lando Norris and McLaren on top of the pile and by a healthy margin over their usual rivals. But looks can be deceiving.
Nico Hulkenberg slotting a Sauber into second means one of the things we learned from the weekend's sole practice session is that there is a big track evolution factor at play. Drivers can gain a lot by running later on the road in qualifying and that was Hulkenberg's second qualifying simulation attempt to Norris one.
Oscar Piastri has started on the backfoot compared to his title rival, with third place behind Norris and Hulkenberg. But that has been the case so often this season, he surely doesn't have anything to worry about — yet.
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Lando Norris responds to all the recent drama in the best possible way. He tops the only practice session of the weekend.
Oscar Piastri goes second with a 1:33.573.
But he’s immediately overhauled by none other than Nico Hulkenberg!
Lando Norris is quickest. Fernando Alonso is fourth, Max Verstappen fifth.
Charles Leclerc is out of the session.
The Ferrari driver reported gear shift issues moments before attempting a qualifying simulation, and then went back on the radio to inform his team he could smell oil.
He was called back into the pits where he was promptly told to get out of the car so the mechanics could get to work.
Lando Norris goes top with a 1:33.294. Phew! That’s 0.345 quicker than Fernando Alonso in second.
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George Russell goes top with a 1:34.675 on the mediums. But he’s immediately overtaken by Max Verstappen, on the softs, who punches in a 1:33.648, moments after his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda briefly went top.
The drivers are beginning to shed their hard tyres as they start to get their qualification simulations in before the end of the session.
George Russell is on the mediums, as are the Ferrari duo. The Red Bull and McLaren drivers have gone for softs.
McLaren head honcho Zak Brown has just been interviewed on the pitwall by UK broadcaster Sky Sports.
💬 “We don't want our cars touching, so [there have been] sporting repercussions there [after Singapore] but we move forward.
“It is marginal, it is consistent with what happened which was a racing incident. It is marginal, probably won't be noticed [by the fans].”
Lewis Hamilton runs wide at Turn 11. Fortunately, however, the seven-times world champion doesn’t sustain any damage. He remains the quickest so far, with around 15 minutes remaining.
Lewis Hamilton might be top of the pops at present but he’s just complained over team radio about a “slippery” throttle pedal.
Kimi Antonelli is meanwhile unhappy with Alex Albon for getting in his way heading into the final corner on a push lap. “That was quite bad,” he moans.
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Carlos Sainz is out. Williams has just said in a statement: “Carlos has experienced a problem with his gearbox which we are investigating.
“He will not join the remainder of FP1 but will ready for Sprint qualifying this afternoon.”
Lando Norris moves up into second with a good lap, but it’s still 0.540 slower than his compatriot, Lewis Hamilton.
Max Verstappen is third. George Russell fourth.
Esteban Ocon is the latest driver with a problem. He drives straight into the gravel. “The brake, it stayed at 100% the whole way,” he complains on the radio, which isn’t ideal.
Oh no. Carlos Sainz gets ready for a push lap only to hear on team radio: “box, box, DO NOT PUSH.”
He’s then told there’s a potential gearbox issue with his car.
He trundles back to the pits and exits his car and the mechanics get to work.
Biggest cheers so far from the fans at Turn 1 have been for Lewis Hamilton. He has a strong record in Austin and quickly endeared himself to the American fans, long before the Drive to Survive boom!
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The cars are back out on track. Everybody is sticking with the hards.
Moments before the red flag it was the red car of Lewis Hamilton that set the new fastest time: a 1:34.857. Max Verstappen trails him by 0.569 and is on an out lap…
Shoutout to the friendly marshals for their service at COTA. One of them just yelled “one minute!” to the fans at turn 1 to let them know we’re restarting soon.
The session will resume momentarily. So the teams haven’t lost too much time to that incident.

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