John N
Carlos Sainz set the fastest time of 1m 36.857s in the first practice session for the 2022 United States Grand Prix, with four drivers making their FP1 debut at Austin.
Ferrari driver Sainz was ahead of Red Bull’s champion Max Verstappen, who was 0.224s behind the Spaniard’s pace. Lewis Hamilton finished third, just under half a second off the pace in a Mercedes sporting its final major upgrade package of the season (which will be used in Valencia).
Lance Stroll finished fourth for Aston Martin, leaving Red Bull’s Sergio Perez – who will receive a grid penalty for his fifth internal combustion engine of the season—to round out the top five.
Five drivers were substituted in for FP1 as per the 2022 regulations: Robert Shwartzman in place of Charles Leclerc at Ferrari; Alex Palou in place of Daniel Ricciardo at McLaren; Logan Sargeant in place of Nicholas Latifi at Williams; Theo Pourchaire in place of Valtteri Bottas at Alfa Romeo; and Antonio Giovinazzi returning to the wheel in place of Kevin Magnussen at Haas.
Antonio Giovinazzi's practice session in Texas didn't last long 😞#USGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/2vFraNE76G
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 21, 2022
Seven minutes into the session, Giovinazzi’s Haas swapped ends, and he hit the barriers outside Turn 6 with the right-hand side of his car, bringing out a brief red flag. The Italian driver managed to get his car going again and limp back to the pits – but a damaged clutch left him last on the timesheets and out of the session.
Fernando Alonso finished sixth for Alpine, with Mercedes’ George Russell just under a tenth behind in P7 for Mercedes and Pierre Gasly another 0.008s back in P8 for AlphaTauri.
Behind ninth-place McLaren driver Lando Norris, Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top 10 for Aston Martin ahead of Esteban Ocon and Zhou Guanyu; the 12th-placed Alfa Romeo driver is also set to take a grid penalty for his fifth power unit of 2022.
Alex Albon took 13th for Williams, leaving Yuki Tsunoda 14th for AlphaTauri and Mick Schumacher 15th for Haas.
As a result, the four rookies were next on the timesheets with Ferrari’s Shwartzman 0.030s off Schumacher in P16.
Palou finished 17th and Pourchaire 18th – both drivers only running mediums – while the home favourite Williams driver Sargeant finished 19th.
FORMULA 1 ARAMCO UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX 2022 – PRACTICE 1 Result
| POS | DRIVER | TIME | GAP | LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:36.857 | 19 | ||
| 2 | 1:37.081 | +0.224s | 15 | |
| 3 | 1:37.332 | +0.475s | 20 | |
| 4 | 1:37.460 | +0.603s | 23 | |
| 5 | 1:37.515 | +0.658s | 19 | |
| 6 | 1:37.713 | +0.856s | 25 | |
| 7 | 1:37.802 | +0.945s | 23 | |
| 8 | 1:37.810 | +0.953s | 24 | |
| 9 | 1:37.856 | +0.999s | 23 | |
| 10 | 1:38.041 | +1.184s | 25 | |
| 11 | 1:38.102 | +1.245s | 24 | |
| 12 | 1:38.276 | +1.419s | 21 | |
| 13 | 1:38.422 | +1.565s | 21 | |
| 14 | 1:38.898 | +2.041s | 23 | |
| 15 | 1:38.922 | +2.065s | 20 | |
| 16 | 1:38.951 | +2.094s | 21 | |
| 17 | 1:39.911 | +3.054s | 21 | |
| 18 | 1:40.175 | +3.318s | 19 | |
| 19 | 1:40.325 | +3.468s | 23 | |
| 20 | 1:43.063 | +6.206s | 4 |
