Leclerc Tops United States GP FP1 Ahead of Verstappen

Charles Leclerc set the fastest time in first practice for the 2026 United States Grand Prix, leading Max Verstappen and Lando Norris at the Circuit of The Americas. The Ferrari driver’s best lap of 1m 36.052s kept him at the top as the opening session concluded under Texas sunshine.

Verstappen finished second after a quicker effort of 1m 35.862s was deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 19. Norris completed the top three, while Mercedes pair George Russell and Kimi Antonelli placed fourth and fifth respectively. Lewis Hamilton made it two Ferrari cars in the top six.

The session gave teams an initial opportunity to assess their cars and upgrades ahead of the rest of the Austin weekend. Ferrari’s early pace was particularly notable after attention had focused on the package the team brought to the circuit.

Leclerc maintains Ferrari’s early advantage

Franco Colapinto was first to lead the field out when FP1 began at 1230 local time. Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto and Cadillac’s Colton Herta, who took Sergio Perez’s seat for the session, both ran large aero rakes as their teams gathered data.

Leclerc headed the early order once the first representative laps arrived. On the medium compound, he went 0.074s faster than Hamilton, putting the Ferrari drivers one-two at the quarter-session mark.

There were a number of early technical observations across the field. Verstappen reported “some kind of friction” while turning left, though the issue did not prevent him from continuing his running. Russell, meanwhile, asked Mercedes to check the front wing after reporting a sudden increase in understeer.

Russell later posted the fifth-fastest time on the hard tyre, behind Antonelli in fourth on the same compound. As the session moved beyond halfway, drivers began switching to soft tyres for qualifying-style runs.

Leclerc strengthened his hold on first place with his 1m 36.052s on the softs. Hamilton was nearly eight tenths slower on his first soft-tyre attempt after running wide onto the dusty part of the circuit.

Verstappen briefly moved to the head of the classification after splitting the Ferraris, then producing the 1m 35.862s lap. However, the Red Bull driver’s time was removed for a Turn 19 track-limits infringement, leaving him second behind Leclerc. Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson also had lap times deleted for track limits as teams and drivers explored the limits of the racing line.

Mercedes, Audi and Racing Bulls feature in the top 10

Behind the leading six, Oscar Piastri ended FP1 seventh. Bortoleto delivered an eye-catching eighth place for Audi, despite reporting a strange noise from his power unit during one of his soft-tyre efforts. Racing Bulls drivers Arvid Lindblad and Lawson rounded out the top 10.

Ollie Bearman was 11th for Haas, followed by Aston Martin pair Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll in 12th and 13th. Hadjar was 14th after multiple track-limits issues, with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly 15th. Esteban Ocon, Colapinto and Nico Hulkenberg followed in 16th through 18th.

Williams spent much of the session on data-collection work before Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon eventually set timed laps. Sainz finished 19th, while Albon was classified last after his timed effort was deleted. Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas and Herta occupied 20th and 21st.

The closing stages were quieter as most of the field turned their attention to higher-fuel race-simulation running. Leclerc therefore remained first at the chequered flag, establishing the initial benchmark before Free Practice 2 at 1600 local time.