US GP: Sainz fastest in FP1 from Verstappen, Hamilton

Darshan Chokhani October 22, 2022

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Carlos Sainz set the pace to start the F1 US GP weekend in FP1 from Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton to make it three different teams.

It was a clean session in the end to start the F1 US GP weekend at Circuit of the Americas as Ferrari’s Sainz set the pace with a 1m36.857s time with his teammate Charles Leclerc sitting out of the session for Robert Shwartzman to get some track time.

The Spaniard led the 2022 F1 champion Verstappen (1m37.081s) in his Red Bull after a late lap from him, with Mercedes’ Hamilton (1m37.332s) pushed to third. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll (1m37.460s) put in a solid lap to be fourth from Red Bull’s Sergio Perez (1m37.515s).

Alpine’s Fernando Alonso (1m37.713s) slotted in sixth despite couple of hairy moments for the Spaniard, with Mercedes’ George Russell (1m37.802s) in seventh from AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly (1m37.810s), McLaren’s Lando Norris (1m37.856s) and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel (1m38.041s) in the Top 10.

The German also had a minor off moment after a lock-up, with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon in 11th from Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu, Williams’ Alexander Albon, AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and Haas’ Mick Schumacher in the Top 15.

The rest of the Top 20 featured replacement drivers starting with Ferrari’s Shwartzman in 16th despite a late start to his session. IndyCar champion Alex Palou was 17th in his McLaren with Alfa Romeo’s Theo Pourchaire 18th – both setting their best lap on mediums.

Williams’ Logan Sargeant was 19th on his home soil in America, as Haas’ Antonio Giovinazzi rounded out the 20 runners. Unlike the others, the Italian was not in the session to fulfill the rookie driver regulation, with him replacing Kevin Magnussen.

But it wasn’t the session he wanted after an early brush with the barrier due to a half spin. He managed to get back to the pits but the clutch got overheated in the moments he tried to detach himself from the barrier which ended his session.

Magnussen will likely have to take a new gearbox as the session was briefly red-flagged. In terms of the replacement drivers, Shwartzman did so with Leclerc while Palou replaced Ricciardo, Pourchaire did Valtteri Bottas and Logan Sargeant did with Nicholas Latifi.

The engine penalty list for F1 US GP featured Red Bull’s Perez and Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu, where the two took their fourth set of ICE of the season. More drivers are expected to new parts before qualifying and are set for penalties.