Lando Norris tops United States Grand Prix FP1 as Nico Hulkenberg splits McLaren duo

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The drivers took to the Circuit of the Americas for the only practice session of the United States Grand Prix weekend, ahead of Sprint qualifying later tonight.

The FIA have declared another ‘heat hazard’ weekend following the extreme warm weather in Singapore last time out, meaning that drivers are allowed to wear cooling vests in their cars.

If drivers opt not to wear the vests, then the teams are required to add an additional 0.5kg of ballast to their cars to ensure they are not at an advantage.

Six of the teams have chosen to run special liveries for the weekend in Austin, including the home team, Haas, as expected and Williams, who are paying tribute to their 2002 car.

Lando Norris topped the FP1 time sheets during the later qualifying practice runs, with Nico Hulkenberg causing surprise as he split the McLarens with his Sauber.

The German driver wasn’t the only surprise of the session, with Fernando Alonso sitting in fourth between Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen in third and fifth, respectively.

McLaren appear to have the upper hand once again, although speed trap data has shown that Verstappen is stronger in the medium speed corners. This could make for an interesting United States Grand Prix weekend, as this is normally where the Woking-based team have an advantage over Red Bull.

Read more: 2025 F1 United States Grand Prix: how to watch, race and sprint UK timings and COTA weather forecast

Lance Stroll triggers red flag after running wide at Turn 19

Lance Stroll caused a mid-session red flag after running wide at Turn 19. When the Canadian re-joined the track, catching the kerb as he came back on, a large amount of carbon fibre flew from the back of the Aston Martin.

The session was briefly stopped as marshals made their way onto the circuit to retrieve the piece of the car.

Aston Martin used the time that Stroll was back in the garage to make adjustments to his front wing, as well as repair the damage on the back of the car.

Just before the red flag, Carlos Sainz was urgently told to box by the Williams pit wall, who warned the Spaniard not to push the car on his way in. Sainz’s race engineer Gaetan Jego told him the team were investigating a gearbox issue, before the car was pulled apart in the garage.

Sainz has lost valuable running time during this weekend’s only practice session, meaning he will be at a significant disadvantage to the other drivers heading into Sprint qualifying later today.

At the halfway mark of the session, Lewis Hamilton led the pack, over half a second faster than Max Verstappen.

Several drivers have reported issues with their cars, including Esteban Ocon who was struggling with his brakes and Hamilton who told Ferrari he was struggling with a “slippery” throttle pedal.

Charles Leclerc was forced to miss the final qualifying practice runs in the last part of the session after boxing with an issue. The Monegasque driver was complaining of an issue with his gears and the final runs mean he has had no running on the soft or medium tyres.