FP1: Verstappen sets early pace at Austin

F1 Grand Prix, GP United States, Circuit of The Americas

Max Verstappen led the first practice session at the Circuit of The Americas (COTA), topping Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull teammate Alex Albon.

With just 10°C, the weather was unusually cool, despite clear and sunny skies. As temperatures are expected to remain cool throughout the weekend, running in FP1 proved useful nonetheless.

Both Red Bulls seemed to be perfectly suited for the conditions, with only Vettel managing to keep up with them. Behind them, Pierre Gasly turned up 4th, albeit nearly a full second down on the early pace setter.

Daniel Ricciardo ended the session 5th fastest for Renault, followed by Haas's Romain Grosjean, and the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc as the latter was hampered by an issue with his throttle pedal.

The Mercedes seemed to like the conditions a lot less, with just one of them in the top 10. Lewis Hamilton as 8th fastest, but he was very busy out on track with 32 laps completed. His team mate at Mercedes, Valtteri Bottas, ended up just 17th, but with 40 timed laps, the only driver to do more mileage than Lewis Hamilton.

Lance Stroll from Racing Point and Haas's Kevin Magnussen completed the top 10.

While Haas were firmly in the top 10, McLaren had a difficult session. Balance issues for both cars saw Carlos Sainz spinning at high speed through Turn 5 before ended up 12th while Lando Norris only finished 18th fastest.

With that time, he was better only than both Williams, where Kubica beat Nicholas Latifi. The Canadian F2 driver, and Williams's test driver, managed only half an hour of running before a gearbox issue finished his running after only 7 timed laps.