FP1 Highlights | 2025 United States Grand Prix

F1 returns to the Americas for the first of four races on that side of the world, starting in Austin, Texas, for the United States Grand Prix weekend. Plenty of teams are sporting fresh and bespoke liveries for the occasion. Aston Martin have adorned many of their aerodynamic surfaces with mathematical formulae. The Haases are celebrating one of their three home races, changing their design with red, white and blue, and plenty of stars. Newly crowned Constructors' Champions McLaren have added a dash of silver to their papaya palette. Williams are harking back to 2002 with their retro design. Their well-known dark blue colour alternating with lashings of white. Alpine have made fashion tweaks too, with yellow sections to the rear of the A525. But the prize for the most striking change must go to Racing Bulls, with a new skin design by musician Shaboosie. The Racing Bulls are splendid in their black pearl and amber tortoiseshell. Both Fienza drivers had moments earlier in the session, Liam Lawson bailing out at Turn 11 after a slight wobble, and Isaac Hadja, making his Austin debut, forced to cut the corner at Turn 5. The Frenchman's engineer got a little confused at one point. This being a sprint weekend, the teams just had one hour of practice, so were keen to get down to work. Franco Colopinto had a lock-up at Turn 1 and went a little wide, and there was a brief red flag when Lance Stroll lost a bit of his AMR25 after crossing the kerbs at speed. Carlos Sainz had a problem that curtailed much of his running time. Esteban Ocon found the gravel at Turn 11, another driver with a possible technical issue. Lewis Hamilton also struggled with his setup. The seven-time world champion has won the most Grand Prix in Austin, with five victories to his name, but the last of those was back in 2017. Teammate Charles Leclerc also had concerns. Ferrari have made improvement in recent races, but if they're to emulate their 2024 success at Kota, where Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finished 1 and 2 respectively, the Scuderia will need to find quite a bit extra. Incidentally, today marks Kimi Räikkönen's 46th birthday. The Iceman was the last Ferrari driver to win the World Championship back in 2007. The Finns' namesake, Kimi Antonelli, felt blocked at one point. Mercedes hold the record for the most pole positions in Austin, with six. George Russell has bagged two poles so far this season, including last time out in Singapore. And Antonelli famously became F1's youngest pole sitter by nabbing prime position in the Miami Sprint Qualifier. Yuki Tsunoda suffered a big wobble coming through the Turns 3-4-5 section, needing all his skill to keep his red bull on track. A podium for teammate Max Verstappen this weekend would see him equal Sebastian Vettel for third on the all-time list. The four-time world champion, currently with 121 top three finishes under his belt. The Dutchman has been on quite a roll recently, scoring 88 points in the last five races, which is more than any other driver. But he was only fifth fastest today, complaining that his RB21 was bottoming out. Track evolution was pretty high in FP1, so the late runners on the red ring rubber got the best out of it. Nico Hülkenberg jumped up to P2 in the dying seconds with the fastest middle sector of anyone. But it was Lando Norris who put in the quickest tour of the Circuit of the Americas, clocked at 1 minute 33.294. So it finished! Norris from Hülkenberg, Piastri, Alonso, Verstappen, Albon, Russell, Hamilton, Hadjar and Behrmann your top ten. P11 for Rocon, and he was ahead of Bortoletto, Tsunoda, Stroll, Lawson, Colapinto, Gasly, Antonelli, Sainz and Leclerc, the two former teammates with technical issues and a lack of running.