Max quickest in US GP practice

Published on 20 October 2023 by Stefan Meens

Max Verstappen clocked the quickest time in the only practice session of the United States Grand Prix. The Oracle Red Bull Racing driver lapped the Circuit of the Americas a tenth and a half faster than second-placed Charles Leclerc (Ferrari). Lewis Hamilton completed the top three in his Mercedes. Daniel Ricciardo, who returned from a fractured hand sustained during the Dutch GP, finished practice in fourteenth.

Due to the sprint format, this race weekend only has one practice session scheduled, meaning FP1 is crucial in setting up the cars for the remainder of the event. Thus the teams are keen to get as much track time as possible. Max completed 23 laps in the opening session.

On the other end of the lap charts, Lance Stroll endures a less than productive training with his Aston Martin suffering brake issues. The Canadian’s session is over after a mere fifteen minutes and only five completed laps.

The opening half of the session sees most teams complete runs on the medium and hard Pirelli compounds. At the halfway mark, Max is second quickest behind Lewis Hamilton with both champions having set their times on the hard tyres.

As the session progresses, the track rubbers in and gets faster and faster. This, combined with low fuel runs on the soft compound in the final third of the session, results in ever quicker lap times. In the end, Max tops the timing sheets, despite a lap that looks far from perfect. It will give the Dutchman confidence to fight for his eleventh pole position of the season during qualifying later in the evening.

Ahead of this weekend’s Grand Prix, Red Bull launched a special US GP livery which will feature on both Max and Sergio Perez’s cars. Fans of scale models can order their special edition RB19 on verstappen.com/scale-models.

Contest United States GP: win a by Max signed Orange Lion Driver Cap 2023!

Results first free practice United States: