At a glance
- Charles Leclerc led United States GP opening practice with a 1:36.052, beating Max Verstappen by 0.084s and Lando Norris by 0.245s.
- Verstappen briefly displaced the Ferrari before a Turn 19 track-limits infringement cost him the lap.
- Ferrari evaluated aerodynamic updates, while four teams placed a car within half a second of the lead.
Charles Leclerc put Ferrari first in opening practice for the 2026 United States Grand Prix on 23 October, with his soft-tyre benchmark surviving a faster but deleted effort from Max Verstappen. Norris took third at Circuit of the Americas, leaving Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren represented in the leading three.
The FIA’s session report recorded George Russell fourth and Kimi Antonelli fifth for Mercedes. Russell’s deficit was 0.326s, making the spread between the fastest representatives of those four teams less than half a second.
Ferrari leads while evaluating aerodynamic changes
Ferrari’s result came during an assessment of revisions to the floor, sidepods and diffuser, according to the FIA. Leclerc had already established himself at the front on medium tyres before improving to 1:36.052 on softs in the second half of the session. The position was encouraging for Ferrari, although the reporting does not isolate how much performance the new package contributed.
Early comparisons also depended on tyre choice. The Race reported that Ferrari and McLaren began on mediums while Mercedes and Red Bull used hards, before the leading teams moved onto softs. That sequence gave the later runs greater relevance to the battle at the top than the initial order.
Lewis Hamilton ended sixth, 0.503s behind his team-mate. His first soft-tyre attempt included a trip wide onto the dusty surface, according to Formula1.com’s account. Oscar Piastri followed in seventh, 0.734s off Leclerc’s benchmark.
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Track limits deny Verstappen the fastest time
Verstappen’s quickest retained lap was 1:36.136. His attempt that would have taken first place was removed for exceeding track limits at Turn 19, leaving Leclerc’s advantage intact. The deletion was decisive for the session order, rather than evidence that the Ferrari had been faster on every attempt.
Both Red Bull and Mercedes had handling concerns to work through. Formula1.com reported that Verstappen felt steering friction when turning left early in the session, while Russell requested a front-wing check after experiencing sudden understeer. Neither report establishes a confirmed component failure.
Audi heads the midfield amid development running
Gabriel Bortoleto placed Audi eighth, followed by Racing Bulls drivers Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson. Oliver Bearman finished 11th for Haas, ahead of Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll and Isack Hadjar; the latter also lost laps to track limits.
Data gathering accompanied the lap-time work. Bortoleto and Cadillac’s Colton Herta began with large aero rakes fitted, with Herta occupying Sergio Perez’s car specifically for FP1. Late in the hour, most of the field concentrated on higher-fuel race simulations, according to Formula1.com, with Leclerc remaining on top at the chequered flag.
Image credit: Representative image. · Source: formula1.com · Modifications: Optimized to WebP; earlier source editing history is unverified · Image source
