Carlos Sainz pipped Charles Leclerc in a Ferrari one-two ahead of Sprint Qualifying for the United States Grand Prix as title contenders Max Verstappen and Lando Norris were closely matched in practice.
Sainz topped the only practice session of the Sprint weekend in Austin by 0.021s from Leclerc, with Ferrari looking strong throughout the session as F1 returned after a four-week break.
Title protagonists Verstappen and Norris were together in third and fourth, two tenths away from the Ferraris but only 0.013s apart from each other.
Verstappen leads Norris by 52 points in the Drivers’ Championship with six rounds remaining but the McLaren driver has slowly been reeling in the reigning world champion.
The title fight has been ignited by Red Bull making changes to a contentious ride-height device, which may have influenced their performance.
Rival teams suspected a device on the Red Bull could allow them to advantageously change the car’s ride height via the ‘bib’ at the front of the floor when in restricted ‘parc ferme’ conditions, which would be in breach of the sport’s regulations.
Red Bull insisted it could not be used for anything untoward as it was not accessible to use when the car was fully assembled.
Verstappen was the first lead driver to run the soft tyres in practice, so had more challenging track conditions to deal with on his best lap but was only 0.253s down on pace-setter Sainz.
Norris was 0.266 off the pace, with both Red Bull and McLaren bringing upgrades to the Circuit of the Americas.
Sprint Qualifying takes place at 10.30pm later on Friday night, which will set the grid for the Sprint at 7pm on Saturday – live on Sky Sports F1.
More to follow…
Sky Sports F1’s live United States GP schedule
Friday October 18
8.30pm: Team Principals’ Press Conference
10pm: United States GP Sprint Qualifying (qualifying starts at 10.30pm*)
Saturday October 19
6pm: United States GP Sprint build-up
7pm: United States GP Sprint
8.30pm: Ted’s Sprint Notebook
10pm: United States GP Qualifying build-up*
11pm: United States GP Qualifying*
(Sunday) 1am: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook
Sunday October 20
6.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: United States GP build-up*
8pm: THE UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX*
10pm: Chequered Flag: United States GP reaction
11pm: Ted’s Notebook
*also live on Sky Sports Main Event (Sunday’s race build-up from 7.15pm)
Watch the whole United States GP Sprint weekend live on Sky Sports F1. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership – No contract, cancel anytime
