Charles Leclerc led the opening practice session at the Circuit of the Americas with Max Verstappen close behind.
The Red Bull driver was just six hundredths of a second off Leclerc’s best time of 1’36.052. Lando Norris set the third-quickest time ahead of George Russell, meaning four different cars filled the top four places.
Ferrari has introduced a significant upgrade for its SF-26 this weekend. Leclerc ran the new package in full while team mate Lewis Hamilton had the majority of the upgrade. He ended the session sixth-quickest behind Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
The SF-26s looked in good shape earlier in the session when they ran the medium compound tyres. Leclerc led the early times by around four-tenths of a second. However Red Bull and Mercedes preferred to use the hard tyres early on.
Several drivers lost their quickest lap times due to track limits infringements, including Isack Hadjar. He ended the session 14th-quickest.
That helped Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto take the eighth-quickest time. His team mate Nico Hulkenberg suffered a technical problem and brought his session to an early end.
The Racing Bulls drivers completed the top 10 led by Arvid Lindblad. However the rookie will take a grid penalty in the grand prix for exceeding his maximum allocation of power unit components.
The Circuit of the Americas’ notorious bumps appear to be no less of a problem than usual this year. The track has been patched in several places in an attempt to alleviate the worst of the bumps.
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2026 United States Grand Prix first practice result
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