20.10 – Verstappen’s Red Bull’s long run ends after ten laps, too anonymous to be indicative especially in comparison with Hamilton’s Mercedes.
20.09 – Lightning from Norris, who takes the lead in 1:37.256. A compound advantage for the Briton (medium versus hard) over Hamilton. 138 thousandths of an advantage.
20.09 – Sainz and Leclerc recorded their best partial in the first sector.
20.06 – On the fifth lap Hamilton lifts his foot, but still in 1:42.552, while Verstappen (on the eighth lap) is on 1:43.204.
20.05 – Sainz enters the top-10: tenth place for the Spaniard, +1.009 from Hamilton.
20.03 – Piastri goes wide in turn 10, an excursion without consequences for the Australian.
20.02 – Perez is also on the high 1:42 mark. The Ferraris are back on track: hard rubber used for both.
8.00pm – Verstappen remains at a high 1:42, while Hamilton starts with a 1:41.412. Perhaps a different job for Red Bull at this point, considering the large gap not only from Mercedes but also from the attack times of the other drivers, even on medium tyres.
7.57pm – Hamilton returns to the track, hard tire used for the Briton.
7.55pm – Verstappen’s race pace simulation begins with a 1:43.649.
7.54pm – Tsunoda, Zhou, Albon, Bottas, Russell and Gasly are also on track.
7.52pm – Norris in the pits, Sargeant alone on track. Verstappen is reaching him again with the usual hard tire after ten minutes in the pits.
7.51pm – Norris is currently the only rider on track, Sargeant is also out on used medium tyres.
7.50pm – Leclerc climbs to sixth position on the ninth lap with the hard: 830 thousandths of a delay from Hamilton for the Monegasque.
7.49pm – “The car jumps a lot in a straight line, just so you know“. Sainz’s message on the wall worries the Ferrari garage.
7.48pm – Hamilton sets the pace with a 1:37.394 obtained on the eighth lap on hard tyre.
19.47 – Ring from Norris, who climbs to P3 with medium tyre.
7.46pm – 66 thousandths between Sainz and Leclerc, both are still on hard rubber (8 laps for the Spaniard, 7 for the Monegasque).
7.45pm – Brake problems for both Aston Martins, Stroll and Alonso in the pits.
7.45pm – The ranking after 15 minutes:
1. Verstappen 1:37.498
2. Hamilton +0.044
3. Magnussen +0.602
4. Tsunoda +0.797
5. Perez +0.822
6. Zhou +0.870
7. Plates +0.922
8. Albon +0.974
9. Ricciardo +0.985
10. Sainz +1,032
7.44pm – Ring from Hamilton, who comes close to Verstappen: only 44 thousandths between the two with the same compound and laps on the hard. Verstappen’s stint ends
7.43pm – Magnussen, Zhou and Albon move into P2, P3 and P4 respectively, but with medium tyres.
7.42pm – Verstappen improves further with the record in the first and third sectors. 1:37.498 for Dutch.
7.41pm – Almost risk of an accident between Norris and Sainz.
7.40pm – News front: new substitution for Albon, the Anglo-Thai will not receive a penalty.
7.39pm – Hamilton moves up to P2 (hard tyre), but at +0.916. The Briton is the only one below second, from Bottas – third – onwards they are all above this threshold.
7.38pm – Verstappen immediately in a category of his own: 1:37.687 with records in all sectors. The second – Lando Norris – follows him at +1,230.
7.37pm – Record in the first and second sectors for Verstappen, meanwhile Russell takes the lead in 1:39.416.
7.36pm – Sainz debuts with a 1:40.160 which brings him to fourth place, but on hard tyres.
7.35pm – Following the Dutchman are Hülkenberg (+0.127), Bottas (+0.232) and Piastri (+0.450), who however are on medium tyres.
7.34pm – Verstappen immediately sets the pace, turning in 1:39.736 with hard rubber.
7.32pm – The first time to record is that of George Russell, who laps in 1:40.853.
Green light at the end of the pit laneFree Practice for the United States GP has begun.
7.25pm – This is how Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo arrived at COTA. For the Australian, this is the return match after the seven fractures to his left hand suffered in PL2 in Zandvoort.
Yee-haw! 🤠#USGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/Xai9TRqsDp
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 20, 2023
7.24pm – The air temperature is 32 degrees, the track temperature is 37, everything is ready at COTA for Free Practice!
7.22pm – Speaking of Ferrari, in Texas the Ferrari drivers had fun as sheriffs, with jokes, fake mustaches and cowboy hats.
Cowboy Carlos and lasso Leclerc 🤝
Don’t think about a career change just yet, @Carlossainz55 @Charles_Leclerc 😅#USGP #F1 @Scuderia Ferrari pic.twitter.com/efh62MNaNv
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 20, 2023
7.20pm – For Ferrari, Austin will not be an easy circuit to deal with. Certainly it is snake of the first sector does not suit the characteristics of the SF-23, which however can make up ground (especially against the McLaren) in the long central straight and in the slow corners of the final part.
7.15pm – Updates also at Haas, which is looking for new technical solutions that go more in the direction of Red Bull than those of Ferrari.
19.10 – Austin will be a land of technical innovations, which look very much towards 2024, for example the new Mercedes fund. Our Carlo Platella presented them to us.
7.00pm – We begin our news with the words through which Max Verstappen dismissed the alleged power struggle in Red Bull between team principal Christian Horner and consultant Helmut Marko.
Everyone against Verstappen
Good evening dear readers of FormulaPassion.it and welcome to the appointment dedicated to the live writing of the Free Practice of 2023 United States Grand Prix.
As happened two weeks ago in Qatar, the format is the same this weekend too Sprint and therefore in these 60 minutes the teams will have to try to store as much information as possible in view of Qualifying, the Sprint and the Grand Prix.
The task will not be easy especially for Haas and Mercedes, which bring important news to the track. The home team in particular has an update that consists of several parts, while the W14 ‘only’ has a new bottom. Obviously the favorite is Max Verstappen, who has always stood out positively at the Circuit of the Americas since his debut in 2015 when he finished in fourth place. The Red Bull driver is chasing victory number 50 of his career.
#Live #Ferrari #track #Leclerc #Sainz #Texas #Free #Practice