United States GP: Leclerc fastest in FP1 as FIA holds unusual test

Charles Leclerc set the pace in the opening hour of practice at the F1 2026 United States Grand Prix in Austin.

Three manufacturers were represented in the top three, Leclerc 0.084s ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen as Lando Norris completed the top three in his McLaren. The FIA carried out a low grip mode simulation with the cars at the end of FP1, as part of the ongoing response to the scenes of Sepang.

Charles Leclerc sets FP1 pace in Austin

As the next triple-header got underway in Austin, so to did what could be a first title-winning race weekend for Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli.

Colton Herta, back in the Cadillac on home soil, quickly headed out with an eye-catching double rear aero rake on the MAC-26.

Verstappen, who had called this track’s bumps “unacceptable” ahead of the action getting underway, began FP1 on the hard Pirelli tyres, as Lando Norris, with mediums on his McLaren, set the early pace with a 1:38.715.

Verstappen reported some early friction on the steering when turning left. Tom Hart is in the Dutchman’s ear for Austin, the Brit due to replace GianPiero Lambiase down the line as Verstappen’s race engineer, when ‘GP’, McLaren bound, departs.

Lewis Hamilton upped the pace to a 1:37.2 as the Ferraris stretched their legs. The Scuderia was subject to an interesting debate going into the race weekend, instigated by Isack Hadjar, over which car, the SF-26 or Red Bull RB22, is now the F1 2026 benchmark.

Norris went purple through the first two sectors, but found a slower-moving Red Bull, preparing for a push lap, through the final corner.

“Check front wing, something has happened.” George Russell, looking to keep his very slim title hopes alive in Austin, was getting a strange feeling in his Mercedes, the upgraded one for this weekend following the team’s Singapore experiments.

As the session reached its halfway point, Charles Leclerc was P1 on a 1:36.761. The leaderboard was about to be shaken up as the soft tyres came out to play.

Before Audi could engage in such activities, there was some “weird behaviour” from the power unit in Nico Hulkenberg’s car, out of the final corner, to investigate.

Leclerc unlocked another seven tenths on the red-walled rubber. Hamilton’s attempt was over at Turn 1, having rescued a major slide.

Verstappen shot up to second, splitting the Ferraris. Antonelli also nestled into that gap, demoting Hamilton another spot. He remained fourth after hooking up a lap on that set of now used softs.

Purple in Sector 2 this time for Norris who climbed to third on the softs. Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes were all represented in the top four.

Russell would have to wait another lap to challenge that top four as he locked-up and went into T1 far too hot, sending him into the run-off. T1 was also catching out the Williams of Alex Albon.

Verstappen went again and found top spot with a 1:35.860. As did Russell, who popped up into fourth.

Antonelli was finding the W17 tough to handle in these early stages of soft-tyre running. Hamilton was unable to keep his Ferrari within bounds at T19.

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With a little over 10 minutes to go, Antonelli thought he was supposed to be heading back out on hards, not softs, as Russell did.

That was supposed to be the plan, as Peter ‘Bono’ Bonnington apologised for the error after a late change of programme.

Russell was suffering from threewheeling.

Gabriel Bortoleto was getting some racing practice in as he took an Alpine into T1.

The session ended with Leclerc P1 from Verstappen and Norris. There was also an FIA test to conduct at the conclusion of the hour. A statement from the FIA shed more light.

“As part of the ongoing refinements to the Power Unit software for low grip mode, the FIA together with the teams and Power Unit manufacturers will run a simulation at the end of FP1, with cars running on low grip mode, using specific driver inputs during the in-lap to test additional software protections.

“This will mean that cars will be running for a short distance at low speed at Turn 15 at the end of the session.”

Full results: United States Grand Prix 2026 – F1 FP1 results (Circuit of The Americas)