By Mark Gero
Lando Norris proved Friday afternoon that the McLaren driver is still in contention for this year’s world driving championship by taking the only practice session in this sprint weekend for the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas, by posting a 1:33:294 fastest time.
Norris set the quickest time with just minutes to go in the session as both the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and series leader Oscar Piastri did the same by placing their late times to finish second and third, respectively.
Fernando Alonso was one of the other drivers who posted a good lap time, but the Aston Martin driver and two-time world champion could only settle for fourth. Max Verstappen was at the top of the time sheets but could only manage fifth as the Dutchman had handling issues late in the session.
George Russell in his Mercedes, who won the last race in Singapore, could do no better than seventh, while Lewis Hamilton in the Ferrari ended up in eighth. Isack Hadjar was next in ninth in the Racing Bulls and Oliver Bearman in the hometown Haas F1 car, completed the top ten.
With the circuit known as very bumpy, some drivers had difficulties during this hour-long session, which was the only one for practice, which gave the only red flag session when Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll ran wide on the final turn and lost a piece of his back end, causing a delay of only a few minutes. For Carlos Sainz in the Williams, the Spaniard could only put a few laps out as the gearbox seized up and Sainz had to end his practice. Charles Leclerc had a potential oil smell which put him down to 20th and last in the order.
Drivers will not have long to wait on Friday as the sprint qualifying will be next that afternoon which will give the chance for someone to be in front of the grid for Saturday’s sprint race, which commences in the morning, followed by the afternoon qualifying for Sunday’s race.
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