Mark Hughes: Notes from the shortened Friday of the US GP – The Race

As the second F1 practice session in Austin is entirely dedicated to testing the 2023 generation of Pirelli tires, we can look to the first session for clues about qualifying and the United States Grand Prix itself.

The crunching of the numbers reveals no real surprises, with Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari topping the times of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull and Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes.

Charles Leclerc was absent from the session to make way for Ferrari Academy driver Robert Shwartzman, one of five participating “Junior” drivers, with IndyCar champion Alex Palou in Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren, Theo Pourchaire in Valtteri Bottas’ Alfa Romeo , expected to be full-time in 2023 Williams is recruiting Logan Sergeant in the car usually driven by Nicholas Latifi – and a brief appearance by Antonio Giovinazzi, who threw Kevin Magnussen’s Haas into the barriers and was not seen again.

The inevitably compressed program for everyone was such that the long runs usually did not exceed three or four laps. Verstappen didn’t make a long run at all, that team duty rested solely on Sergio Perez’s shoulders. He was on average a few tenths slower than Sainz on the same soft compound tires – which would suggest Verstappen would be at least on pace with the Ferrari.

Long-term averages

Hamilton seemed to have found a better balance for his Mercedes than teammate George Russell and was closer than normal to the Ferrari/Red Bull pace, although his long run was on the middle tire and so wasn’t directly comparable. Russell’s long run on soft tires was a full second behind Sainz’s.

Not for the first time this year, Aston Martin was quick in individual lap times – Lance Stroll was fourth fastest – but history from 2022 suggests this is simply a reflection of a different base fuel weight.

It was less impressive on the long runs and, as usual, looked a little apart from Alpine and McLaren.

Palou impressed with his consistency as he assumed long-term responsibility for McLaren. He calmly reeled off a six-lap sequence at an average faster than Esteban Ocon’s Alpine on the same tyre. AlphaTauri and Williams seemed to run a lot easier than the others on the long runs, if we are to assume that they aren’t actually the fastest two cars.

Schwarzman didn’t put in a fast lap in the Ferrari and it was Palou who definitely stood out from the rookies.

This race is traditionally a two-stop race due to high tire degradation, but due to the short duration of the runs it is not clear if a one-stop race would be feasible. Expect considerable strategic variation and variable performance phases within stints as teams load their stints with either front or rear tire loading.

Exercise 1 results

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