Max Verstappen left some room for improvement in the first outing after winning the second title in Formula 1. In Austin’s first practice session, which is difficult to judge, the Dutchman finished second behind Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz on Friday. Verstappen was 0.224 seconds behind the Spaniard (1:36.857 minutes).
Verstappen complained about problems on the front axle in slow corners. Verstappen has enough ambitions for the race on Sunday (9:00 p.m. CEST/Sky). A win would give Red Bull the Constructors’ Championship title. In addition, the record for most victories in a season by Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel (both 13) would equalize.
Mick Schumacher, who is fighting to stay with the Haas team, did not get past 15th place. Vettel was tenth in the Aston Martin.
Four teams swapped the cockpit staff for a rookie test in the first practice session. Robert Schwarzman replaced Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari, and Alex Palou (McLaren/for Daniel Ricciardo), Logan Sargeant (Williams/Nicholas Latifi) and Theo Pourchaire (Alfa Romeo/Valtteri Bottas) also did laps on the Circuit of the Americas.
Former Formula 1 driver Antonio Giovinazzi replaced Kevin Magnussen at Haas. The Italian ended up in the gang after a few minutes.
The first of two Pirelli tire tests is scheduled for the second practice session. Prototypes for 2023 will be tested. The test run was actually supposed to take place in Suzuka, but could not be carried out due to the rainy conditions. The session will be rescheduled in Mexico. For Austin, the test was planned during training.