Sainz edges Verstappen in US Grand Prix first practice

A strong opening performance by Carlos Sainz in Friday's first practice in Austin put Ferrari ahead of the field, the Spaniard edging Red Bull's Max Verstappen by 0.224.

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton clocked in third, followed by an impressive display by Aston Martin's Lance Stroll while Sergio Perez rounded off the top five.

While F1's four rookies acquitted themselves well in the session, it was a catastrophic return for Antonio Giovinazzi who suffered an off after just a handful of laps that ended his session with Haas.

• US Grand Prix Free Practice 1 - Results

Courtesy of F1's mandatory young driver session, Friday's opening running was a world premiere for four young hopefuls: Logan Sargeant for Williams, Alex Palou for McLaren, Robert Shwartzman for Ferrari and Theo Pourchaire for Alfa Romeo.

Absent therefore from the initial running were Nicholas Latifi, Daniel Ricciardo, Charles Leclerc and Valttei Bottas. And completing the one-session drivers was Antonio Giovinazzi over at Haas, the Italian running in place of Kevin Magnussen.

Teams got down to business at the outset, as it wasn't lost on the field that the session started at the same time of day as Sunday's race at the Circuit of the Americas.

It was a troubled start for Giovinazzi who suffered a proper off at COTA's Turn 6 and hit the barriers on the right side of the track, which brought out the red flag.

But the Italian managed to get going again, albeit with a visibly damaged front wing, and Gio nursed his way back to the pits for a complete verification by the Haas' crews.

Unfortunately, a gearbox replacement would prove necessary, so it was session over for Giovinazzi after just four laps and some extra work for Haas' crews who were likely left unimpressed by the Italian's nightmare return to action.

Run plans were reset when the track returned to green, with a soft-shod Verstappen leading the charge from Alpine's Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso.

Over at Mercedes, aero testing was in order, with rakes mounted on the Brackley squad's W13 as the team evaluated its final upgrades of the season.

Meanwhile, Verstappen continued to lead the pecking order, with Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel slotted in second and followed by Sainz, Perez and Ocon.

Hamilton then upped the pace to clock in second, just 0.183s behind Verstappen. But with 20 minutes left on the clock, Lance Stroll, running on a new set of softs, confirmed Aston's new-found form by knocking Verstappen off his perch by a 0.002s!

But the Canadian's supremacy was short-lived as Sainz comfortably claimed the top spot by 0.603s, a clear sign of the track nicely rubbering in, with Hamilton going P2 but almost half a second off Sainz's best time.

Qualifying runs were the norm in the final 10 minutes of the session. And Verstappen's flyer on the softs propelled the Dutchman back to P2, 0.224s off Sainz who concluded FP1 at the top of the timesheet.

The Scuderia charger thus edged Verstappen, Hamilton, Stroll, Perez and Alonso. Thereafter followed George Russell, Pierre Gasly, Lando Norris and Vettel who rounded off the top ten.

Over in rookie land, F1's four debutants acquitted themselves well as they followed each other in the running order, with P16 for Shwartzman, P17 for Palou, P18 for Pourchaire and P19 for Sargeant.

But Shwartzman was the only one of the four to complete the session on the soft tyre.

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