MOTORSPORT – MCLAREN’S Formula One title contender Lando Norris was fastest in sole practice for the US Grand Prix yesterday with championship-leading teammate Oscar Piastri third.
The Briton, last year’s pole-sitter in Austin and 22 points adrift of the Australian with six rounds remaining, lapped the Circuit of the Americas with a best time of one minute 33.294 seconds.
Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg was second fastest, 0.255 slower, with Piastri 0.279 off Norris’ pace.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was fourth on the timesheets, 0.345 slower, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen fifth and 0.354 off Norris’ time.
The weekend is being run to the sprint format for the fourth time this season, meaning yesterday’s slot usually taken by second practice is instead a qualifying session for today’s 100km race.
The session was halted briefly to clear debris at the penultimate corner, with something shed from Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin.
Williams’ Alex Albon was sixth with George Russell, winner of the previous race in Singapore for Mercedes, seventh and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton eighth.
Piastri’s 336 points lead Norris’ 317 points going into the final six races of the season. Verstappen’s recent resurgence, anchored by two wins in the last three races, has also allowed the Dutchman to climb back into the championship picture with 273 points.
While Red Bull hasn’t had the dominant car this season, the fact that Verstappen is still managing to inch toward the two McLaren frontrunners is certainly something to watch in the final weeks. Even if he’s downplaying his chances himself.
“I don’t really think about (the championship) too much,” Verstappen said. “I go to the race weekend, I try to do everything I can in the car. I don’t think if I’m in front or behind. I just see every race weekend as an opportunity to win. And if we don’t, we don’t. Life goes on.”
Tensions are a little bit higher on McLaren’s end. Such a tight battle between teammates has predictably resulted in some friction between the Norris and Piastri camps. Competition boiled over two weeks ago in Singapore, as Norris controversially collided with Piastri on the first lap.
Despite the fact that both McLaren drivers finished in the top 5 en route to clinching a second consecutive World Constructors Championship that day, the prevailing story since has been the incident between Piastri and Norris.
“The last thing I want is something like that to happen to cause these kind of controversial talks after a race,” Norris said. “At the same time, I put just as much risk on me putting myself out of the race as I do whoever I’m racing against, whether it’s Oscar or anyone else. ... It’s clearly something I want to avoid.”
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