F1 US Grand Prix LIVE: Sprint qualifying schedule and practice results in Austin
F1 live updates from the Circuit of the Americas as Lando Norris looks to close the gap to Max Verstappen
F1 returns after a four-week break with the US Grand Prix in Austin and the fourth sprint weekend of the 2024 season.
Lando Norris won last time out in Singapore to cut Max Verstappen’s lead in the drivers’ championship to 52 points with six rounds to go.
Oscar Piastri, Norris’ teammate at McLaren, finished third in the city-state while the Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will be looking to finish their time together on a high before Hamilton heads to Ferrari next year.
Verstappen has won the last three editions of the US Grand Prix and was also victorious in the Austin sprint race last year. It will also be the first race for Liam Lawson this year, with the New Zealander replacing Daniel Ricciardo for the remainder of the season.
Follow live updates from the United States Grand Prix with The Independent
F1 US Grand Prix LIVE: Red Bull duo kick-off the soft tyre running
Max Verstappen storms to the top of the timesheet with a 1:33:855, 0.862 seconds quicker than Carlos Sainz on the hard tyres. Sergio Perez is third on softs, but is not happy.
“The main struggle was the ride in the low speed, I started to bounce a lot more.”
4-10: Leclerc, Russell, Norris, Alonso, Bottas, Lawson, Tsunoda
McLaren, incidentally, have brought seven upgrades to this race!
F1 US Grand Prix LIVE: Charles Leclerc leads after 20 minutes!
It’s Ferrari one-two early on on the hard tyres, with Charles Leclerc’s time of 1:34:966 setting the pace at the top - 0.265 secs quicker than teammate Carlos Sainz.
George Russell is third, four-tenths down, with Max Verstappen fourth and Lando Norris in fifth.
6-10: Bottas, Lawson, Perez, Tsunoda, Piastri
F1 US Grand Prix LIVE: Lewis Hamilton spins!
High-speed spin in sector one for Lewis Hamilton, but he keeps it out of the barrier by nothing more than pure luck!
“You’ll have to check those damn tyres, and the floor.”
Interesting session so far this, a lot of drivers struggling with grip on this resurfaced track!
F1 US Grand Prix LIVE: Gasly spins at turn 1!
Pierre Gasly - in the ORANGE Alpine this weekend - has a spin at turn one!
“Just lost it on braking.”
All the cars on hard tyres to start with...
F1 US Grand Prix LIVE: Verstappen and Colapinto almost collide!
Verstappen has to bail out late to stop a collision with Colapinto!
Did the Argentine not see him?
Verstappen’s engineer, GP: “There you go, you know what the state of play is this weekend.”
F1 US Grand Prix LIVE: First practice underway!
Here we go with first practice then, at the resurfaced Circuit of the Americas!
A clear day in Austin, if not scorching hot - there’s a slight chill in the air in Texas!
Liam Lawson among the first cars out on track - as they practically all get out there straight away!
F1 US Grand Prix LIVE: FP1 coming right up!
So we’ve been away for four weeks - but it’s go time again for F1 in 2024!
Six races, three sprints, and one championship battle remain! So let’s kick-off the US Grand Prix weekend.
It’s a big session for the drivers - including the returning Liam Lawson - who only have one practice session this weekend to get up to speed with the track!
SPRINT WEEKEND FORMAT
Friday: Free Practice 1; sprint qualifying (for Saturday’s sprint race)
Saturday: Sprint race (Top-eight receive points, finish order has no impact on grand prix grid); Grand Prix qualifying
Sunday: Grand Prix
How many points are on offer in the sprint race?
P1 - Eight points
P2 - Seven points
P3 - Six points
P4 - Five points
P5 - four points
P6 - three points
P7 - two points
P8 - one point
A reminder of the start times this weekend in Austin:
All times BST
Friday 18 October
- Free practice 1: 6:30pm
- Sprint qualifying: 10:30pm
Saturday 19 October
- Sprint race: 7pm
- Qualifying: 11pm
Sunday 20 October
- Race: 8pm
Lewis Hamilton and F1 are desperate for Africa return – but these obstacles must be overcome
Formula One wants to return. Lewis Hamilton insists F1 cannot continue to ignore it. But after 31 years away, the sport still can’t thrash out a route back into the only viable continent (sorry Antarctica) it fails to race in: Africa.
It was 1993 the last time the “Mother Continent” hosted an F1 grand prix. That was at Kyalami, 20 miles north of Johannesburg, as Williams driver Alain Prost won the 27th version of the South African Grand Prix.
Rather obviously, it is difficult to claim the full veracity of the competition “Formula 1 World Championship” while a record 24-race calendar does not actually include the entire world and its continents.
But F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has made no secret of his desire to add an African race to the schedule, amid an opening set of talks with Rwandan officials last month.
However, is Rwanda the only option? South Africa has come close in recent years, too. And what are the major obstacles? The Independent takes a look at all the potential locations F1 could venture to in Africa.
Lewis Hamilton and F1 are desperate for Africa return – but these obstacles remain
South Africa and Rwanda are the leading African candidates to host a Formula One grand prix in the future
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments