F1: Bottas leads Mercedes 1-2 in opening USGP Practice
Valtteri Bottas, using his 6th, more powerful Mercedes engine, turned the fastest lap in opening practice for the USGP at COTA.
Bottas’ lap of 1m34.874s was just 0.045s ahead of his Mercedes F1 teammate Lewis Hamilton, both on soft tires.
Everyone else was out to lunch.
Max Verstappen was 3rd quick, a massive 0.932s behind in his Red Bull Honda.
The two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. rounded out the top-5, 1.460s and 1.634s behind respectively on medium tires.
The session ended just as Sergio Perez and Mick Schumacher had an on-track misunderstanding that saw Schumacher spin off.
Replays show that Perez thought Schumacher was letting him through and tried to dive down the inside, only for the German to turn in and the two to make contact.
Moments later, Raikkonen spun and ended the session with his Alfa parked sideways across the track.
Practice 1 Results
| POS | DRIVER | NAT. | TEAM | TIME | BEHIND |
| 1 | Valtteri Bottas | FIN | Mercedes AMG | 1m34.874s | +0.000s |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | GBR | Mercedes AMG | 1m34.919s | +0.045 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | NED | Red Bull Racing | 1m35.806s | +0.932 |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | MON | Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow | 1m36.334s | +1.460 |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz | ESP | Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow | 1m36.508s | +1.634 |
| 6 | Pierre Gasly | FRA | Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda | 1m36.611s | +1.737 |
| 7 | Sergio Perez | MEX | Red Bull Racing | 1m36.798s | +1.924 |
| 8 | Lando Norris | GBR | McLaren F1 Team | 1m36.855s | +1.981 |
| 9 | Antonio Giovinazzi | GBR | Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen | 1m36.874s | +2.000 |
| 10 | Kimi Raikkonen | FIN | Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen | 1m36.876s | +2.002 |
| 11 | George Russell | ISR | Williams Racing | 1m36.966s | +2.092 |
| 12 | Esteban Ocon | FRA | Alpine F1 Team | 1m36.970s | +2.096 |
| 13 | Lance Stroll | CAN | Aston Martin Cognizant | 1m36.972s | +2.098 |
| 14 | Sebastian Vettel | GER | Aston Martin Cognizant | 1m36.982s | +2.108 |
| 15 | Fernando Alonso | CHI | Alpine F1 Team | 1m37.068s | +2.194 |
| 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | AUS | McLaren F1 Team | 1m37.458s | +2.584 |
| 17 | Nicholas Latifi | CAN | Williams Racing | 1m37.463s | +2.589 |
| 18 | Yuki Tsunoda | JPN | Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda | 1m37.954s | +3.080 |
| 19 | Mick Schumacher | GER | Uralkali Haas F1 Team | 1m38.866s | +3.992 |
| 20 | Nikita Mazepin | RUS | Uralkali Haas F1 Team | 1m42.239s | +7.365 |