on spanish day Alex Palou (McLaren), which premiered at the formula 1 officially like three other pilots, Ferrari sent in the free United States Grand Prix of Formula 1 that is held at the Circuit of the Americas, in Austin (Texas), where the second practice was dedicated to the Pirelli tests for 2023.
It was a “big day” for the 2021 IndyCar champion and It ended up being “crazy”. She thus confessed it on her social networks before and after getting behind the wheel of Australian Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren for 21 laps on a single set of medium tyres.
He was comfortable on the track and also on the radio with his team. He got out of the car with a smile from ear to ear. An unforgettable day for the young athlete.
on track, set the second fastest time (1:39.911) among the unofficial drivers who participated in those first free practice sessions of the weekend.
With the same compounds as the other McLaren, that of the British Lando Norris, the difference was only 26 hundredthsalthough when his partner wore soft shoes, the distance grew to more than two seconds (1:37.856).
Also Russian-Israeli Robert Shwartzman debuted at COTAwho led the rookies with Ferrari (1:38.951), the French Theo Pourchaire (Alfa Romeo) and the American Logan Sargeant (Williams), as well as another unofficial driver this year, the Italian Antonio Giovinazzi (Haas).
The former Alfa Romeo driver made a mistake in the first few minutes of activity in Austin, his car got caught in the protections of the circuit and caused a red flag that, luckily, lasted a short time, until he was able to resume driving without external help.
Carlos Sainz he showed that he is hungry for victory. She made it clear at Thursday’s press conference. He prefers his second victory in Formula 1 (the first was achieved this year at the British Grand Prix, at the beginning of July) than moving up a position in the World Cup standings and overtaking the British George Russell (Mercedes).
The man from Madrid was the only one who fell below 1:37 in the first free practice sessions. He signed the best time (1:36.857), ahead of the already champion – two-time championin his case-, the Dutch Max Verstappen (Red Bull, 1:37.081), and the British Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), who last year in Austin maintained a pulse for victory, which ended up falling on the side of, in the end, the World Cup winner.
Among the first classified was the Canadian’s Aston Martin Lance Stroll, just ahead of the Mexican Sergio ‘Checo’ Pérez and the Spanish Fernando Alonsowhich improved the time of Russell and also of his teammate, Frenchman Esteban Ocon, eleventh on the new Alpine flat floor.
The second session was for Pirelli and for the Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari). The tire brand tested the tires it is preparing for 2023 with an hour and a half test at COTA without knowing the type of compound the single-seaters had.
Leclerc, third in the Drivers’ World Championship, one point behind Pérez, improved Sainz’s time, albeit by only 47 thousandths (1:36,810). The man from Madrid was the fastest among those who wore next year’s prototypes.
Only the drivers who had given up their cars in the first free sessions (Leclerc himself, the Finn Valtteri Bottas, the Australian Daniel Ricciardo, the Danish Kevin Magnussen and the Canadian Nicholas Latifi) They had an hour to work on the Grand Prix compounds.
Pérezwho will race at home next week, and the Chinese Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo) were the two first sanctioned of the weekend for changing the internal combustion unit of their single-seaters, for which they will lose five places on the starting grid on Sunday.
