Mercedes leave Red Bull trailing out of the box in Austin in early one-two, although Valtteri Bottas will take another grid drop on Sunday; title-leader Max Verstappen nine tenths of a second off the pace in opening session
By James Galloway
Last Updated: 22/10/21 7:28pm
Mercedes made an impressive fast start to the United States GP weekend by finishing nine tenths ahead of Red Bull in opening practice, although pacesetter Valtteri Bottas will carry a grid penalty into Sunday’s race.
Bottas led title-chasing team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the opening session by 0.2s after a best lap of 1:34.874 amid a dominant early show of strength for Mercedes’ W12 around the flowing Circuit of the Americas.
Red Bull’s championship leader Max Verstappen finished nine tenths of a second adrift in third.
But Bottas’ chances of fighting for back-to-back wins after his impressive triumph in Turkey a fortnight ago will be compromised on Sunday by a five-place grid penalty for taking a sixth engine of the season.
It is the third time in four races that the Finn has taken a grid penalty for engine component changes. Hamilton took his own grid drop for a new internal combustion engine in Istanbul.
Having acknowledged in recent weeks there remain concerns over the reliability of their power units as the end of the record 22-race campaign approaches, Mercedes said the latest change for Bottas is viewed as the “best balance of performance and reliability to the end of the season”, which has five more weekends to run after this one.
“Unfortunately since mid-year we have had some reliability issues that keep coming back,” confirmed Mercedes boss Toto Wolff to Sky F1. “I think we understand now much better what it is but it means there is no durability in running them and that means a potential DNF risk.”
Meanwhile behind the top three on the P1 timesheet, Ferrari started the weekend strongly with Charles Leclerc fourth ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz.
AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was sixth ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who ran most of the session on the hardest available tyre compound.
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Contact between Perez and Mick Schumacher into Turn 12! Sergio Perez tried a move down the inside of the Haas, who seemingly didn’t see him
Second practice is live at 9pm on Sky Sports F1.
More to follow.