Valtteri Bottas finished on top of the time charts at the 2021 United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of The Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas. Lewis Hamilton was in second position and Max Verstappen in third position at the end of the first free practice session.

The race returns to this circuit after two years as the 2020 race was cancelled due to the Covid19 pandemic. The championship battle between Verstappen and Hamilton is at fever pitch with six races to go and just six points separating the two drivers.

The circuit has sunk since its debut on the Formula 1 calendar in 2012 which has created bumps at different places. The impact of these bumps on the setup and performance of the cars will be watched closely all weekend.

The sixty-minute long first free practice session started under clear skies and sunny conditions with air temperatures at 28 degrees C and track temperatures at 30 degrees C.

The Pirelli tyre choice at this race is the white-striped hard compound tyres (C2), yellow-striped medium compound tyres (C3), and red-striped soft compound tyres (C4).

Sergio Pérez was the first driver out on the track for an installation lap. Fernando Alonso brought out the red flags immediately as he stopped out on the track at Turn 12.

All the drivers except Alonso were on the track when the session resumed. Hamilton went to the top of time charts with a lap time of 1m37.260s. Verstappen was in second position just 0.077 seconds behind him.

Charles Leclerc had a spin and went into the gravel at Turn 6 but managed to keep the car out of the barriers. Hamilton improved on his lap time as Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo slotted into second and fourth positions.

Pérez went to the top of the time charts on the hard compound tyres and he was 0.014 seconds faster than Hamilton.

With thirty minutes to go, Hamilton was back on top of the time charts as he went faster than Pérez by 0.417 seconds. Sebastian Vettel on a set of new soft compound tyres went fastest but his lap time was deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 9.

With twenty minutes to go, Verstappen on a set of soft compound tyres went fastest with a lap time of 1m36.049s, 0.332 seconds faster than Hamilton.

With fifteen minutes to go, Bottas and Hamilton were on the top of the time charts. Verstappen in third position was more than one second slower than Bottas.

Alonso was back on track after the Alpine F1 team fixed his reliability issues and the Spaniard set his first timed lap to take eighteenth position.

The session ended with Bottas leading a Mercedes 1-2 at the top of the time charts. Verstappen was in third position 0.932 seconds behind Bottas.

The two Ferrari drivers, Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were in fourth and fifth positions a further 0.5 seconds slower than Verstappen. Pierre Gasly was in good form as he finished in sixth position ahead of Pérez.

Norris was in eighth position ahead of the two Alfa Romeo Racing drivers, Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Räikkönen in ninth and tenth positions.

The afternoon session will take place at a similar time as the qualification session and under very hot conditions.

2021 United States GP FP1 Results:

Pos	No	Driver	Nat.	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	77	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1:34.874		17
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1:34.919	+0.045s	18
3	33	Max Verstappen	NED	Red Bull Racing	1:35.806	+0.932s	16
4	16	Charles Leclerc	MON	Scuderia Ferrari	1:36.334	+1.460s	18
5	55	Carlos Sainz	ESP	Scuderia Ferrari	1:36.508	+1.634s	20
6	10	Pierre Gasly	FRA	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	1:36.611	+1.737s	18
7	11	Sergio Perez	MEX	Red Bull Racing	1:36.798	+1.924s	20
8	4	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren F1 Team	1:36.855	+1.981s	11
9	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ITA	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN	1:36.874	+2.000s	18
10	7	Kimi Räikkönen	FIN	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN	1:36.876	+2.002s	18
11	63	George Russell	GBR	Williams Racing	1:36.966	+2.092s	19
12	31	Esteban Ocon	FRA	Alpine F1 Team	1:36.970	+2.096s	22
13	18	Lance Stroll	CAN	Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team	1:36.972	+2.098s	20
14	5	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team	1:36.982	+2.108s	20
15	14	Fernando Alonso	ESP	Alpine F1 Team	1:37.068	+2.194s	12
16	3	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	McLaren F1 Team	1:37.458	+2.584s	18
17	6	Nicholas Latifi	CAN	Williams Racing	1:37.463	+2.589s	19
18	22	Yuki Tsunoda	JAP	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	1:37.954	+3.080s	22
19	47	Mick Schumacher	GER	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	1:38.866	+3.992s	17
20	9	Nikita Mazepin	RAF	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	1:42.239	+7.365s	19