Scary start for Alonso and Aston Martin; Verstappen took the lead before qualifying

Aston Martin decided to bring an important package of evolutions to react as soon as possible in this last part of world. I took a risk by bringing news on a weekend like this one GP of the United States, with a sprint format and only a few Free Practice 1 to test the evolutions and find the key to the height of the car and its settings to face the real fire. The green team had to run without setbacks, but the sun came Austin Not a good start. He did this with little fear for the whole Silverstone.

Austin Free Practice 1 Time:

At the beginning of the session, after only 5 laps its two drivers, both Fernando Alonso as Lance Strolling They experienced the brake on the left front tire overheating. That’s why the flame of the fire was seen coming out of the brake of the car. Fernando Alonso. The mechanics began to dismantle them and the situation did not seem to be the best with new improvements and no time to lose. Fortunately for Fernandothe Asturian was back on track with half an hour left to draw some conclusions on the wheel of his AMR23 to prepare for classification this Friday (11:00 pm/DAN F1). It was worse for his partner take a walkwho must have overheated his brakes and was left unable to return to the track, leaving him nearly blind in qualifying this Friday.

Fernando Alonso finished 18th, but his position is misleading. He was the only one of the two McLarens not to put soft tyres. He only tried hard rubber to reserve tires for the rest of the weekend. In fact, before most drivers mounted the soft tires in the final minutes, Alonso was 10th, 1 second behind. Norris’s McLarenwho set his time on medium rubber, a tire with a theoretical advantage of half a second, but very difficult to calculate because of how much the track has developed.

Unrepresentative times

Therefore, the times and the final classification are not representative. Several conclusions can be drawn. The two McLarens, favorites to chase Red Bull, were also relegated to 15th position (Norris) and 19th (Piastri) for the simple fact of not trying soft rubber. That says it all.

Representative yes is to see Verstappen In front. He is the big favorite for the pole this Friday. On soft tires he surpassed 0″156 a Charles Leclerc (2nd) on the wheel of a Ferrari who last year took a post in Austin with Sainz. The Madrid native started further back, at 0.621, in 8th place, and needs to improve to look for that surprise. The Ferrari is a fast car in a corner and can be tested, although the McLarens seem to have more power in that fight judging by the final appointments. Hamilton, with a Mercedes with some improvements, was 3rd at 0″281.

While‘Checo’ Pérez was 4th by three tenths, starting off on a better foot than other weekends. Magnussenwith a very renewed Haas, was 5th at 0.560 ahead Russell (6th), Albon (7th) and Sainz (8th). Hulkenberg (9th) and Gasly They closed out the Top-10 against the local Sergeant (11th).