F1 News: Sainz fastest in America FP1 - Alex Palou and Shwartzman impress

Free Practice 1 analysis.

Several new faces made their first F1 appearances in America's Free Practice 1 session, teams using the session to fulfil their obligations to give rookie drivers a practice run.

Alex Palou, Logan Sargeant, Robert Shwartzman and Theo Pourchaire were the drivers to complete their first laps in F1 machinery. 

McLaren's Alex Palou - IndyCar champion - was among the most impressive drivers from the session, within three-tenths of Lando Norris on the medium tyres and showing great confidence in his MCL36 machine. 

Robert Shwartzman will be frustrated with the end of his session, as he was prevented from improving on his final run on softs after being blocked by a Red Bull.

Regardless, the 23-year-old demonstrated some impressive performance as he adapted to the F1-75 throughout the session. 

Palou (who only completed laps on the mediums) and Shwartzman were the two standouts from the newbies in FP1, with Sargeant and Pourchaire also getting plenty of experience under their belt. 

All the numbers from FP1 ⏱️#USGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/ZJku2hb6sM

— Formula 1 (@F1) October 21, 2022

Further up the field, Carlos Sainz went fastest for Ferrari in a session where many teams showed signs of strong performance. 

Aston Martin's Lance Stroll and Alpine's Fernando Alonso went fast enough to finish First Practice in 4th and 6th, respectively, with both the AMR22 and the A522 showing encouraging signs on the first day of running. 

Antonio Giovinazzi's session came to an abrupt end within minutes after a costly error sent him into the barrier.