Charles Leclerc doesn't light up the timing tower just yet and the Monegasque driver ends up near the bottom of the leaderboard after a possible twitch somewhere during the lap.

His Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton, winner of the first sprint in China, is doing a lot better, though, as he goes straight to the top with a 1:34.226.

Harry Benjamin
BBC F1 Commentator in Austin

It's so important in SQ1 to make sure you get your first lap in.

The second Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson goes quickest with a 1:34.603, as the Williams of Carlos Sainz slips into second place on the timesheets. Fernando Alonso is next to cross the line and the Spaniard goes third in the Aston Martin.

Isack Hadjar said this week a great United States Grand Prix would be SQ3, Q3 and points on Sunday - will the Racing Bulls man get his wish? We're onboard with Hadjar now and he goes top of the board with a 1:34.856, but he did have a couple of wide moments during his opening flying lap.

Gearbox TLC complete - well done Ferrari and Williams - so Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are back in the game.

SQ1 is green (and very, very hot), so put 12 minutes on the clock and a bolt on a new set of medium tyres.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent in Austin

Image source, Reuters

McLaren have said Lando Norris will face "consequences" for his collision with Oscar Piastri while passing him at Turn Three on the first lap at the Singapore Grand Prix.

But they have not said what those repercussions will be, although it has emerged they will be of a sporting nature, and relatively minor, befitting the scale of the incident.

McLaren Racing chief executive officer Zak Brown told Sky Sports it would be "very marginal, probably won't be noticed".

Following first practice, Brown added: "They've been free to race all year; we want them to race, we're excited.

"I can tell everybody we're letting them race hard - fairly and equally."

Image source, Getty Images

The prize on offer for winning Saturday's sprint isn't as a great as Sunday's main grand prix victory but when the drivers' title is still up grabs heading into the final quarter of the season, every point counts.

As things stand, Oscar Piastri is 22 points clear of team-mate Lando Norris - who took a sprint win in Miami in May - with six main races and three sprint events remaining. If one them can deliver a flawless performance in both races and make the top steps this weekend, that'll be 33 points in total to add to their championship tally.

Image source, Getty Images

Sprint qualifying has three sessions, where the five slowest cars are eliminated from the first two - like normal qualifying.

These sessions, known as SQ1, SQ2 and SQ3, last 12, 10 and eight minutes respectively.

This will make up the grid for the sprint race, which is 100km.

The top eight finishers score points, from eight for first place to one for eighth spot, which will get added to the overall drivers' championship standings.

After Austin, the final two sprint events are in Brazil and Qatar in November.

Image source, Getty Images

There's only one dress rehearsal this weekend in Austin and so it was Lando Norris who topped the timesheets ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri.

The Briton clocked a time of 1:33.294 on the soft tyre in a practice session that saw one short red-flag period for debris at the penultimate corner off Lance Stroll's Aston Martin.

Stroll's team-mate Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest and Max Verstappen, who has taken 41 points out of championship leader Piastri in the past three races, finished fifth.

Williams' Carlos Sainz and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc both had gearbox problems during the hour. However, the pair should be ready to go when the green light comes on shortly.

Lorraine McKenna
BBC Sport Journalist

Image source, Getty Images

Welcome back, folks. It's dark outside here in the UK and that can only mean one thing: late-night Formula 1 action. First up, it's qualifying for tomorrow's 19-lap sprint race.

SQ1 at COTA gets under way at 22:30 BST.

Jennie Gow, Harry Benjamin, Andrew Benson and F1 journalist Scott Mitchell-Malm will be with us again before the session starts, so click the 'listen live' tab when it appears at the top of the page to tune in to Sports Extra commentary.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent in Austin

Image source, Reuters

McLaren's Lando Norris set the pace in practice at the United States Grand Prix, split from team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri by Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg.

Norris, trailing the Australian by 22 points with six races to go, headed Piastri by 0.279 seconds at the start of a sprint weekend at the Circuit of the Americas.

Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Williams' Alex Albon.

This was the only session before sprint qualifying at 22:30 BST.

Read the full report here

Not every driver went for a soft-tyre lap during that session, including Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, who both ended up stuck in the garage due to issues with their cars. Williams told Sainz he had a potential gearbox problem, while Leclerc highlighted a smell of oil to his Ferrari engineer. So, work to do for the mechanics during the break.

The action on track doesn't stop now - we're full throttle until Sunday. Next up is sprint qualifying, which sets the grid for tomorrow's shorter sprint race.

Go grab yourselves something nice then come back and join us from 22:15 BST for sprint quali build-up. SQ1 goes green at 22:30.

See you shortly!

While we take a break before sprint qualifying later, have a listen to the latest episode of the Chequered Flag podcast.

Will what happened in Singapore change the dynamic between McLaren’s two drivers for the rest of the season? Harry Benjamin is joined by Andrew Benson, Jennie Gow, Jolyon Palmer and Will Buxton to preview the race in Austin.

Harry Benjamin
BBC F1 Commentator in Austin

I cannot wait for race day. This is set up so nicely. These are two young Formula 1 drivers - Norris and Piastri - and a chance to go for their first F1 world title ahead of a season next year when everyone hits the big reset button and nothing is certain. You surely have to give it your absolute everything.

11. Esteban Ocon (Haas)

12. Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber)

13. Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull)

14. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)

15. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)

16. Franco Colapinto (Alpine)

17. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)

18. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)

19. Carlos Sainz (Williams)

20. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

1. Lando Norris (McLaren) - 1:33.294

2. Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) +0.255

3. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.279

4. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +0.345

5. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.354

6. Alex Albon (Williams) +0.626

7. George Russell (Mercedes) +0.637

8. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.671

9. Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) +0.861

10. Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1.039

Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso and Max Verstappen are the top three at the moment, all on the soft tyre. George Russell has stayed faithful to the mediums and goes seventh on the board after his latest lap of COTA. If you're new to a sprint weekend in F1, medium tyres are mandatory in SQ1 and SQ2, while the soft compound is required for the final session.

Charles Leclerc has returned to the pits - the noise from his Ferrari was anything but healthy on the TV replay.

Lando Norris, 22 points behind his team-mate Oscar Piastri in the drivers' championship, banks a time 0.345 seconds quicker than Fernando Alonso to sit at the top of the tree with three minutes to go.

Image source, Getty Images