Austin will be bone dry with warm temperatures for this shorter sprint qualifying session. The nearest pocket of rain looks to be in Utah, so definitely put your umbrellas away.

SQ1 is open for business - but you need your medium tyres for this session.

BBC Sounds

Jennie Gow, Harry Benjamin, former McLaren engineer Marc Priestley and F1 correspondent Andrew Benson are in position and ready to take us through sprint qualifying.

You can find the team on Radio 5 Sports Extra, BBC Sounds and at the top of the page. Via your smart speaker, just ask BBC Sounds to play United States Grand Prix sprint qualifying.

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Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, talking to Sky Sports: "Every car has a tool that they can adjust the front of the bib, what we call the front of the floor being called the bib. Ours is located at the front of the footwell, it's been there for I think for over three years, you've got to have the pedals out, other panels out and pipework out to be able to get to it. It's like any other adjustment on the car, it would be easier to adjust the rear rollbar than it is to get to that component, it's all part of the packaging in the front end of the chassis."

On why the FIA inspected the element post FP1: "Because I think there's been a bit of moaning from one of our rivals and it's the FIA's job to look into those things. It's on a list of the open source components so it's been publicly available for the last three years. The FIA are happy with it, I think just to satisfy some paranoia elsewhere in the paddock."

On whether it's a non-story: "I feel it's, sometimes, to distract from perhaps what's going on in your house, that sometimes you try and light a fire somewhere else. It's part of Formula 1, I'm sure they'll be other stuff that comes up between now and Abu Dhabi."

The perfect weekend in Austin, Interlagos or Qatar could hand either Max Verstappen or Lando Norris the upper-hand in the title race, thanks to the extra prizes on offer during the sprint weekends.

There are eight points available for a sprint victory, 25 for a main race win, plus the extra point if you bank the fastest lap, making a total of 34 points up for grabs from three of the six grands prix remaining.

If you're new to the sprint format, or just need a little refresher before we dive in again, here is how the weekend works.

Sprint qualifying on Friday sets the grid for the sprint race and has three sessions - like normal qualifying - with the slowest five cars eliminated at the end of the first two. These sessions last just 12, 10 and eight minutes, respectively.

Tyres are mandatory in this qualifying, so drivers have to use the medium compound in SQ1 and SQ2, followed by the softs for the top-10 sprint shootout.

This season, the sprint race takes place as the first track action on Saturday, leaving normal qualifying in its regular spot. The top eight finishers score points, from eight for first place down to one for eighth.

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Away from ride-height devices, could Austin's sprint weekend be the ideal place for Max Verstappen to rediscover his winning mojo?

The Dutchman has won the first three sprint race this year, collecting the maximum eight points in China, Miami and at the Red Bull Ring in Austria in June.

In fact, Verstappen is the undisputed King of the sprint with 10 wins under his belt since the format was introduced in 2021, including last year's 100km race at COTA.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner is being interviewed by Sky Sports now, and says: "We have cameras watching the cars, we have scrutineers watching the cars. Our car has come under more scrutiny in the last three years than any other car in the pit lane. So we're totally comfortable."

McLaren CEO Zak Brown was quizzed about McLaren's car compliance in the new conference earlier: "Our rear wing has passed every single test, we've made some small modifications as have some others, so that's a non-issue."

"I think, on the floor, if, and I say 'if' because I don't know, it's used an inappropriate manner then it is definitely a performance advantage. If it's not, then there's no performance advantage whatsoever and I think that's what we just want to better understand."

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent in Austin

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The weekend has started with a controversy over a device on the Red Bull that can be used to adjust the height of the front of the floor.

Red Bull have responded by pointing out that McLaren have made changes to their rear wing - an extension of the conversations they had with governing body the FIA after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where it was seen to flex on the straight.

A McLaren spokesperson said: "As previously mentioned, McLaren proactively offered to make some minor adjustments to our rear wing following the Azerbaijan GP. We have made minor adjustments to all our rear wings since Baku to varying extents to ensure no further issues in this area."

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McLaren chief executive officer Zak Brown talking about Red Bull's ride height controversy in the FIA press conference: "Typically being able to ride a car lower is a competitive advantage, it makes the car quicker most of the time. The FIA, who I think have done a very good job at identifying an element on a single race team, from what we can see, from having looked at all the open-source components, is the only team that has the ability to adjust the ride height from inside the cockpit, whether they have or haven't I have no idea, but having the ability to do it raises questions."

"It's very clear in the regulations and it's a material breach that if you modify your race car, anything that you didn't get permission on or driver comfort, goes very much against regulations so they've decided from what I've read to put a seal on it and at the same time I've heard from the team that you can't adjust it when the car is fully race prepped.

"The car is not always fully race prepped in parc ferme and Sunday mornings, so I think that needs to be unpicked and you know, why do you need to put a seal on something that you can't get to in parc ferme or post-parc ferme conditions? So I still have questions that I need to better understand."

If you missed the big story yesterday in the build-up to the United States Grand Prix, Red Bull have confirmed that they are to make changes to their car as a result of discussions with the FIA.

Rivals had alerted the sport's governing body to a device in the Red Bull cockpit that they believed could be used to adjust the height of the front of the car's floor.

You can read Andrew Benson's full story here

Well, just after first practice when the cars had returned to the garage, representatives from the FIA paid Red Bull a visit. The team's number one mechanic, Ole Schack, then proceeded to demonstrate to the two members of the FIA's technical department how the device is installed into the car and adjusted and more importantly, how it works.

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Liam Lawson's return to Formula 1 will be more of a recovery drive for Sunday's 56-lap race, as the 22-year-old is set to start at the back of the grid in Austin, following a change to a number of engine components which takes him over the amount allocated to each car.

As the pool of parts belong to the car and not the driver, Lawson - who has replaced Daniel Ricciardo for the remainder of the season - has inherited a hefty drop down the order - 60 places in total - for his first grand prix back.

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Carlos Sainz set the pace in his Ferrari in the one and only practice session of this United States Grand Prix, beating team-mate Charles Leclerc by 0.021 seconds on the soft tyre.

Max Verstappen finished third on the timesheets but the Dutchman set his best marker on the softs earlier than the rest of the field. The two McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were fourth and fifth respectively.

Austin's resurfaced track didn't provide the smoothest of rides for some drivers, with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell in the upgraded Mercedes, plus Pierre Gasly in the Alpine, all experiencing spins in the first sector.

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Hello again, folks. Here comes the fourth sprint qualifying session of the 2024 season. And with the title fight on both sides still fiercely competitive, securing an optimal spot on tomorrow's grid could be crucial.

Lights go green for SQ1 at 22:30 BST.

Live commentary is available on Radio 5 Sports Extra, BBC Sounds, at the top of this page using the 'listen live' tab and via most smart speakers. Just ask BBC Sounds to play United States Grand Prix sprint qualifying.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent in Austin

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Title rivals Max Verstappen and Lando Norris ended the only practice session at the United States Grand Prix in third and fourth places.

Carlos Sainz set the pace ahead of Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc.

Sainz was 0.021secs ahead of Leclerc and 0.253secs quicker than Verstappen, whose time was set earlier in the session than those of Ferrari and McLaren when the track would have been slower.

Norris, who starts the weekend 52 points behind Verstappen in the championship, was 0.013secs slower than the Dutchman.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, who had a high-speed spin at Turn Four earlier in the session, was fifth, ahead of team-mate George Russell, who himself spun at Turn One.

Read the full report here

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Yeehaw. That was a tough first rodeo for some drivers in Texas.

Right then. This is the point when the weekend goes full throttle, with competitive track action now until the shutters come down on Sunday night.

We'll park up, stretch our legs and come back together for sprint qualifying, which sets the grid for tomorrow's sprint race, at 22:00 BST.

See you shortly!

While we all take a break before sprint qualifying, have a listen to the Chequered Flag podcast.

Eleanor Oldroyd is joined by the BBC team out in Austin. They debate whether Lando Norris can still catch Max Verstappen and land his first driver's title.

Former Haas boss Gunther Steiner is on the pod to give his take on the Max Verstappen swearing controversy and James Vowles talks Williams' progress since he took over as team principal.

Listen on BBC Sounds here

Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

I think Ferrari are going to be really happy with that. This is a team that hasn't bought major upgrades when lots of the teams around them have and yet they've managed to unlock some pace that has been missing on occasions in recent rounds.

Really unhappy I would say are the early signs at Mercedes and McLaren are probably somewhere in the middle of that where really you would expect them to be right at the front. They're not there yet.

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11. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)

12. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)

13. Liam Lawson (RB)

14. Alex Albon (Williams)

15. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)

16. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)

17. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)

18. Valtteri Bottas (Sauber)

19. Franco Colapinto (Williams)

20. Zhou Guanyu (Sauber)