7/56 Norris is struggling to keep up with the leading three. Piastri, his teammate is also sluggish. Problems for McLaren?

6/56 The Merc now removed from the track, the safety car pulls aside. Leclerc and Verstappen go at it, right from the gun. No DRS on this lap. Liam Lawson, who started 19th, is in 12th. Nice driving, young man. Leclerc edging ahead of the Red Bull. He sets a fastest lap.

5/56 First safety car since Canada, and the field is closed up. Albon has pitted after his prang. Lando and his McLaren team want a stewards’ on the start. Good luck. That won’t be happening. “Same as Budapest,” says Norris. Verstappen did seem to go off the track and hold his position

4/56 An eventful start, and Norris will be rueing his lack of aggression at the start. In the pack. Ocon and Albon clashed. That hill start produced carnage. The Hamilton crash looks like he lost it. “Sorry, guys,” he says. No rear grip, it seems.

Lewis Hamilton is off and out. Safety car called in

2/56 Huge whoops from the crowd. Leclerc has the afterburners on, he’s a full second ahead of Verstappen. Sainz is after Verstappen too. Ferrari in control here

And away we go! Lights out...Leclerc steals into the lead

OK, here we go. The formation lap begins. “Damn, this far back,” says Lewis Hamilton, back in 17th. Mercedes have had a shocker in qualifying with George Russell in the pit lane. Lando Norris on pole leads out the field. The two Ferraris of Sainz and Leclerc are second on the grid.

Max Verstappen: “Yesterday was an indication it’s been a bit better already. The sprint should replicate to the main race. Winning would make life a lot easier. That’s always been the aim.”

AC/DC’s Thunderstruck is playing too loud for the telecasters. Great record.

Martin Brundle is on his pit walk. A quick chat with Fernando Alonso. “We start seventh but are not the seventh fastest,” says the veteran. Pierre Gasly: “The team did a very good job. The car seems to have come alive.” Kevin Magnussen, in the top 10 in the Haas: “Seems the car is liking this track. It’s great to be this competitive. Every race in F1 is a gift.”

The hill at the race start has seen the wind dropping. Martin talks to Gabby Douglas, the Olympic gold medallist. She’s a Lewis Hamilton fan and hopes to meet him later. Mondo Duplantis is also there. “I like adrenaline…just having a good time.”

Gordon Ramsay is there, seeming a little amped. No swearwords, though. And here comes the national anthem. The stadium announcer sounds robotic, like a talking elevator. The Stars and the Stripes rings out choral style. None of your vocal histrionics here though some natty descant work. It reminds of a 1960s Disney film.

In the crowd, there are visible cowboy hats.

The weather report from Austin, Texas, and the Circuit of the Americas is that it’s hot and sunny, 27 degrees C. Bright blues skies. What effect might that have on tyres?

Bad news for Mercedes: George Russell starts from the pit lane.

Revised starting grid:

• 1. Lando Norris

• 2. Max Verstappen

• 3. Carlos Sainz

• 4. Charles Leclerc

• 5. Oscar Piastri

• 6. Pierre Gasly

• 7. Fernando Alonso

• 8. Kevin Magnussen

• 9. Sergio Perez

• 10. Yuki Tsunoda

• 11. Nico Hulkenberg

• 12. Esteban Ocon

• 13. Lance Stroll

• 14. Alex Albon

• 15. Franco Colapinto

• 16. Valtteri Bottas

• 17. Lewis Hamilton

• 18. Zhou Guanyu

• 19. Liam Lawson*

Pit lane. George Russell**

Report on that Saturday sprint race, too.

And in the garages, too.

Before any running began on Friday the FIA confirmed it was looking into complaints that Red Bull may have been gaining an advantage by using a device that allowed them to adjust the bib, also known as the tea tray – the front of the floor of the car – after qualifying to achieve a better race setup, when regulations forbid changes to the car under conditions.

It’s been getting tetchy in the mind games stakes.

Giles Richards all over the detail in previewing the final six races of the F1 season.

As things stand Norris and McLaren have the quickest car on the grid in the MCL38. More importantly, and key to Norris’s hopes, is what a stable platform it provides across a variety of circuits and how swiftly the team are able to dial it into local conditions such that it is up to pace early in the weekend.

The starting grid positions:

Preamble