Rosanna Tennant
5 Live F1 reporter in Austin

It might only be Friday, it might only be FP1, but the hill is packed out with fans.

Image source, Getty Images

George Russell fully embraced his inner cowboy today as he made his way into the paddock. I think he pulls the look off - what do you reckon?

Yeehaw. First practice is green.

BBC Sounds

A big Texan hello to Harry Benjamin, Williams reserve driver Luke Browning and BBC F1 correspondent Andrew Benson for Friday's practice running.

To tune in, you can either click the listen live tab at the top of the page, search for 5 Sports Extra on the BBC Sounds app if you're heading out tonight or you can ask your smart speaker to "play 5 Sports Extra".

More insight and analysis will be available on the F1: Chequered Flag podcast today - just search 'F1' on BBC Sounds.

Pirelli has selected the C2 as the hard, C3 as the medium and the C4 as the soft tyre for this weekend's United States Grand Prix.

A section of the 5.513km Hermann Tilke-designed circuit between Turns Nine and 11 was resurfaced earlier this year, but high tyre wear could still play a key role over the three days of track action. The 56-lap grand prix is likely to be a one-stop on Sunday, so the C2 hard compound could favour long stints.

There are two straight mode zones in Austin, one between Turns 11 and 12 and the other along the start-finish straight after the final corner at Turn 20 and into Turn One.

Image source, Getty Images

Kimi Antonelli has cut a relaxed figure in the paddock so far but the hard work on the road to getting his hands on the 2026 title starts today.

The Italian isn't letting the pressure get to him, though, and he intends to keep the weekend as light-hearted as possible.

"It's crazy if you think about it, but that's why I won't think about it," Antonelli said on his chances of lifting the championship as early as Austin.

"Something catastrophic to others needs to happen for me to become (champion). For me, needs to be a perfect weekend and to the others they need to do a poor result, which is unlikely to happen.

"Everything, anything can happen. But as I said, you know, we had a meeting with 'Bono' (race engineer Peter Bonnington) this morning and we just said: 'Just have fun.' Just always the same mindset as I had all year, one race at a time."

Image source, Getty Images

Mercedes continue to lead the constructors' championship by 134 points from Ferrari while in the fight for third place, Red Bull have narrowed the gap on McLaren to just seven points following back-to-back victories in Malaysia and Singapore.

Fifth-placed Racing Bulls have reached the 100-point mark thanks to Liam Lawson's double points weekend at Marina Bay and are 32 points free of Alpine in the race to finish best of the rest this season.

Image source, Getty Images

This will be Kimi Antonelli's first shot at securing his maiden drivers' championship with races to spare.

The 20-year-old Italian is 102 points ahead of Mercedes team-mate George Russell and 111 points clear of third-placed Lewis Hamilton with six grands prix (as it stands) remaining.

With the sprint events over for another year, there are a maximum of 150 points left on the table to play for. Winning in Austin will be a tough ask for Antonelli, as he needs to have a flawless weekend and hope his competitors stumble.

Max Verstappen's Singapore Grand Prix weekend couldn’t have gone any better and now the Dutchman is sitting in fourth having gained two places last time out, only 17 points away from second place.

Lorraine McKenna
BBC Sport Journalist

Image source, Getty Images

Hello, folks. The last of the flyaway races for the 2026 season are upon us and the first stop on this next triple-header is the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.

And this could be a huge weekend for Kimi Antonelli.

The Italian has reached a position in the drivers' championship where he can potentially be crowned title winner if things go his way at the Circuit of the Americas.

Antonelli has to win on Sunday, with team-mate George Russell finishing ninth or lower and Lewis Hamilton finishing fifth or lower, to become the youngest world champion in F1 history.

We left off in Singapore with Max Verstappen on the top step of the podium in both the sprint race and main grand prix. The four-time world champion has made his way up the standings to fourth place, and is now sitting on the shoulders of Lewis Hamilton in third and second-placed George Russell.