Herta Gets Home-Soil F1 Outing in Today's US GP FP1

American driver Colton Herta takes over Sergio Perez's Cadillac MAC-26 for the opening practice session of the United States Grand Prix on Friday, with the session scheduled for 12:30 p.m. local time at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin. Perez will return to the cockpit for the second session at 4 p.m., and the race lineup of Perez and Valtteri Bottas remains unchanged for Sunday. The swap is part of Formula 1's mandatory rookie-practice program, which requires every team to field a driver with no more than two Grand Prix starts in four first-practice sessions across the season, with each regular driver surrendering his car twice. Austin marks Herta's fourth FP1 appearance of 2026, following outings in Barcelona, Hungary and Monza — the last of which was cut short by a suspected hydraulic issue after only a handful of laps. This one carries special meaning for the Cadillac development driver: COTA is where he scored his first IndyCar victory in 2019, making him the youngest winner in series history at the time. It will be his first Formula 1 practice session in front of an American crowd. Ferrari, meanwhile, begins evaluating its final major aerodynamic package of the season, while McLaren is expected to run further updates as the championship battle with Kimi Antonelli at its head arrives in Texas.