Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topped both practice sessions at the US Grand Prix in Austin on Friday, finishing 0.042 seconds ahead of Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli. Max Verstappen, though, left the strongest impression in his Red Bull, according to BBC Sport.
Verstappen was third fastest, 0.189s off Leclerc, with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton fourth, 0.615s behind. Mercedes’ George Russell was fifth and Liam Lawson of Racing Bulls sixth. On the race-simulation runs later in the session, Verstappen appeared quickest. He could be compared directly only with the Ferrari drivers, as all of them ran soft tyres on their long runs. He was marginally faster than Leclerc on average, and the consistency of his pace suggested he was in the best shape. Hamilton looked short of pace against Leclerc on both short and long runs.
Antonelli has a mathematical chance of clinching his first world title this weekend. He needs to win the race, with Russell finishing below eighth and Hamilton below fourth. He leads Russell by 102 points in the drivers’ championship.
Ferrari have a new floor on the car, but Leclerc played down the gains. “It is small gains but we could still see them on the car,” he said. He added that the others seemed to gain more from Friday to Saturday, so Saturday “is not going to be so easy”. He also called the track surface “very poor”, singling out a “very bumpy” first sector.
Lando Norris was seventh for McLaren, but he set no time on his qualifying simulation after a mistake at Turn 16. He was about 0.2s faster than Verstappen on average over the long runs, though on hard tyres, so the two can’t be compared. McLaren introduced the first of three planned upgrades this weekend. “The car is very difficult to drive, too difficult to be consistent,” Norris said. Teammate Oscar Piastri was eighth, ahead of Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar and Haas driver Oliver Bearman.
Mercedes have put both cars back to the specification introduced in Malaysia two races ago. The team believes there is more performance in it and hopes a full weekend with three practice sessions will help them find the right set-up. “We are still trying to get the car in the right window,” Antonelli said.
Three drivers carry grid penalties for exceeding their engine-part allocation: Arvid Lindblad of Racing Bulls drops five places, Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto 20 and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto 10.
Source: BBC Sport
