AUSTIN, Texas — Charles Leclerc ended Friday’s running at the United States Grand Prix as the fastest driver on track at Circuit of The Americas.
Leclerc edged Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen to take the top spot in the second practice session..
After the Ferrari man went marginally quicker than Verstappen in the first hour of practice, the racers had another opportunity to get to grips with the Circuit of The Americas under the Texas sun.
The light at the end of the pit lane turned green and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly led a queue of cars onto the track, with Sergio Perez returning to his Cadillac following Colton Herta’s appearance in the first session.
Verstappen continued his strong form from earlier in the day by setting a benchmark of 1 minute and 36.581 seconds on the medium tires.
Meanwhile, his Red Bull teammate Isack Hadjar reported that he was unable to “close the visor properly” which distracted him on his early laps.
Lewis Hamilton completed his first effort on the hard compound and wound up nearly seven-tenths adrift of Verstappen, but his time was quickly deleted after he exceeded track limits.
He wasn’t the only one who was struggling to stay within the white lines – Hadjar and Antonelli’s laps were also discounted, with the Italian simultaneously complaining about issues with his seat.
Indeed, once the checkered flag fell, the Ferrari driver remained unbeaten as Antonelli found himself just 0.042 seconds further back in second, leading Verstappen, Hamilton and Russell.
Liam Lawson placed an admirable sixth for Racing Bulls ahead of the McLaren duo of Norris and Oscar Piastri – neither of whom were happy with the handling of their cars – while Hadjar and Haas driver Ollie Bearman completed the top 10.
