Leclerc leads Austin second practice by 42 milliseconds
Charles Leclerc led second practice for the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix, ahead of Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen. The Ferrari driver had also topped the opening session. Mercedes addressed movement in Antonelli’s seat, while teams switched from qualifying simulations to longer runs on different tyre compounds in the closing stages.
Sports··Morning
Leclerc stays ahead in Austin
Charles Leclerc completed Friday’s Formula 1 practice running at the United States Grand Prix in Austin with the fastest time in both sessions. Ferrari’s driver finished the second session ahead of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli. The afternoon classification placed Red Bull’s Max Verstappen third.[1], [2]
Leclerc’s best lap was 1:35.291, against Antonelli’s 1:35.333. Their gap was 42 milliseconds. Verstappen recorded 1:35.480. Lewis Hamilton put the other Ferrari fourth, while George Russell completed the leading five for Mercedes.[1]
Antonelli returns after a garage intervention
Antonelli reported that his seat was moving over the circuit’s bumps and returned to the garage. Mercedes addressed the problem before he resumed. The early running used medium tyres, followed by soft-tyre qualifying simulations. Lando Norris lost a fast lap to track limits and Oscar Piastri locked a tyre at Turn 12.[1]
McLaren split tyres for the longer runs
Liam Lawson took sixth, ahead of Norris and Piastri in seventh and eighth. Isack Hadjar and Oliver Bearman rounded out the top ten. The closing running shifted to longer stints: Norris used hard tyres, Piastri softs and Hadjar mediums, while Verstappen also ran on softs. Qualifying and the race remained to be contested.[1]
