United States F1 GP: Charles Leclerc completes a perfect Friday by finishing first in EL2

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc led the way in free practice for the Formula One United States Grand Prix on Friday, narrowly beating Kimi Antonelli to first place in Austin as McLaren struggled for grip.

Leclerc set a time of 1:35.291 just before the halfway point of Friday afternoon’s second practice session at Austin’s demanding Circuit of the Americas, surpassing Max Verstappen’s initial benchmark as Antonelli placed second.

As was the case earlier in FP1, COTA’s bumpy and varied combination of low-speed, high-downforce corners caused headaches for teams as they focused on the best configuration compromise for the 5.5km loop.

While George Russell beat Verstappen’s first benchmark on medium tyres, Oscar Piastri moved wide in the McLaren and Isack Hadjar struggled to get overall grip in the Red Bull.

The paddock collectively unwrapped new sets of soft tires shortly before the halfway mark. These qualifying simulations further highlighted the challenges of COTA, with the relentless combination of sector one Esses eating away at the soft tires.

Russell lost dramatically then saved his Mercedes in the fastest part of the Esses. Grip was also low in the final sector, with Lando Norris fighting a McLaren bronco as he left the road.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Chris Graythen / Getty Images

Verstappen made good use of his soft tires to take the lead with a time of 1m35.480s. However, the Dutchman did not stay there long since, during his first flight on soft tires, Leclerc stopped the times after 1’35”291, two tenths ahead of the Red Bull man thanks to a higher third sector.

Championship leader Antonelli shares second place with his two rivals, just 0.042 seconds behind Leclerc’s benchmark.

The trio enjoyed a significant gap to the rest of the field, with Lewis Hamilton recording six tenths in fourth, as he was one of many favorites to fail to put in an optimal lap before switching to long stints.

Russell recovered from his near miss in the Esses to take fifth, with Liam Lawson a promising sixth for Racing Bulls.

McLaren’s driving problems left Norris and Piastri in seventh and eighth, a second behind Leclerc.

A frustrated Hadjar finished ninth with Haas driver Oliver Bearman completing the top 10.