Ferrari own Friday at the Circuit of the Americas
Charles Leclerc finished the opening day of the United States Grand Prix weekend as the only driver to win both practice sessions. His 1:35.291 in the second hour left Kimi Antonelli 0.042 seconds behind. Max Verstappen took third at 0.189, with Lewis Hamilton fourth, 0.616 off his Ferrari teammate.
It followed a first session where Leclerc had also led Verstappen, so Ferrari’s upgrade package looks like a real step. Leclerc was careful about it afterwards, saying nobody should carry high expectations into Saturday.
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Antonelli’s seat trouble and the title picture
Antonelli’s lap is the more impressive one given his afternoon. His seat was not properly fixed early on, forcing a pit stop and about ten minutes out of the car for repairs. He still got the lap in. The stakes are heavy for the Mercedes driver: a win on Sunday could make him Formula 1’s youngest world champion, and George Russell and Hamilton are no longer mathematically in the fight.
Russell was briefly investigated for pushing Leclerc off track, but the stewards saw nothing dangerous and took no action. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri could not string together clean laps on softs, ending seventh and eighth, and Isack Hadjar was heard grumbling on the radio from ninth. Williams had a rough day, with Carlos Sainz 20th and Alex Albon last, 8.135 seconds off the pace.
Practice Three starts at 6.30pm UK time on Saturday, with qualifying at 10pm and the race at 8pm on Sunday.
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