Ferrari's Leclerc tops both Friday practice sessions at US Grand Prix as team logs 106 laps
Charles Leclerc set the fastest time in both of Friday's practice sessions at the Circuit of the Americas, while Lewis Hamilton ended the day fourth and admitted he was not comfortable in the car.
- 106
- 1:35.291
- 1:36.052
- 49
What Happened
Scuderia Ferrari HP completed 106 laps on the first day of track action for the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas, getting through its planned programme despite challenging conditions, with a bumpy track surface and gusty winds. In FP1 the team also carried out an aerodynamic comparison, while in the second hour both cars ran the latest specification. By then the track offered good levels of grip, delivering useful data both over single laps and on long runs.
106laps
Split across two cars and two sessions at the Circuit of the Americas.
- FP1: both drivers started on Medium tyres and switched to the Soft compound for their qualifying simulations
- FP1 closing long runs: Leclerc on Mediums, Hamilton on Softs
- FP2: both drivers started on Hard tyres before switching to Softs
- FP2 closing: both drivers completed a long run on Soft tyres
- 1:36.052 in FP1 (fastest of the session); 1:35.291 in FP2 (fastest again)
- 1:36.687 in FP1 (sixth); 1:35.906 in FP2 (fourth)
- 26 / 23 in FP1, a team total of 49; 30 / 26 in FP2
“The feeling in the car was quite good. Our upgrades worked as expected, but we must not get carried away by too high expectations ahead of tomorrow, as I believe our competitors have more potential to unlock. Kimi (Antonelli) and Max (Verstappen) already look very strong, and they'll definitely be up there in qualifying. We'll keep our heads down and see what tomorrow has in store.”
“It wasn't the easiest day. We tried a different direction with the set-up, but I wasn't comfortable in the car, especially over the bumps. Charles showed there's pace there, so we need to understand how we can get the car into a better place on my side. Practice is always a good opportunity to try new things and build our understanding and we'll work through it with the team tonight and see where we can improve for tomorrow.”
The team will now analyse its data looking to find further performance in preparation for tomorrow's qualifying. Saturday's action begins with the final free practice session at 12.30 (19.30 CEST), followed by qualifying at 16 (23 CEST).
Previously from Ferrari N.V.
At the previous round, the Singapore Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc finished where he started, in second place, delivering Ferrari's 11th podium of the season, while team-mate Lewis Hamilton came home sixth after a split strategy backfired.
Background drawn from MotorClaw's earlier coverage of Ferrari N.V.'s official releases.
Why this matters
Friday's running is what shapes the set-up both cars take into Saturday's qualifying, which decides the grid for Sunday's race. Leclerc says Ferrari's upgrades worked as expected but warns that rivals Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen already look very strong, while Hamilton is still hunting a set-up he can trust over the bumps.
Terms in This Story
- FP1 / FP2
- Free practice sessions, the untimed-for-points track sessions before a Grand Prix where teams test car set-ups and tyre behaviour.
- Qualifying simulation
- A practice run on the softest, grippiest tyres designed to mimic the low-fuel, single-lap effort drivers make in qualifying.
- Long run
- A practice stint of many consecutive laps on one set of tyres, used to study how the car and tyres behave over a race distance.
- Tyre compound
- The rubber mixture a tyre is made from; softer compounds grip more but wear faster, harder compounds last longer but give less grip.
Summarised from the linked release; details can be imperfect — always verify against the original source.