Charles Leclerc: A word of caution despite setting the fastest time in the first two F1 practice sessions

The start to the Austin race weekend went exactly as Charles Leclerc had hoped. The Monegasque Ferrari driver quickly got up to speed in his red racing car and finished top of the timesheets in both practice sessions. His lead was modest, however: in the first practice session, his time of 1:36.052 was just 84 thousandths of a second faster than Red Bull Racing star Max Verstappen.

The result in the second practice session was even closer: the 29-year-old finished the session with a time of 1:35.291, putting him just 42 thousandths of a second ahead of championship leader Kimi Antonelli. At least he was able to use the practice sessions to complete longer runs on both the medium and soft tyres, gathering important data for Sunday’s race.

Charles Leclerc does not expect an easy ride in qualifying

After completing his work, the nine-time Grand Prix winner, who had taken to the track with Ferrari’s mini-update, said: “The car felt good, but as I mentioned yesterday, the update doesn’t bring a major advantage. The improvement is very slight, which is why the car doesn’t feel all that different from before. But it is a small step forward. We’ve also got off to a good start to the weekend; we’ve had good balance in the car right from the start, and I think that’s the most important thing on a Friday.”

At the same time, however, Leclerc also cautioned: “I do hope I can carry this momentum into qualifying, but the other drivers will certainly step it up a gear and, as always, improve further ahead of qualifying. I’ve had a fairly smooth day myself, so the progress won’t be huge, even though there’s obviously still some performance to be found. But the other drivers are clearly managing to make a bigger step from Friday to Saturday. And when you look at how close the times are, it’s clear that it’s going to be anything but easy.”

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