Leclerc fastest in tyre test-focused Free Practice 2

Charles Leclerc has gone fastest in a Free Practice 2 session at the Circuit of The Americas dedicated to testing Formula 1’s 2023 tyres.

The Ferrari driver headed Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo at the end of the elongated session, though the trio were not comparable to the bulk of the field.

Their best laps came in the opening half of the session before they had to fall in line with the rest of the field in the service of Pirelli.

The 90-minute affair was designed to help develop tyres for the 2023 season, the prototype rubber without sidewall markings to keep teams in the dark on the specifics of what they were testing.

Part of the test being carried out included reduced blanket temperature, down to 50 degrees from 70 as is typically used.

The programme set out by Pirelli saw teams having to run performance laps with 20kg of fuel, before switching to longer runs with 100kg onboard, each team with two different compounds of tyre.

A handful of drivers had exemptions to that, notably those who missed the opening session.

That included Leclerc, Ricciardo, Bottas, and Nicholas Latifi, who were given a 45-minute window at the start of the session on a known set of tyres to complete the set-up work they missed earlier in the day.

In the early minutes, the bulk of the field headed out, running to a dictated run plan – at least those who had run this morning.

Leclerc was not one of those, rising to the top of the timesheets on a set of soft compound tyres, his early best a 1:38.856s.

That stood until Carlos Sainz went quicker on a set of test rubber, recording a 1:38.763s after seven minutes.

The Monegasque then improved once more, recording a 1:37.614s before pitting and swapping on to the medium rubber.

Bottas and Ricciardo had both headed out on the medium tyres, the pair sitting third and fourth fastest after 12 minutes, the Alfa Romeo Sauber driver with a 1:38.999s and the McLaren a 1:39.160s.

Despite running on the harder compound tyres, Leclerc went faster again after 15 minutes, logging a 1:36.810s to sit 1.9s clear of the pack.

That compared favourably with the times set in Free Practice 1, Sainz’s best from that session a 1:36.857s.

Ricciardo improved to second fastest with a 1:37.627s after 25 minutes of running after he switched to the soft compound tyres.

Bottas all but matched the Australian’s effort with a 1:37.656s also on the softs, though he found a tenth soon after to move up to second best.

Lance Stroll emerged into the session late as Aston Martin completed set-up work on his car – teams were able to fit their own set-ups but were limited in terms of the changes they could make during the session from run to run.

After the mid-point of the hit-out, it became a pure tyre test, making it difficult to read much into the times.

That was evidenced by Mick Schumacher sitting fifth best behind Sainz in fourth, the Spaniard the leading driver who wasn’t allowed to run a set of known tyres.

Behind them was Lando Norris in sixth, then Max Verstappen in seventh from Lewis Hamilton, Pierre Gasly, and Sergio Perez completing the top 10.

Sainz’s best was 1.4s away from the best set by his team-mate, with a field spread of more than four seconds back to Latifi.

Normal running resumes with Free Practice 3 on Saturday, beginning at 14:00 local time (20:00 BST/06:00 AEDT Sunday).

Results: Formula 1 United States Grand Prix, Free Practice 2