Ferrari arrived at the Circuit of the Americas with changes to the floor, sidepod inlet and diffuser as the team seeks a first victory since the British Grand Prix.
Leclerc led Max Verstappen by 0.084 seconds in the opening session before finishing 0.042 seconds ahead of Kimi Antonelli in the second. “The feeling is quite good, but we need to be careful. Obviously, it’s only Friday,” Leclerc said.
Ferrari started practice with a competitive balance, allowing Leclerc to focus on refining the car rather than correcting fundamental handling problems. “We are seeing what we expected, but it’s definitely not what everybody thinks in terms of the upgrade and lap time gained,” Leclerc said.
“It’s been a good day. I think the balance of the car was good and, straight away, we started in a good window. That paid off.”
Lewis Hamilton had predicted that Ferrari’s upgrade would produce only about 0.05 seconds of additional performance.
Leclerc said the new components had helped but warned that rival teams had more performance to unlock before qualifying. “We shouldn’t carry too high expectations going into tomorrow,” Leclerc said.
“I feel like the others have more potential to unlock. Kimi and Max seem to be very strong.”
Leclerc said McLaren’s potential remained unclear because the team did not appear to have completed a representative lap.
Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur also played down the significance of the Friday standings, saying the field remained closely matched. “It’s a good start, but I think once again it’s very tight,” Vasseur said.
“I’m not sure that the classification of FP1 was relevant for qualifying.”
Vasseur said Ferrari still needed to understand the upgraded package and refine the setup before qualifying. “The impact of the upgrades is a bit less than at the beginning of the season,” Vasseur said.
“It means that we have to fine-tune everything and try to get the best for tomorrow.”
Vasseur estimated that five or six cars could challenge for pole position and warned that running in another car’s dirty air would complicate overtaking during the race.
–F1/ChannelAfrica–
