Leclerc Tops Second Practice in Austin as Pirelli Run Test for 2023 Prototype Tyres

Friday saw the return of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship to the United States with two exciting practice sessions, with the second being extended from sixty to ninety minutes due to a Pirelli tyre test session.

Scuderia Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc posted the fastest time in the second practice session, the Monegasque driver was one of the drivers who posted their times on the 2022 spec tyres after sitting out the first session after his team gave Robert Shwartzman a chance behind the wheel of the F1-75.

Leclerc’s fastest time was a 1.36.810 on the medium tyre with Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo also in the top three on soft tyres. The session, however, was primarily used for Pirelli to gather data on their work in progress tyre compounds ahead of the post-season test for the definitive versions in Abu Dhabi.

Free Practice 2 saw the first laps on the weekend for Leclerc, Ricciardo, Bottas, Nicholas Latifi and Kevin Magnussen. The latter lost a large amount of time due to Antonio Giovinazzi’s crash in the first session of the weekend.

Carlos Sainz Jr. led the drivers that were restricted to the unmarked Pirelli tyres, and it was a strong showing for Haas F1 Team‘s Mick Schumacher, who completed the top five. Lando Norris completed a strong session for McLaren coming home in sixth, but it could have ended badly for the Brit after he narrowly missed the wall after sliding at the pit entry.

2022 World Champion, Max Verstappen in seventh was closely followed by Lewis Hamilton for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team with Pierre Gasly, who recently completed a move to Alpine for the 2023 season and beyond, in ninth for Scuderia AlphaTauri. Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Pérez was down the order in tenth.

It was a good session for the home team, Haas with Magnussen having a decent showing in eleventh place, just aehad of the second AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda, while it was a underwhelming session for Mercedes’ George Russell, who was almost a second off his team-mate in thirteenth, ahead of Zhou Guanyu and Lance Stroll.

BWT Alpine F1 Team struggled to find pace throughout the session, with Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso coming a disappointing sixteenth and seventeenth. There was a moment of drama for Alonso with the Spaniard getting stuck behind Hamilton on an early run, with the former saying his rival “has no mirrors today”.

Williams Racing drivers Alexander Albon and Nicholas Latifi sandwiched Sebastian Vettel at the back of the pack.