The Ferrari driver, Charles Leclerc, has set the fastest time in the first practice session of the United States Grand Prix, held in Austin. Leclerc has outpaced Max Verstappen from Red Bull, achieving a slight advantage of seven-tenths over the Dutch driver with an improved Ferrari.
With high temperatures at the Circuit of the Americas, Ferrari has presented its latest aerodynamic updates, understood as the last round of improvements for 2026. Among the modifications are revisions to the floor, the bargeboards, the sidepods, and the diffuser.
Although the team has lowered expectations, considering the improvements as minor, Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton have shown good pace at the beginning of the session. Leclerc recorded a 1m36.61s on medium tires, just 0.074s below Hamilton’s personal best time.
The third fastest time came from McLaren’s Lando Norris, followed by Mercedes drivers Kimi Antonelli and George Russell, who used hard tires for their first attempts, finishing four and five-tenths respectively behind.
Leclerc improved his time when switching to the softer compound, achieving a time of 1m36.052s. Verstappen, who made an update to his front wing, climbed to second position with a time of 1m36.136s, just 0.084s behind Leclerc.
Despite some moments of oversteer, Norris managed to secure third position, 0.245s behind Leclerc. The top four teams appear very closely matched based on the times shown during this first session.
The world champion, Antonelli, finished in fifth place, ahead of Hamilton and Piastri. Gabriel Bortoleto stood out among the midfielders with the eighth fastest time aboard Audi, while Liam Lawson completed the top 10, with the Haas competition showing signs of improvement.
The session featured rookie Colton Herta, who drove Sergio Pérez’s car, while Alex Albon from Williams was the only driver not to register a competitive time due to aerodynamic tests being conducted by his team.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
