Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc emerged quickest across both Friday Practice sessions at the 2026 US Grand Prix.
Leclerc enjoyed a strong FP1 to head Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by 0.084 seconds but that advantage halved in FP2 as he found himself only 0.042 seconds faster than title leader, Andrea Kimi Antonelli in two competitive sessions.
Now here is a roundup of both practice sessions at Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas, USA.
FP1
Alpine’s Franco Colapinto was the first driver to venture out onto the circuit but he didn’t set the first benchmark lap time, which fell to Haas’ Oliver Bearman as the Brit posted 1m 41.965 in the fifth minute.
His time was soon beaten by several drivers as McLaren’s Lando Norris topped the initial fliers with 1m 38.715 on the medium tyre compound.
Norris soon found himself sandwiching Leclerc and Verstappen after the second flying laps, as Leclerc set 1m 37.430 to head the Brit by 0.293 seconds, just before Lewis Hamilton posted 1m 37.235 in the 11th minute to go quickest.
Leclerc responded with 1m 36.781 in the 14th minute which saw him head Hamilton at the halfway mark by 0.074s as the opening stints came to a close.
Attention soon switched to soft-tyre qualifying simulations and Leclerc in the 32nd minute lowered his benchmark tom 1m 36.052, which proved enough to top the opening practice session after Verstappen saw a 1m 35.860 lap time deleted due to a breach of track limits.
Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar was classified 14th after his two soft-tyre times were deleted due to exceeding track limits, meaning that he was one of three drivers to not set an official soft-tyre time as his fastest lap was on the hard tyre compound.
Williams’ Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon did their fastest laps on the medium tyre after technical issues limited their running for much of the session, which saw Sainz go 19th ahead of Albon who initially went 20th before his lap time was deleted.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m 36.052 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.084 |
| 3 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.245 |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.326 |
| 5 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | + 0.481 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | + 0.503 |
| 7 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.734 |
| 8 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | + 0.943 |
| 9 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | + 1.011 |
| 10 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | + 1.257 |
| 11 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | + 1.613 |
| 12 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 1.636 |
| 13 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.731 |
| 14 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | + 1.738 |
| 15 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.749 |
| 16 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 1.844 |
| 17 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | + 2.069 |
| 18 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | + 22.070 |
| 19 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | + 2.794 |
| 20 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | + 3.001 |
| 21 | Colton Herta | Cadillac | + 3.927 |
| 22 | Alex Albon | Williams | No Time |
FP2
Gasly was the first driver to venture out onto the circuit and laid 1m 38.716 as the initial benchmark time, but Verstappen swiftly usurped him seconds later with 1m 36.581 to go fastest whilst Antonelli’s fastest lap time was deleted.
Norris then Russell briefly displaced Verstappen who responded with 1m 35.934 in the 13th minute to head Russell by 0.101 seconds as the opening stints drew to a close.
Russell however responded on the soft-tyre qualifying simulation with 1m 35.793 in the 25th minute yet his lap time was subsequently deleted for a track limits breach, whilst Verstappen set the pace with 1m 35.480 a minute later.
Leclerc however was hot on Verstappen’s heels and swiftly dislodged him with 1m 35.291 to dislodge the former four-time champion, who subsequently slipped to third after Antonelli managed to put his Mercedes just 0.042 seconds shy of Leclerc’ effort.
Russell, Hadjar, Bortoleto, Lindblad, Hulkenberg and Sainz set their fastest lap times on the medium tyre, whilst Norris’ quickest lap was achieved on the hard tyre after he made a mistake at Turn 15 on his soft-tyre flier attempt.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m 35.291 |
| 2 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | + 0.042 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.189 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | + 0.615 |
| 5 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.744 |
| 6 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | + 1.040 |
| 7 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 1.082 |
| 8 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 1.096 |
| 9 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | + 1.120 |
| 10 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | + 1.245 |
| 11 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | + 1.541 |
| 12 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.549 |
| 13 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | + 1.668 |
| 14 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 1.820 |
| 15 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | + 1.910 |
| 16 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 1.944 |
| 17 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.978 |
| 18 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | + 2.139 |
| 19 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | + 3.131 |
| 20 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | + 3.155 |
| 21 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | + 3.745 |
| 22 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 8.135 |
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