His teammate Carlos Sainz was fastest in FP1 and Leclerc topped FP2, having missed the first session in favor of mandated rookie runner Robert Shwartzman.
United States Grand Prix FP1 results: Sainz fastest from Verstappen
What happened in United States GP Free Practice 1?
Sergio Perez set the early bar for Red Bull at 1m40.549s on soft tires just before Haas F1 Team FP1 returnee Antonio Giovinazzi spun into the barriers in the Esses. He overheated the clutch as he struggled to rejoin and was ruled out for the rest of the session, as the car required a new gearbox.
Following a brief red flag, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen improved the P1 time to 1m38.272s and then 1m37.462s. In the final 20 minutes, Lance Stroll went fastest for Aston Martin, 0.002s faster, before Sainz set 1m36.857s, which proved to be the quickest time of the session.
Verstappen pushed again and got within 0.224s to retake second, ahead of Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Stroll and Perez.
As well as Giovinazzi, who ended up last, the other ‘real’ rookies in this session were Shwartzman (Ferrari) in 16th, ahead of Alex Palou (McLaren, who didn’t run soft tyres), Theo Pourchaire (Alfa Romeo, time also set on mediums) and Logan Sargeant (Williams).
United States Grand Prix FP2 results: Leclerc fastest from Bottas
What happened in United States GP Free Practice 2?
Leclerc topped second practice, where the majority of laptimes were essentially meaningless due to the session being dedicated to 2023 Pirelli tire testing.
Leclerc was one of three drivers to run two of the 2022 Pirelli compounds – along with Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo – because they sat out FP1.
As the rest of the field completed set run plans dictated by Pirelli on two of its prototype compounds for next year – given to the teams in a ‘blind’ allocation, with the drivers required to run both types but unaware which was which during their testing running – that trio duly set the session’s fastest times.
After running on the softs early on, and following a quick trip to the pits to switch to the mediums, Leclerc set the quickest time of FP2 just before the 15-minute mark – a 1m36.810s. Bottas pipped Ricciardo and took second behind Leclerc – 0.715s slower than the Ferrari.
Sainz headed the drivers that only ran the new prototype compounds on 1m38.232s.
