#USGP FP2: @CharlesLeclerc tops time-sheets ahead of @ValtteriBottas. #F1

Leclerc US GP FP2 – Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fastest in the afternoon FP2 session at the US GP ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas who was second and McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo who completed the top three.

Leclerc’s benchmark was a 1:36.810 on the 2022-spec yellow side walled C3 Medium compounds and was 0.715 seconds clear of Bottas with Ricciardo a further 0.817 seconds adrift of the Monegasque driver. However, the times weren’t representative as the session was run an extra half-an-hour longer with sole-tyre supplier Pirelli conducting testing on their prototype 2023 compounds.

Leclerc was one of the three drivers to run two of the 2022 Pirelli rubber –  along with Bottas and Ricciardo – because the Ferrari driver sat out the opening FP1 session with reserve Robert Shwartzman piloting his F1-75 racer as part of the rookie practice running mandated in the 2022 rules and regulations.

As the rest of the field completed their set stints dictated by Pirelli on two of it’s prototype compounds for next season – given to teams in a blind allocation, with drivers required to run both sets, but unaware which tyres was which during their testing runs – that trio posted the fastest efforts of the session.

They were allowed 35 minutes to get up to speed for the first time around the Circuit Of The Americas in 2022, before joining their team-mates and rivals on the unmarked tyres.

The compounds were from the harder end of Pirelli’s 2023 range, with the softs being tested in next weekend’s Free Practice Two session at the Mexican Grand Prix after that running had to be dropped at last round’s Japanese GP due to the rain.

Bottas emerged from the pits in-front of the field for the beginning of the 90-minute session, with Ricciardo following – the duo being subbed for Theo Pourchaire and Alex Palou at Alfa Romeo and McLaren respectively in the earlier FP1 running.

Running the 2022 Pirelli C3 Medium rubber, Bottas set the initial benchmark with a 1:40.655 before Ricciardo went ahead on a 1:40.474, also running the yellow-branded tyre.

After the opening five minutes, Leclerc lowered the times down – using the 2022 C4 red side-walled softs – setting a 1:38.856 to go quickest.

He was momentarily demoted by Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz, who was using the prototype from the get-go as he had topped the earlier FP1 session, before Leclerc re-claimed P1 posting a 1:37.614 to end his soft-tyre stint.

After a quick stop for a set of mediums, Leclerc set the best effort of FP2 just before the opening quarter closed out – a 1:36.810.

The Monegasque driver pitted afterwards and after almost a ten-minute stint, he completed his permitted time on the 2022 compounds completing a high-fuel run, with his efforts circling the Circuit Of The Americas around five seconds off his personal best.

This replicated a usual FP2 session, but with FP2 starting three hours later than the 2pm local race start time on Sunday, conditions were not comparable.

As Leclerc was undertaking this, Bottas and Ricciardo finished their 2022 tyre stints on a contra-run programme – moving from the mediums to the softer tyres.

Ricciardo jumped ahead of Sainz to end up 0.817 seconds adrift of Leclerc with 23 minutes on the clock, followed a few seconds later by Alfa’s Bottas, who put in an effort just 0.029 seconds off on his initial flying lap.

Five minutes later, Bottas put in another hot-lap to nudge Ricciardo and take second from the Australian – 0.715 seconds adrift of the Ferrari. Sainz was the leading driver of the rest that only ran Pirelli 2023 prototype compounds, which included Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen and Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi despite the duo also missing out on FP1, with both respective outfits opting to stick with a 2023 prototype tyre only running programme.

This was orchestrated by sole-tyre supplier Pirelli and featured four runs – two performance tests with 20kg’s of fuel and two long-run stints with the cars starting with 100kg’s of fuel.

The fastest laps of the performance running – five tours in total, with three flying laps required on either side of the sighting laps (in and out-laps) – came in the opening stint, with Sainz’s 1:38.763 effort, which momentarily put him on top then beaten by his 1:38.232.

Sainz was then followed by Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher who was fifth, McLaren’s Lando Norris in sixth and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen taking seventh.

Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton lead AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez to round out the top ten.

After the two five-lap performance stints concluded, the drivers were then required to run two shifts of eight laps on higher fuel mode.

The efforts on that fuel level were around four-five seconds slower than those set on low-fuel mode.

Another part of the testing involved the tyre blanket temperatures to run at 50 degrees, which are mandated in the rules for next season – 70 degrees down from this campaign, and ahead of the planned tyre warmers ban set for the 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship season and beyond.

This potentially could have been a factor with the amount of driver errors made during the afternoon session, with several drivers encountering slides exiting corners on the tweaked rubber for 2023, which are suggested to be subtle design changes rather than a wholesale adjustment made by the Italian tyre manufacturer.

The modifications include making sure the 2023 compounds do not have the understeer characteristic through slow-speed that the drivers have not enjoyed on the current spec.

BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso suffered a big-snap out of the up-hill left-hand turn one – also at turn 11 running on to the long back straight.

Hamilton and Norris also encountered slides coming through the fast, left down-hill, which form the second-to-last corner – with the latter also dramatically sliding coming into the pits during the early proceedings.

At one stage, Sainz reported his running on the prototype tyres as “Tokyo Drift”.

The 17 drivers of the 20 using the 2023 Pirelli prototype rubber had their stints capped at 26 laps after the four runs set by Pirelli, whilst Leclerc (37), Bottas (37) and Ricciardo (40) clocked up more mileage.

They closed out Free Practice Two as the only runners, with Leclerc’s initial flyer on the 2023 prototypes being 0.1 seconds slower than Ferrari team-mate Sainz’s personal best effort in fourth on the time-sheets.

Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen was outside the top ten in 11th place and ahead of AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda who took 12th, Mercedes’ George Russell who placed 13th in the classification and Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu who came 14th in the order.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll finished FP2 in 15th and in-front of BWT Alpine F1 Team pairing Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso who were 16th and 17th respectively.

Williams Racing duo Alexander Albon and Nicholas Latifi ended the day 18th and at the rear respectively as Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel split the pairing in a low 19th.

You can see the full Formula 1 Aramco United States Grand Prix 2022 Free Practice 2 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1135/united-states/practice-2.html

You can catch up on the earlier FP1 report and this weekend’s race preview at the links below:

#USGP FP1: @ScuderiaFerrari’s @Carlossainz55 fastest ahead of @Max33Verstappen. #F1

#F1 @Aramco #UnitedStatesGP 2022 Preview. #USGP