Charles Leclerc was quickest again in the second practice session for the United States Grand Prix, but once again there was only a narrow margin between the Ferrari driver and his closest rival.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli set the second-quickest time, several minutes after Leclerc produced a 1’35.291 on softs to lead the session. His early progress was disrupted by a loose seat in his Mercedes.Max Verstappen, who had been second-quickest earlier in the day, fell to third place in the second session, but remained within two-tenths of a second of Leclerc.
The leading trio had almost half a second in hand over everyone else, including their team mates. Lewis Hamilton looked less comfortable in his Ferrari and managed only fourth. George Russell was even further behind his team mate after a snap of oversteer on his quickest run.
Isack Hadjar could only manage the ninth-fastest time, almost a second slower than Verstappen, and was deeply unhappy with his car’s balance. “That’s disgusting,” he exclaimed to race engineer Richard Wood, calling his tyre degradation at high-speed “a joke”.
There was little to separate the McLaren pair, who were kept out of the top six by Liam Lawson, who produced a strong lap for Racing Bulls. Lando Norris appeared to have time in hand after his soft tyre run but not enough to significantly cut his deficit of over a second to Leclerc.
Oliver Bearman put his Haas, in its one-off minty blue livery, inside the top 10 at the team’s home race. Fellow American racers Cadillac, meanwhile, ended a session somewhere other than bottom of the times for a change.
That unwanted distinction fell to Williams, whose drivers struggled with their evil-handling FW48. Alexander Albon failed to set a competitive time for the second session in a row after several off-track excursions, ending up over four seconds off the next-slowest driver. “The car is a mess right now,” said his team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr. “I have no confidence in the rear.”
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2026 United States Grand Prix second practice result
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