Leclerc outpaces Bottas amid Pirelli tyre test in extended FP2
Ferrari driver Leclerc topped the timesheet ahead of Bottas’ Alfa Romeo by 0.715s, with Daniel Ricciardo a further tenth back in third for McLaren after an hour-and-a-half of running on Friday afternoon at Austin.
FP2 was dedicated to trialing two different types of unmarked Pirelli tyre compounds for next season, with both short and long runs carried out. The teams were not made aware of what tyres they would be given for the session.
The drivers who missed out on opening practice at COTA while rookies took part in FP1 were allowed to run their own programme before picking up the test with the rest of the field.
Leclerc, Bottas and Ricciardo were all on non-prototype tyres when they set their quickest lap times.
Pirelli’s test was originally meant to be held at the Japanese Grand Prix, but heavy rain at Suzuka at Friday practice meant it had to be postponed until this weekend.
FP1 pacesetter Carlos Sainz was fourth for Ferrari, 1.4s slower than his teammate and over a second clear of Mick Schumacher’s Haas in fifth place.
Lando Norris took sixth for McLaren, beating newly crowned world champion Max Verstappen by just 0.028s.
Just 0.123s behind Verstappen was Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who ended up 2.888s off the pace in eighth.
Hamilton had a brief scare when he ran wide at Turn 19 and hit the kerb hard but he managed to avoid further drama.
However, the seven-time world champion did manage to annoy Fernando Alonso when he blocked his old title rival in the final sector early in the session.
“Hamilton has no mirrors today. Unbelievable,” the Alpine driver bemoaned.
Pierre Gasly and Sergio Perez completed the top-10 order for AlphaTauri and Red Bull respectively.
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