Max Verstappen needs two laps to prepare the tires before looking for the flying lap: the world champion then found a 1’35 “825 on soft tires, despite the wind that conditions the riders with very variable gusts in the second session of free practice for the United States GP held in Austin. Max benefited from the slipstream of an Alpine to make the difference on the Ferrari, as Charles Leclerc’s red finished with 1’36 “145 to three tenths, while the Red Bull and the red in the previous attempt were separated by only 10 thousandths.
The feeling is that Ferrari equals Red Bull in the qualifying simulation because Carlos Sainz is also close to F1-75. The Spaniard has differentiated his work with the Monegasque by dividing the long runs on different compounds: Charles with the soft and the Madrid with the averages to gather more information in view of the race.
Leclerc has fitted the sixth internal combustion engine and a new turbo so he will have to slide 10 positions further back than the qualifying position. Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso and Guanyu Zhou also unmarked a fresh engine and will have to give up five positions.
As a function of this, it will be up to Carlos Sainz to represent the Scuderia in the fight for pole position against Max Verstappen, while the Mexican, fourth, seems to succumb to Leclerc who can rely on an engine that has new parts granted by the FIA to improve. reliability.
More was expected from Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton pays half a second with the W13 which features the latest aerodynamic update, but cannot take advantage of the new front wing declared illegal by the FIA for the 5 flow deflectors which are not only supports of the last flap but perform an aerodynamic function prohibited by the rules. They tried a trick that did not go unnoticed !!!
George Russell is seventh with the other silver arrow: the English has complained a lot about the very unstable rear, so much so that he has paid seven tenths from the seven times world champion: an exaggeration. In the midst of the Mercedes has slipped the excellent Fernando Alonso who has the least updated Alpine in the fund, while ESteban Ocon with the novelty did not go beyond the 13th place.
Positive bike session for Aston Martin who places Sebastian Vettel eighth ahead of teammate Lance Stroll. Closes the top 10 Pierre Gasly with the AlphaTauri. Valtteri Bottas performed 11th with Alfa Romeo, while more was expected from McLaren: Lando Norris is 12th, while Daniel Ricciardo is only 15th after accusing brake problems.
Kevin Magnussen is 14th with the Haas: the Dane was more brilliant than Mick Schumacher who lost a piece of the session due to a mechanical problem that made his return to the pits problematic. Haas mechanics were good at fixing his car to give him time to do a mini long run.
Yuki Tsunoda did not seem comfortable with the AlphaTauri and is 16th ahead of the two Williams of Alexander Albon and Nicholas Latifi. The Chinese Guanyu Zhou, who covered only three laps with Alfa Romeo, closed the time table. Reliability of the C42 is a problem …
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