Ferrari FP2 report: Charles Leclerc P1, Carlos Sainz P4

The light at the end of the pit lane went green and the at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) began to fill once more, as the second free practice session for the 2022 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix was under way in Austin. This session ran for 90 minutes (30 more than usual) as part of the Pirelli tyre test in view of the 2023 season.

There were five drivers in this session who were allowed to do some running on this year’s tyres. Charles Leclerc, Daniel Ricciardo, Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen and Nicholas Latifi all sat out the first free practice session earlier today as their teams fulfilled obligated young driver testing sessions. As a result, they were allowed to do 30 minutes of normal running, before following the prescribed Pirelli testing plan for the remainder of FP2.

Whilst the rest of the top of the timesheet was dominated by those who have given a run on the marked tyres, Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz sat in second on the 2023 tyres, +1.953s behind his Maranello teammate Charles Leclerc.

There was a close call for Lando Norris as he drifted into the pitlane, just about managing to regain control of the McLaren and keep it on track to the garage, while Kevin Magnussen was on the radio to his garage to report that something wasn’t quite right with his pedals: “Something big is loose around my pedals.”

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McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo was another driver enjoying the prototype tyres as he sat in P3 and just +0.817s behind Charles Leclerc in top spot. Valtteri Bottas was still in second with the other Ferrari F1-75 car of Carlos Sainz in fourth. With all drivers on the prototype tyres in the second part of FP2 at COTA, we weren’t seeing much movement in the timesheet as they all drove is this blind test. Charles Leclerc’s time from earlier, when on the soft tyres, still remained on top.

The message from reporters down in the pitlane was that Max Verstappen was back into his garage as the Red Bull team worked out some issues with his car. However, he was having a chat with Brad Pitt so he probably didn’t mind! We had just six cars out on track in the final 10 minutes, with the majority of the drivers opting to head back to the pits as the sun begins to set in Austin.

It’s not been the most exciting of sessions and clearly not the most representative of Friday action with the prototype test but it is Charles Leclerc who went fastest in P2 for Scuderia Ferrari with a best lap time of 1:26.810. Valtteri Bottas finished in second for Alfa Romeo, +0.715s behind with McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo in third, with Carlos Sainz fourth.

After today, it is clear how important Practice Three at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is going to be ahead of Qualifying tomorrow.

United States Grand Prix – Here are the complete results from the second practice ahead of the 2022 F1 World Championship race at COTA.

Results (Classification):