Leclerc leads Verstappen in Austin practice as Antonelli targets first title

Charles Leclerc put Ferrari at the top of the timesheets in first practice for the United States Grand Prix, finishing 0.084 seconds ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen. BBC Sport's Andrew Benson reported from Austin that the session opened the first race weekend at which Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli can secure his first world championship.

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Antonelli finished fifth, 0.481 seconds behind Leclerc. McLaren's Lando Norris and Mercedes team-mate George Russell occupied the two positions between Verstappen and the Italian. Lewis Hamilton was sixth for Ferrari, ahead of McLaren's Oscar Piastri. The opening session therefore left Leclerc narrowly ahead of Verstappen, with Antonelli behind both Norris and his own team-mate in the practice order.

The championship conditions remain specific. According to the BBC report, Antonelli must win Sunday's race to have a chance of clinching the title in Austin. He also needs Russell to finish below eighth and Hamilton below fourth. A victory alone would therefore not be sufficient: both of those finishing-position requirements must also be met for the championship to be settled this weekend.

Mercedes ran both cars with the upgrade package it first introduced in Malaysia two races ago. Questions remain over how that specification compares with its alternative, but the team believes there is more performance to extract. Its assessment is that it has yet to identify the set-up needed to make full use of the changes, rather than that the package has reached its potential.

The Austin schedule offers Mercedes three practice sessions to work on that task. The team hopes the conventional weekend format will help it refine the upgraded cars. Friday's opening results put Russell ahead of Antonelli, but the reported purpose of the additional practice time is to develop a better understanding of the specification and how to optimise it.

Ferrari also brought changes, centred on a new floor. Both Leclerc and Hamilton were cautious about the likely benefit. Hamilton estimated the gain at roughly half a tenth of a second and suggested that track suitability or a weaker Mercedes weekend could matter more to Ferrari's chances. Leclerc, who won in Austin two years ago, nevertheless began this event with the fastest practice lap.