Charles Leclerc wasted no time making an impression at the United States Grand Prix on Friday afternoon. The Ferrari driver, piloting an upgraded version of the Prancing Horse, absolutely dominated the opening practice session at Circuit of the Americas, setting a time of 1:36.052 that left everyone else chasing his tail. It was a commanding display that's got to have Ferrari feeling pretty optimistic heading into the rest of the weekend.

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Max Verstappen came closest to troubling Leclerc, but the Red Bull driver still finished 84 thousandths of a second adrift in second place. That's the kind of gap that tells you Leclerc had the edge today, though Verstappen's proximity suggests the battle's going to be fierce. Behind them, Lando Norris rounded out the top three for McLaren, almost a quarter second back from the Monegasque.

The Mercedes squad wasn't too far away either, with George Russell taking fourth place and Andrea Kimi Antonelli fifth. Antonelli's presence up there is notable considering he's got a real chance to wrap up the world championship at this very track this weekend. Lewis Hamilton, Leclerc's new teammate, finished sixth, about half a second down on his Ferrari mate. That gap might raise some eyebrows, but it's early days yet.

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The field looked pretty settled overall, with Oscar Piastri, Gabriel Bortoleto, and the Racing Bulls pair of Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson rounding out the top ten. Things got spread out a bit further down, with the midfield runners not really troubling the front runners. Isaac Hadjar in the second Red Bull finished down in 14th, which is worth keeping an eye on as the weekend develops.

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This was a relatively quiet session with no major incidents, giving all the teams a solid chance to get their data together before FP2 kicked off later that evening. Leclerc's performance with the upgraded Ferrari definitely sets the tone for what's shaping up to be a cracking battle at COTA this weekend.

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