Ferrari Leclerc tops US Grand Prix Friday practice

That margin matters in a season where qualifying position is often the difference between controlling a race and getting trapped in traffic. Ferrari’s Friday form suggests the team may have found a workable setup on a circuit that rewards balance and confidence, especially through the high-speed esses and the rougher sections that exposed Hamilton’s discomfort. Leclerc said the day had been “very clean,” but warned that other teams appear to be making bigger gains from Friday to Saturday, a reminder that practice pace is not yet race pace.

For Ferrari, the upside is straightforward: if Leclerc can convert this speed into pole contention, the team could put pressure on Red Bull and Mercedes in both the sprint weekend and the grand prix. For investors in the broader Ferrari story, weekends like this matter because they feed the brand’s performance narrative and keep attention on the company’s racing relevance, even if the equity case rests on far more than lap times. Formula One remains a core marketing engine for Ferrari, and visible competitiveness helps reinforce the premium image that supports its pricing power.

There are also signs of risk. Hamilton was unhappy with the car’s response over the bumps, and Ferrari has said it is still comparing setup directions across its two cars. That raises the possibility that the team’s speed is not fully transferable across race conditions or driver preferences. Mercedes, meanwhile, looked closer than the headline gaps suggest, with Antonelli improving sharply in second practice after a difficult first session and team boss Zak Brown insisting McLaren was stronger than its seventh- and eighth-place practice results indicated.

The wider competitive picture is that Austin looks unusually open. Verstappen remains a live threat after winning in Texas last year, McLaren has pace to unlock, and Mercedes has room to improve. If Ferrari can hold its advantage into qualifying, it would strengthen the case that Leclerc’s Friday performance was not just a one-session outlier but evidence of a more competitive baseline at a critical point in the season.