. ScuderiaFerrari's Charles_Leclerc leads second F1 practice for the USGP at COTA ahead of Bottas, Ricciardo
Leclerc was one of three drivers to run two of the 2022 Pirelli compounds – along with Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo – because he sat out FP1 with Robert Shwartzman driving his F1-75 as part of the rookie practice running mandated in the 2022 rules.
Bottas led the pack out of the pits for the start of the extended 90-minute session, with Ricciardo trailing behind – the pair having been replaced by Theo Pourchaire and Alex Palou at Alfa Romeo and McLaren respectively in FP1. After a quick trip to the pits to switch to the mediums, Leclerc set the quickest time of FP2 just before the 15-minute mark – a 1m36.810s.
Ricciardo moved ahead of Sainz to run second 0.817s adrift of Leclerc with 23 minutes on the board, followed a few seconds later by Bottas, who put in a time just 0.029s slower on his first softs flier. Sainz was followed by Mick Schumacher, Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, with Lewis Hamilton, Pierre Gasly and Sergio Perez rounding out the top 10.