Friday practice at the Circuit of the Americas for the 2026 Formula 1 weekend began with a promising FP1 lap time from Lando Norris. The McLaren star clocked a 1:36,297 around the Texan circuit, placing him third fastest. However, the gap to the benchmark time set by Ferrari ace Charles Leclerc was nearly two and a half tenths of a second, highlighting an early deficit.
The situation deteriorated significantly during the second practice session as the gap to the front-runners widened further. The British driver was actually slower with a 1:36,373 compared to his morning run, while the rest of the competitive field managed to find improvements. At the end of the day, he had to settle for the seventh-fastest time overall.
The fact that his teammate Oscar Piastri struggled even more across both sessions provided no comfort to the ambitious title defender. Adapting to the latest upgrade package on the papaya-colored challenger proved to be an uphill battle, leaving the engineering squad with substantial data to analyze overnight.
Reflecting on how his machine felt with the newest parts attached, he made no secret of the ongoing balance hurdles. He described the day as simply difficult, noting that while the raw pace might not have been entirely disastrous, the team had clearly slipped behind Red Bull Racing and Ferrari, and likely Mercedes as well.
He further emphasized that the car remains inherently tricky to drive consistently, requiring absolute perfection to extract genuine speed. Because achieving that flawless window consistently is nearly impossible under current conditions, the team ultimately lacks the ultimate pace needed to dominate.
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