Mercedes sees four-team fight taking shape after Austin practice

Mercedes believes the leading four teams are closely matched at the United States Grand Prix after Friday practice at the Circuit of the Americas. Kimi Antonelli finished second in FP2, 0.042 seconds behind Charles Leclerc, while George Russell was fifth.

That assessment came after a difficult opening session. Both Mercedes drivers lost time in low-speed corners in FP1, and Andrew Shovlin said locking limited their single-lap work and long runs. The team repositioned the cars for FP2; Shovlin said there were fewer balance problems, the car was more predictable and lap times improved.

Russell did not set a representative single-lap time: track limits cost him his first soft-tyre attempt, then he had a moment in sector one on his second. He said there was more performance available. Antonelli called the day encouraging given progress with the update package, but said Mercedes still needed to get the car into the right window more consistently.

Traffic and the different compounds used by the leading teams made the long-run picture difficult to read, Mercedes said. Shovlin said any of the four top teams could have the pace for pole in qualifying.