United States GP: Charles Leclerc edges Kimi Antonelli in Practice Two to complete Friday double for Ferrari

After narrowly topping Red Bull's Max Verstappen in the opening session, Leclerc improved by almost eight tenths of a second later in the day to finish 0.042s clear of Mercedes' Antonelli, who could become Formula 1's youngest ever world champion on Sunday.

Verstappen appears to be in contention to extend his streak of two successive victories after finishing the second session in third, within a couple of tenths of Leclerc's leading time of 1:35.291s.

Lewis Hamilton was unable to match his team-mate Leclerc's pace all day, and had to settle for fourth as he finished more than six tenths back from the Monegasque.

George Russell was fifth in the other Mercedes, but will also be looking for overnight answers as he finished seven tenths back from his team-mate.

Antonelli could clinch his maiden title if he wins on Sunday, and Russell and Hamilton do not score sufficient points to stay in mathematical contention.

The 20-year-old Italian had to overcome some early disruption as his seat became loose, which left him needing to pit and leave the car for the best part of 10 minutes as the issue was repaired.

McLaren suffered a disappointing day as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finished seventh and eighth, with both failing to deliver clean laps on their soft-tyre runs.

Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull have each brought upgrades to the event, while Mercedes are still trying to optimise the package they brought two rounds ago in Malaysia that has so far failed to deliver the improvement they anticipated.

Antonelli said: "It was a bit of a difficult start because the seat was not fixed properly, so it kind of felt a bit like being on a rollercoaster on lap one, with the seat moving in the high speed.

"We lost a little bit of time, but it was still a good recovery. I felt better in the car compared to FP1. There's still lots of work to do but it was a good step forward, and now we'll try to improve even further for tomorrow."

Ferrari's package, which featured updates to the car's floor, sidepod and diffuser, appeared to offer hope the Italian team could end a run of eight races without victory.

There was early drama in the session as Russell was investigated for forcing Leclerc off track, but the stewards decided that there had been "nothing dangerous" in the manoeuvre as no further action was taken.

Verstappen's team-mate Isack Hadjar cut a frustrated figure over team radio as he could only manage ninth, with Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson taking advantage to claim an impressive sixth.

Williams suffered a torrid afternoon as Carlos Sainz was 20th and team-mate Alex Albon 22nd as their car struggled to meet the challenges of the high-speed circuit.

Saturday October 24 6.15pm: United States Grand Prix Practice Three (session starts at 6.30pm) 8.30pm: United States Grand Prix Qualifying build-up* 10pm: UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING* 12am: F1 Academy Race 2* 12.45am: Ted's Qualifying Notebook*

Sunday October 25 5pm: F1 Academy Race 3 6.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: United States GP build-up* 8pm: THE UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX* 10pm: Chequered Flag: United States GP reaction 11pm: Ted's Notebook

Formula 1 heads to The Americas for another triple-header with the United States Grand Prix in Austin up first this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - no contract, cancel anytime