Anthony Davidson is “glad” George Russell was not given a penalty for forcing Charles Leclerc off the track in FP2 at the United States GP after watching their onboard feeds.

Mercedes driver Russell found himself placed under investigation during the second practice session at the Circuit of the Americas on Friday, after the Briton tangled with Ferrari’s Leclerc midway through the hour. But the FIA race stewards ultimately decided not to give a penalty.

Leclerc was the driver to beat during both practice sessions at the 2026 United States GP on Friday, as he topped the timesheets in each session with Ferrari’s heavily upgraded SF-26. A 1:36.052 saw Leclerc top FP1 at COTA by 0.084s over Max Verstappen, before a 1:35.291 lap time was just enough to pip Andrea Kimi Antonelli by 0.042s as Leclerc topped FP2 at COTA.

Charles Leclerc tops FP2 after also being fastest in the first practice session! Are Ferrari the team to beat this weekend?

Charles Leclerc was equally to blame for his FP2 incident with George Russell at COTA

The TV world feed only showed a brief clip from Russell and Leclerc tripping over each other at Turn 18. But Davidson realised upon seeing an extended clip of their incident that neither merited a penalty, as both were as bad as the other at a largely irrelevant stage of the week.

Leclerc was still using a set of the hard C2 compound Pirelli tyres at the time of his incident during FP2 with Russell, who was running the medium C3 tyres, and both were nearing the end of an installation lap. Yet as Russell crawled through Turn 17, Leclerc saw his chance to snatch track position and tried to fly his Ferrari around the outside of the Mercedes driver.

Russell tried to respond and covered the line through Turn 18, but his engine was not ready for the sudden acceleration and Leclerc had to run over the kerb to avoid contact to edge in front. But Leclerc then slowed again into Turn 20, which briefly gave Russell a chance to get back in front. So, Davidson suspects Russell avoided a penalty as they were both to blame.

Davidson said on Sky Sports F1 (23/10, 23:19): “So, Russell comes past – there’s a car in front of them, so they’re both not going quickly, and then suddenly Leclerc decides to speed up. Russell gets on the power as well, but he hasn’t got any power, and Leclerc tries to squeeze his way around the outside, and then now he’s in front, he slows down again.

“So, Russell tries to overtake, but [he] then realises, ‘Oh no, I won’t’, and then Leclerc almost stops in Turn 20. I mean, what is going on between these two? So, it wasn’t as clear-cut.

“When the stewards looked at it, they must have thought, ‘Well, you’re both driving like nonsense. What’s going on here?’ So, I think they just looked at that and thought, ‘You sort it out between yourselves’.

“I’m glad they didn’t investigate any further, because it wasn’t as clear-cut as when we just saw that one piece of footage. You always need to see the bigger picture.

“So, both on out-laps and messing around trying to see who could be in front of one another before starting their lap, which didn’t really mean anything anyway, because you’re not even on the soft tyre.”

Russell ultimately finished FP2 at the United States GP with the fifth-fastest lap time once he switched onto the soft C4 Pirelli tyres for a qualifying simulation. But the Briton’s best effort was 0.744s slower than Leclerc’s table-topping lap aboard Ferrari’s updated SF-26 at COTA.

Mercedes star Russell was credited with a fastest lap time of 1:36.035 compared to Leclerc’s 1:35.291. But the 28-year-old had also crossed the finish line to post a 1:35.793 during FP2, which he lost due to exceeding track limits at Turn 20 exiting the final corner on an out-lap.

Track limits also caught Russell out once at Turn 12, but he pitted at the end of that lap. The circuit boundaries also caught Leclerc out several times during FP2, with the Ferrari driver stripped of a number of lap times after exceeding track limits at Turn 12, T18, T19 and T20.