Charles Leclerc airs US GP qualifying worry after 'outstanding' Friday

Charles Leclerc has called for calm after a dazzling opening day behind the wheel at the Circuit of the Americas on Friday.

Leclerc entered the race weekend on the back of a podium finish last time out in Singapore, which was his first since Belgium in July.

His weekend got off to the best possible start as he topped both FP1 and FP2, and looked convincingly faster than team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

But with Mercedes and Red Bull lingering close behind on the timesheet, Leclerc is wary that it may not be a similar story on Saturday.

"I really hope so, but I also believe that the others will start pushing a bit more their cars as they always do coming quali, so it's going to be tough," Leclerc said.

"It's been a very clean Friday on my side.

"There's more performance in the car, a little bit more, but the others seem to be gaining more than us from Friday to Saturday.

"Seeing the little gap there is, it's not going to be so easy tomorrow."

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Leclerc pinpoints reason behind strong early form

Ferrari brought upgrades to Austin, primarily on the floor, as it continues to chase performance late into the season.

While Leclerc commended their performance, he suggested Ferrari's strong pace had more to do with getting its balance right early on compared to rival teams.

"It felt good, but as I was saying yesterday, it's really not the gain that I've seen or heard about.

"It's small gains, but it's small gains that we could still see on the car.

"It doesn't feel massively different, but it's a small step forward.

"We also started the weekend on the right foot with a good balance. That is probably the outstanding thing for this Friday."