COTA, FP2: Hamilton tops FP2 timesheet in Austin

Ahead of Verstappen and Vettel

By Franck Drui

20 October 2017 - 22:36
COTA, FP2: Hamilton tops FP2 timesheet

Lewis Hamilton continued to set the pace at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas as he beat Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen top spot in second practice for the US Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver had registered the quickest time of the weekend’s opening session to beat Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel by more than half a second and in the afternoon Hamilton again went quickest, eclipsing Verstappen by 0.397s with a lap of 1: 34.668s.

After an early phase on the soft Pirelli tyres, Hamilton made the switch to ultrasoft tyres, switched from traditional purple to pink in support of breast cancer charities this weekend, after some 35 minutes.

He immediately shot to the top of the timesheeets ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas who had already deposed early pacesetter Daniel Ricciardo who has used supersofts early on. Verstappen then upped his pace on the pink-banded tyres to go second with a lap of 1:35.065.

Vettel then stole into third place. The German, who had earlier suffered an off at the second last corner and recovered, put in his performance run as the session approached the half way mark. As in the morning session, Vettel’s time of 1:35.192 was again half a second off the pace of Hamilton. Vettel was unhappy with the feel of his car, however, and as Ferrari worked through cures he completed just 11 laps in the session.

Bottas’ run netted a time of 1:35.279, good enough for fourth place but 0.6s behind his team-mate. After his early exploits on the supersoft tyre, Ricciardo’s ultrasoft run saw him finish 0.795s off the pace and 0.398s behind team-mate Verstappen. Kimi Räikkönen was sixth quickest for Ferrari.

After putting in just four laps in the morning session after a hydraulic problem, Fernando Alonso recovered to seventh place in the afternoon, posting a time of 1:36.304 to finish 1.636s behind Hamilton. Felipe Massa was eighth for Williams ahead of the two Force Indias of Sergio Pérez and Esteban Ocon.

Pos.DriverTeamTimeLaps
01 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG 1:34.668 26
02 Max Verstappen Red Bull Tag Heuer 1:35.065 30
03 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:35.192 11
04 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes AMG 1:35.279 39
05 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Tag Heuer 1:35.463 24
06 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:35.514 29
07 Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda 1:36.304 28
08 Felipe Massa Williams Mercedes 1:36.460 30
09 Sergio Pérez Force India Mercedes 1:36.481 28
10 Esteban Ocon Force India Mercedes 1:36.490 34
11 Carlos Sainz Renault F1 1:36.529 30
12 Nico Hulkenberg Renault F1 1:36.534 18
13 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso Renault 1:36.761 40
14 Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 1:37.285 17
15 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren Honda 1:37.463 31
16 Lance Stroll Williams Mercedes 1:37.788 27
17 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso Renault 1:37.987 41
18 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber Ferrari 1:38.165 35
19 Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 1:38.262 22
20 Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 1:38.387 26

Search

Formula 1 news

Pics

Videos