UNITED STATES GP – Hamilton tops second practice by four tenths, as Vettel struggles
Lewis Hamilton was fastest in the second practice ahead of this weekend’s United States Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver set his faster time on soft tyres going almost four tenths faster than Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Hamilton looked in strong form at a circuit which should favour Mercedes and a place the Englishman has dominated over the last three years. However, the Dutchman lost time on his fastest lap and the fact that Red Bull know they struggle on the high speed fast flowing circuit.
Hamilton’s title rival Sebastian Vettel was third fastest, over half a second down. It was a messy session for the Ferrari driver, he started off with a spin early on followed by struggles with the front end of the car causing him to return to the pits.
On his supersoft run he was over half a second down on the Mercedes, then this session was brought to an early conclusion thanks to suspension issues. The Germans title hopes continue to slip away from him and his limited running will hamper his race preparations.
Verstappen was Hamilton’s closest challenger, but while the Red Bull lacks pace over a single lap on the race simulations they appear as they are a lot closer to Mercedes. Valtteri Bottas was fourth fastest as he struggled to get close to Hamilton.
The Finn appeared as if he struggled in the second sector mainly when he was on his fastest lap. Bottas’s fellow Finn Kimi Raikkonen was sixth fastest eight tenths off the pace, meaning Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari locked the top six.
The top three seem as if they again have a huge advantage over the rest of the field, McLarens Fernando Alonso was seventh fastest a further eight tenths behind Raikkonen. However, the midfield group were again close with less than a second between seventh and fourteenth.
Felipe Massa was eighth fastest ahead of both Force India’s Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon rounding out the top ten. Carlos Sainz was five thousandths of a second faster than his new Renault team-mate Nico Hulkenberg.
Daniil Kvyat, who sat out the first session to allow Sean Gelael some mileage in his first time in the Toro Rosso since Singapore Grand Prix, was thirteenth fastest. Kevin Magnussen had a high speed spin on his way to fourteenth.
Stoffel Vandoorne was fifteenth and Lance Stroll sixteenth, Brendon Hartley who makes his debut this weekend was seventeenth after improving his time.
Pascal Wehrlein missed the first session, with Charles Leclerc taking his Sauber seat, but recovered well to post the eighteenth-fastest time, ahead of team-mate Marcus Ericsson and Romain Grosjean’s Haas.
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