After Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time of opening practice in Austin, championship leader Nico Rosberg fought back in the afternoon to head the timesheet in second practice for the United States Grand Prix, finishing just under two tenths clear of Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo and a further tenth ahead of third-placed Hamilton.
Championship leader Rosberg’s performance run in FP2 resulted in a best time of 1:37.358, which was good enough to move 0.291 ahead of Hamilton.
After a quiet FP1, in which he finished with the seventh fastest time after only using the medium tyre, Ricciardo enjoyed a much more profitable second session when he bolted on the supersoft.
The Australian powered to a best lap of 1:37.552 which allowed him to split the Mercedes and saw him finish just 0.194 behind Rosberg.
Fourth place in the session went to Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, with the 2013 US Grand Prix winner finishing 0.626 behind Ricciardo’s Red Bull, the car Ferrari will most likely be racing for a podium finish this weekend.
Vettel’s team-mate Kimi Raikkonen finished back in 10th position, with his best lap on supersofts being compromised by an off at Turn 19.
Behind Vettel, Max Verstappen was fifth in the second Red Bull, less than 0.1s slower than the Ferrari driver. After finishing ahead of close rivals Williams in FP1, Force India was again top the fore in the second session with Nico Hulkenberg seventh and Sergio Perez eighth.
In the opening session Hulkenberg finished fifth less than 0.1s ahead of Williams’ Valterri Bottas but in the afternoon’s performance runs the lead Force India was over six tenths of a second clear of the highest placed Williams of Bottas who finished in 14th place.
Behind the Force Indias, the final top 10 places were taken by McLaren, with Jenson Button just ahead of Fernando Alonso.
2014 United States Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:37.358 33
2 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:37.552 33
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:37.649 32
4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:38.178 35
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:38.258 27
6 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:38.508 32
7 Sergio Perez Force India 1:38.568 31
8 Jenson Button McLaren 1:38.713 29
9 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:38.801 30
10 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:38.865 31
11 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:38.971 31
12 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:39.159 23
13 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:39.189 28
14 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:39.197 34
15 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:39.202 36
16 Felipe Massa Williams 1:39.281 30
17 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:39.455 34
18 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:39.554 24
19 Esteban Ocon Manor 1:40.086 27
20 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:40.114 26
21 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:40.219 28
22 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:41.131 31
FIA
