Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton stayed on top in the second practice session of Formula 1 US Grand Prix which was again disrupted due to rain.
It looked like the session would be dry at one stage but it started to pour down just before the start of FP2 which disrupted the programme hugely for the drivers and teams as they did not have enough sets available for wet running.
With the prediction for Saturday and also Sunday of wet conditions, the teams decided to use minimal tyres so as to keep enough sets for their use in qualifying and the race. It took nearly an hour for the first car to appear on track.
It was the Toro Rosso of Brendon Hartley along with McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne to head out first – both of whom did not run in the first practice session. But it was Hamilton who ended up on top with just the one flying lap.
He clocked a 1m48.716s with Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly (1m49.728s) in second from Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen (1m49.798s) – Gasly was one of the three drivers in the double figures for lap done.
The Frenchman did 10 along with Vandoorne with Hartley completing the most at 19. A late lap from McLaren’s Fernando Alonso (1m51.728s) put him in fourth from Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg (1m52.208s).
Hartley (1m52.505s) slotted in sixth with Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson (1m53.070s) in seventh from Vandoorne (1m53.354s) and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen (1m53.443s) and Sebastian Vettel (1m53.912s) in the Top 10.
Sauber’s Charles Leclerc (1m54.101s) was 11th with Williams’ Lance Stroll (1m54.637s) in 12th from Racing Point Force India drivers Sergio Perez (1m54.963s) and Esteban Ocon (1m55.348s) and Williams’ Sergey Sirotkin (1m55.446s).
Only 15 drivers set a time with Renault’s Carlos Sainz the only other to venture out on track – the Spaniard couldn’t set a lap time though. A puncture in FP1 forced Daniel Ricciardo to miss any running with Haas drivers and Valtteri Bottas also not doing any laps.
