United States Grand Prix – Free Practice 2: Sergio Perez resets the counter for Red Bull

A first part of the session dedicated to qualifying settings

The session does not drag on before catching fire. Only Norris and Russell have not completed a single lap after fifteen minutes.

Very quickly Bottas, Perez, Verstappen, and Hamilton, in that order, take the lead in the time sheets, using soft tires. The time differences are extremely close.

By the way, Verstappen and Hamilton find themselves side by side on the starting/finishing line and neither of the two duetists wants to give in. The battle even takes place in practice, up to the apex of the first corner.

It is ultimately the Dutchman who, on the outside, must avoid contact and leaves the right trajectory to his rival.

Wounded in his pride, he immediately retorts with his middle finger raised toward the British pilot.

The tension is clearly not about to decrease.

After half an hour, it is the soft tires that are tested. With these red tires, the McLarens regain pace and place their cars second (Norris) and fifth (Ricciardo). They take the upper hand over Ferrari, which remain stuck in 7th (Leclerc) and 9th (Sainz).

Surprises come from Lance Stroll who is in a very good 6th position and Gasly, who can’t do better than 12th.

Some concerns for Russell, Vettel, and Alonso.

The British driver starts his session late, the Williams mechanics always have to work on his car.

The same goes for Alpine with Alonso. The Spanish driver is forced to return quickly to his box so that the technical team can work on his car, as in FP1.

We remind you that George Russell and Sebastian Vettel will start at the back of the grid on Sunday. Penalty due to engine component changes.

We will need to pay attention to the runway limits.

And it’s Lewis Hamilton who sees his time canceled halfway through the session, after he had taken the lead in the standings.

The layout of the Circuit of the Americas has long asphalt runoff areas. It is thus more easily possible for drivers to push the limits of the track. And the marshals are very vigilant today.

Max Verstappen lacks serenity.

We can feel that the tension is taking over the emotions of Max Verstappen. Very tense in his words, we also notice that he struggles to find the solutions to be fast on the track. He constantly complains and has to settle for the 2nd time with 15 minutes left in the session, while his teammate Sergio Perez is leading the way.

A last quarter of an hour to prepare for the race

Under these conditions, no one is improving their lap times. However, that is not the goal. They are all on track to string together laps on medium tires for the vast majority. Only Sebastian Vettel chooses to understand the hard rubber.

There isn’t really any activity on track, the teams mainly want to gather as much data as possible in preparation for the race.

Only Alonso had a little scare when he went off the track. No harm done, neither to him nor to his car.

Time sheet of these free practice sessions

Ranking pending notification of lap times and number of laps.