Sebastian Vettel once again topped practice for Red Bull in Austin despite suffering a water leak at the start of the session.
The German lost about 40 minutes of running as the team tended to his car, but it wasn’t enough to spoil his day as he immediately jumped to the top of the times.
Mark Webber was second quickest to give Red Bull a 1-2 ahead of Fernando Alonso who, along with Webber, was around seven tenths slower than Vettel.
The McLaren duo were fourth and fifth quickest with Lewis Hamilton struggling for grip at times as he span his McLaren.
Felipe Massa completed the top six cars as the other nine teams could only look on and complete their programmes.
Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne and Caterham’s Heikki Kovalainen made contact due to a misunderstanding with the former suffering front-wing damage and the latter a punctured tyre.
Meanwhile, as the session drew to a close, Pastor Maldondo’s engine blew and caught fire as he pulled into the pits before his mechanics sprinted to his aid.
FP2 Results for the 2012 United States Grand Prix:
| # | No. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 01 | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 1:37.718 | 17 | |
| 02 | 04 | M. Webber | Red Bull | 1:38.475 | 0.757 | 36 |
| 03 | 05 | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 1:38.483 | 0.765 | 35 |
| 04 | 03 | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 1:38.748 | 1.030 | 31 |
| 05 | 02 | J. Button | McLaren | 1:38.786 | 1.068 | 32 |
| 06 | 06 | F. Massa | Ferrari | 1:39.029 | 1.311 | 33 |
| 07 | 12 | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:39.448 | 1.730 | 32 |
| 08 | 14 | B. Senna | Williams | 1:39.531 | 1.813 | 38 |
| 09 | 08 | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | 1:39.653 | 1.935 | 36 |
| 10 | 15 | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:40.115 | 2.397 | 30 |
| 11 | 11 | K. Räikkönen | Lotus | 1:40.166 | 2.448 | 32 |
| 12 | 16 | P. Maldonado | Williams | 1:40.230 | 2.512 | 35 |
| 13 | 17 | R. Grosjean | Lotus | 1:40.286 | 2.568 | 32 |
| 14 | 09 | S. Perez | Sauber | 1:40.326 | 2.608 | 35 |
| 15 | 10 | D. Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 1:40.435 | 2.717 | 30 |
| 16 | 18 | J. Vergne | Toro Rosso | 1:40.516 | 2.798 | 32 |
| 17 | 07 | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:40.700 | 2.982 | 34 |
| 18 | 25 | P. di Resta | Force India | 1:41.430 | 3.712 | 35 |
| 19 | 20 | H. Kovalainen | Caterham | 1:42.476 | 4.758 | 38 |
| 20 | 21 | T. Glock | Marussia | 1:42.652 | 4.934 | 33 |
| 21 | 24 | V. Petrov | Caterham | 1:42.846 | 5.128 | 38 |
| 22 | 19 | C. Pic | Marussia | 1:43.538 | 5.820 | 38 |
| 23 | 22 | P. de la Rosa | HRT | 1:44.453 | 6.735 | 16 |
| 24 | 23 | N. Karthikeyan | HRT | 1:45.114 | 7.396 | 20 |
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