Reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton set the pace for Mercedes during second practice for Formula 1’s United States Grand Prix.
Hamilton, on the brink of a sixth world championship, clocked a time of 1:33.232 during the 90-minute session on Friday afternoon at the Circuit of the Americas.
That effort left him 0.301s clear of Ferrari opponent Charles Leclerc while Max Verstappen was close by in third, 0.315s behind the Mercedes driver.
Hamilton will win a sixth world title on Sunday unless he places lower than eighth with Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas victorious.
Bottas, at a circuit where he has never taken a podium finish, classified only fifth in the session, 0.813s down on his team-mate.
Sebastian Vettel finished 0.658s behind Hamilton in fourth position and had a spin through the Turn 15 gravel during his race run, as he lost the rear end of the SF90.
Teams continued to run evaluations of the 2020-spec C4 tyres for some stints of the session, with each driver having two sets of the compound available courtesy of Pirelli, in addition to their regular 2019 allocation.
Alexander Albon was sixth for Red Bull, just 0.075s clear of lead midfield runner Pierre Gasly, while Carlos Sainz Jr. took eighth for McLaren.
Lance Stroll capped an encouraging day by classifying ninth – repeating his FP1 position – while Antonio Giovinazzi rounded out the top 10 for Alfa Romeo.
Daniil Kvyat – via a high-speed off at Turn 18 – split the Renault drivers, with Daniel Ricciardo in front of Nico Hulkenberg, as Lando Norris and Sergio Perez took 14th and 15th respectively.
Kimi Raikkonen’s subdued second half of 2019 continued as he finished 16th, ahead of only the Haas and Williams representatives.
Kevin Magnussen was 17th while Romain Grosjean was restricted to just four laps after he lost control of his VF-19 through the Esses, sustaining front-left damage when he struck the barriers.
The session was halted in order for Grosjean’s stricken car to be removed.
George Russell was almost an entire second down on Grosjean, whose sole timed effort was his initial push lap, as Robert Kubica classified another half second back.
Saturday’s third practice session is scheduled for 13:00 local time
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