Nico Rosberg pushed himself in Free Practice 2 for the United States Grand Prix to finish the session on top of the timesheets.
The Mercedes AMG PETRONAS Formula 1 Team driver finished the session with a time of 1:37.358, which was an improvement of 0.07 seconds on the time set by Lewis Hamilton in Free Practice 1. Behind Rosberg was Daniel Ricciardo, a massive improvement for the Red Bull Racing driver as in Free Practice 1 he finished seventh.
Hamilton was unable to continue his pace into the second session, finishing the session in third, a position ahead of the first Scuderia Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel, who finished with a time of 1:38.178.
Behind Vettel was the second Red Bull of Max Verstappen, who after a good opening session could only manage fifth, ahead of the first Sahara Force India F1 Team of Nico Hulkenberg who maintained his pace into the session with a time of 1:38.508.
This positioned him ahead of team-mate Sergio Perez who returned to the cockpit of his VJM09 after giving the wheel to Alfonso Celis Jr during Free Practice 1. Jenson Button improved massively from Free Practice 1 for McLaren Honda Formula 1 Team as he finished the second session in eighth, a position ahead of team-mate Fernando Alonso who also improved to finish with a time of 1:38.801.
Despite being strong in fourth place earlier in the day, Kimi Raikkonen was unable to continue this pace and finished the session in tenth. Carlos Sainz Jr also continued his strong performance for Scuderia Toro Rosso and finished Free Practice 2 with a time of 1:38.971 despite a late session spin. Behind him was the first Renault Sport Formula 1 Team of Kevin Magnussen who had a brief run within the top ten before being relegated to twelfth, ahead of the first Sauber F1 Team of Felipe Nasr.
Nasr fell down a bit in performance as he set a fastest lap time of 1:39.189 to finish the session in thirteenth ahead of the Williams Martini Racing of Valtteri Bottas. Despite running in the top ten in Free Practice 1 he was unable to continue this into the second practice session, with the Finn completing the second session ahead of the second Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat who finished with a time of 1:39.202.
This session did not go well for Williams as both drivers failed to reach the top ten, with Felipe Massa finishing in sixteenth ahead of the second Renault of Jolyon Palmer. Like team-mate Magnussen, Palmer was able to improve his pace in the second session, finishing with a time of 1:39.455, but also had a lurid spin midway through the session.
Romain Grosjean finished in eighteenth for Haas F1 Team, even though he improved his time, he was unable to gain many places, with other drivers around him also improving, leading to him finishing ahead of the first Manor Racing MRT of Esteban Ocon who split the two Haas drivers. This time around, Ocon was able to finish the session ahead of his team-mate.
Esteban Gutierrez had to settle for twentieth in the second session with a time of 1:40.114, which allowed him to finish ahead of the second Sauber of Marcus Ericsson. The Swede failed to continue his pace into the second session and had to settle for finishing ahead of the second Manor of Pascal Wehrlein. For Wehrlein this was his first outing at the Circuit of the Americas, as he handed over the MRT05 to development driver Jordan King in Free Practice 1.
Circuit of the Americas Free Practice 2 Result
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