Formula 1

What happened in US Grand Prix second practice

by Matt Beer
2 min read

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Sergio Perez was fastest for Red Bull in second United States Grand Prix practice at Austin, but his Formula 1 championship-leading team-mate Max Verstappen was only eighth.


Key moments

> Verstappen and Hamilton have on-track spat
> Hamilton loses potential session-topping lap to track limits
> Perez fastest on both medium and soft tyres
> Norris second
> Alonso has late spin into barriers


F1 title rivals Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton had a run-in at the first corner early in the session in when the Mercedes dived to the inside of the Red Bull, earning a laugh and “stupid idiot” radio comment from Verstappen, who also raised his middle figure in the general direction of the fast-disappearing Hamilton.

Verstappen went on to have a session of traffic frustration and could only manage the eighth-fastest time.

But his team-mate Perez set the pace both on the initial medium tyre runs and again when everyone switched to softs, ending the day on top with a 1m34.946s lap.

Lando Norris lost time early on when he had to pit to attend to something loose near his elbow in the McLaren cockpit.

With that resolved, he took a surprise second place on the soft tyre runs.

Hamilton ended up third but had a lap half a second faster deleted for a track limits infringement. That time would’ve been the quickest of the session had it stood. Team-mate Valtteri Bottas was just behind him in fourth.

Daniel Ricciardo put the second McLaren fifth ahead of Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin and Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari.

After losing substantial running to a mechanical problem in the morning, Fernando Alonso spun his Alpine into the Turn 19 barriers in the closing minutes. He only tapped the wall lightly and was able to drive back to the pits.

Practice 2 Results

Pos Name Car Best Time Gap Leader
1 Sergio Pérez Red Bull-Honda 1m34.946s
2 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1m35.203s +0.257s
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m35.31s +0.364s
4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1m35.36s +0.414s
5 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren-Mercedes 1m35.457s +0.511s
6 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Mercedes 1m35.561s +0.615s
7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1m35.572s +0.626s
8 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Honda 1m35.824s +0.878s
9 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1m35.919s +0.973s
10 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 1m36.138s +1.192s
11 Esteban Ocon Alpine-Renault 1m36.158s +1.212s
12 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri-Honda 1m36.242s +1.296s
13 Fernando Alonso Alpine-Renault 1m36.376s +1.43s
14 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 1m36.558s +1.612s
15 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin-Mercedes 1m36.718s +1.772s
16 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri-Honda 1m36.983s +2.037s
17 Mick Schumacher Haas-Ferrari 1m37.041s +2.095s
18 Nicholas Latifi Williams-Mercedes 1m37.254s +2.308s
19 George Russell Williams-Mercedes 1m37.49s +2.544s
20 Nikita Mazepin Haas-Ferrari 1m38.026s +3.08s
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