Mercedes’ biggest threat at the Circuit of the Americas could come from Red Bull rather than Ferrari.
Lewis Hamilton set the pace on the ultra-soft tyres in the second practice session. But the super-soft tyre is likely to be the more significant compound for the race – and Red Bull were quicker on that tyre.
Daniel Ricciardo set the fastest time on the super-soft, two-tenths inside Hamilton’s fastest time. All year long Mercedes haven’t been as strong on this tyre as their closest rivals.
Hamilton said his car “was feeling good” but admitted “there are lots of areas we can improve on”. He can expect to pick up more pace than Red Bull on Saturday thanks to Mercedes’ qualifying engine modes, but the race will be a different matter.
Red Bull will be hoping the weather forecasts continue to tip in their favour. Rain was expected into Sunday morning and some forecasts now indicate it will last past noon. The race starts at 2pm local time, and the more moisture the better as far as Red Bull is concerned.
Ricciardo expects to find bigger gains from his car tomorrow after being out-paced by Max Verstappen on the softest tyre.
“The grip on the circuit was really low for what we were expecting with lap times,” he said. “It’s humid so the tyres were getting really hot and then you struggle to generate the desirable grip on the car.”
“We have a few things we can obviously try for tomorrow, now that we understand a bit more from these sessions. We didn’t really have the ideal set-up but I think with all those things considered we’re not a million miles off the pace and if we can get it right tomorrow we can still be up there.”
Ferrari’s pace is something of a mystery. Sebastian Vettel said he made a mistake on his fastest run. He has now had to change chassis due to the problem he noticed in second practice. However competitive they may be, this disruption to their preparations won’t have helped.
Longest stint comparison – second practice
This chart shows all the drivers’ lap times (in seconds) during their longest unbroken stint. Very slow laps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan, right-click to reset:
Combined practice times
Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | Total laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’36.335 | 1’34.668 | 44 |
2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’37.339 | 1’35.065 | 51 |
3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’36.928 | 1’35.192 | 31 |
4 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’36.979 | 1’35.279 | 49 |
5 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’39.366 | 1’35.463 | 38 |
6 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’37.598 | 1’35.514 | 49 |
7 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Honda | 1’36.304 | 32 | |
8 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’37.570 | 1’36.460 | 53 |
9 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’37.861 | 1’36.481 | 48 |
10 | Esteban Ocon | Force India-Mercedes | 1’37.808 | 1’36.490 | 59 |
11 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 1’38.093 | 1’36.529 | 54 |
12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’38.904 | 1’36.534 | 37 |
13 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’36.761 | 40 | |
14 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’38.408 | 1’37.285 | 33 |
15 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren-Honda | 1’37.352 | 1’37.463 | 57 |
16 | Lance Stroll | Williams-Mercedes | 1’38.534 | 1’37.788 | 52 |
17 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’39.267 | 1’37.987 | 69 |
18 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’38.165 | 35 | |
19 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’40.448 | 1’38.262 | 41 |
20 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’39.336 | 1’38.387 | 43 |
21 | Sean Gelael | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’40.406 | 25 | |
22 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’40.828 | 25 |
Best times by tyre
Driver | Team | Ultra-soft best | Super-soft best | Soft best |
---|---|---|---|---|
Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’34.668 | 1’36.335 | 1’36.534 |
Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’35.279 | 1’36.817 | None |
Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1’35.463 | 1’36.116 | None |
Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1’35.065 | 1’37.339 | 1’36.328 |
Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’35.192 | 1’36.928 | 2’01.634 |
Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’35.514 | 1’36.667 | None |
Sergio Perez | Force India | 1’36.481 | 1’37.034 | 1’37.861 |
Esteban Ocon | Force India | 1’36.490 | 1’37.509 | 1’37.808 |
Felipe Massa | Williams | 1’36.460 | 2’15.379 | 1’38.340 |
Lance Stroll | Williams | 1’37.788 | 1’38.534 | None |
Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1’36.304 | None | 1’37.666 |
Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | 1’37.352 | 1’37.535 | None |
Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1’36.761 | None | 1’38.119 |
Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso | 1’37.987 | 1’39.188 | None |
Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1’38.749 | 1’38.387 | None |
Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1’37.285 | 1’38.408 | 1’44.062 |
Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’36.534 | 1’38.904 | 1’38.246 |
Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 1’36.529 | 1’38.093 | None |
Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1’38.262 | 1’39.203 | None |
Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber | 1’38.165 | None | 1’39.465 |
Charles Leclerc | Sauber | None | 1’40.828 | None |
Sean Gelael | Toro Rosso | 1’40.406 | None | None |
2017 United States Grand Prix
- 2017 United States Grand Prix Predictions Championship results
- 2017 United States Grand Prix team radio transcript
- 2017 United States Grand Prix Star Performers
- Hamilton only needs fifth – but we’ve heard that before…
- “Can you tell Esteban to let me by?”: US GP team radio highlights
Strontium (@strontium)
21st October 2017, 1:17
Does anyone know why Red Bull aren’t sporting the coat hanger this weekend? Not that I’m complaining
Todfod (@todfod)
21st October 2017, 5:15
I heard a few races back that they had improved their airflow enough that they didn’t really require the clothes hanger.
Billys (@bilarxos)
21st October 2017, 8:47
The track record from last year(1:34.999) has already broken! There is any track where this new cars din’t broke some time records? Except Monza.It’s gonna be interesting when this season end what has left to be broke.Only in they first year! Amazing !
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
21st October 2017, 8:56
Well, no. Verstappen will take an engine penalty. Must be nice being Ricciardo and having that magical ability.
Kenneth (@godius)
21st October 2017, 9:07
Dr. Marko said that they wanted to analyse the gains of the Renault engine in Hartley and Hülkenberg their cars before making a final decision about planting the new Renault ICE into Verstappen his car.
Aquataz
21st October 2017, 9:38
Good to see Hartley on the long run pace – fast adjusting to single seater again. Great pilot.
Adam Marsh
21st October 2017, 10:30
Pretty spurious comparison of SS pace – different sessions and when Hamilton did it he was half a second quicker than anyone else.
James (@jimbo0070)
21st October 2017, 15:58
I don’t think Merc will run the Super Soft in the race at all. Their times on the Soft were pretty impressive – just as fast and will obviously support a longer stint.