Nico Rosberg leads Ricciardo in Friday afternoon practice
Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg turned the fastest lap in practice on Friday at Circuit of The Americas in Austin with a 1:37.358 early on in FP2, the afternoon session.
While Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo was second fastest in FP2, just 0.194 seconds back of Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton’s 1:37.428 from the morning session held up as the second fastest time of the day. Hamilton turned the third fastest time in FP2.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was fourth fastest in the afternoon session, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg behind him. Hulkenberg was up there in the morning session also, running the fifth-fastest time. Behind Hulkenberg in FP2 was his teammate Sergio Perez, followed by the two McLaren drivers and then Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, who had a couple of hairy moments during the session, rounding out the top 10.
Several of the drivers’ long-run simulations were disrupted in FP2 when a red flag flew for debris in Turn 4. There were also spins during the session for Renault driver Jolyon Palmer, Manor’s Esteban Ocon, and Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz, although all three drivers were able to resume.
Click HERE for full results from FP2.
