21/10/2016
NEWS STORY
Ahead of today's second practice session, the air temperature is 21 degrees C, while the track temperature is 36 degrees.
Mercedes absolutely blitzed the opposition earlier, Lewis Hamilton, though only 0.315s ahead of his teammate, was 1.951s clear of third-placed Max Verstappen.
The Mercedes duo were on the soft tyres when they posted their best times however, while the Dutch youngster, like his teammate who finished the morning seventh, was on mediums.
Raikkonen was fourth, also on the mediums, while the highest placed supersoft runner was Kvyat down in ninth.
As ever, grip was an issue for a number of drivers, as was debris, with Sebastian Vettel and Romain Grosjean shedding bits of their cars.
Sergio Perez and Pascal Wehrlein watched the action from the sidelines, having handed their cars over to Alfonso Celis and Jordan King respectively. The Briton, in particular, did well, out-pacing teammate Esteban Ocon.
The lights go green and Wehrlein leads the way followed by the Haas duo, Gutierrez and Grosjean having a somewhat ignominious conclusion to this morning's session.
Gutierrez posts the first time of the afternoon, the Mexican crossing the line at 42.246. Teammate Grosjean subsequently posts 40.848 but this is soon beaten by Raikkonen (38.930).
Replay shows Alonso having a little bit of fun with Raikkonen, pushing the Finn much faster than he actually wants to go in his attempts to get past.
A 38.892 sees Vettel go quickest as Perez goes third, on his first flying lap of the weekend, ahead of Grosjean, Alonso and Hulkenberg.
A mistake at T1 destroys Hamilton's lap before it has even begun. He crosses the line at 2:14.071.
Kvyat goes third and Massa fourth, as the Mercedes duo trade fastest sector times.
Verstappen posts 38.541 to go quickest but is soon demoted when Rosberg (softs) posts 38.082 and Hamilton (medium) 38.394.
Ricciardo is given details of how both Ferrari drivers lost around 0.6s on their second flying laps. The Australian responds with a 38.675 to go fourth.
Ocon does well to escape the kitty litter at T18, the Frenchman losing the back end but managing to keep one rear wheel on the tarmac thus enabling his speedy exit.
As Rosberg says he lost some grip at the rear, Palmer runs wide in T19.
The Sauber duo are the last to post a time, Ericsson going 17th with a 41.034 and Nasr going 19th with a 41.833.
Twenty minutes into the session, Raikkonen makes the switch to supersofts. Currently sixth, 0.848s down on Rosberg, the Finn has a poor first sector. Meanwhile, Vettel joins him on track, the German also on the red-banded rubber.
While Raikkonen posts a PB in S2, he subsequently runs wide at T19 and is unable to improve.
Vettel has a stronger S1 but only posts a PB. He finally crosses the line at 38.178 to go second, having gone quickest in S3 despite a mistake in T19.
Hulkenberg, also on the supers, posts PBs in all three sectors, crossing the line at 38.508 to go fourth.
More and more drivers switch to the supers, among them Rosberg and Hamilton.
As Rosberg goes quickest in S2, Ricciardo goes quickest in S1. The German crosses the line at 37.358, with Ricciardo posting 37.552 moments later. Hamilton can only manage third (37.649).
Ricciardo's time demonstrates that Red Bull can give Mercedes a hard time here, while Ferrari looks to be under pressure from force India and Williams.
A 40.086 sees Ocon go eleventh, enough to give the French youngster a nosebleed.
Ricciardo reveals that his car was pulling to the right under braking, suggesting that there was even more to come from the Australian.
Alonso improves from 40.906 (21st) to eighth (38.801), just behind the Force India duo of Perez and Hulkenberg.
A 38.713 sees Button leapfrog his McLaren teammate to take eighth.
"Still too much understeer," complains Wehrlein, "in low, medium and high speeds".
As focus now appears to switch to longer runs, Rosberg remains quickest, ahead of Ricciardo, Hamilton, Vettel, Verstappen, Hulkenberg, Perez, Button, Alonso and Raikkonen.
Check out our Friday gallery from Austin, here.
Grosjean reveals that he lost the front end at two corners but is in the dark as to why. Massa complains that his clutch is not working.
For no apparent reason the session is suddenly red flagged. The cameras subsequently pick up on a small piece of debris on the track. There was debris on the track in FP1 but we only got the VSC.
The session resumes several minutes later but the red flag came at a critical time in the teams' programmes.
"Is there racing already, it's Friday maaan," drawls Kvyat, as he finds himself being given a hard time by Vettel.
Meanwhile, replay shows that the errant piece of debris that necessitated the red flag belonged to one of the Haas', said piece almost hitting Vettel who was following.
Asked about his tyres, Ricciardo replies: "They seem to be where they left off".
With twenty minutes remaining, all but Wehrlein are on track.
As Palmer spins at T8, losing the rear of the Renault, Grosjean reveals: "Guys, I can barely drive the car". Not exactly what you want to hear at your home race.
"Still a big vibration on this set of tyres," says Hamilton of his mediums. Elsewhere, teammate Rosberg runs wide in T19.
"This set of tyres are falling apart, front and rear," warns Magnussen.
"May tyres are gone mate," says Verstappen, while Rosberg reports a "strange oversteer".
"Did you hear what I was saying," asks Raikkonen. When the answer is negative, he reports: "I have no front end". Meanwhile, teammate Vettel admits: "There is nothing left on these tyres".
"Can you tell me what it twenty, thirty seconds behind as I can't see nothing like this".
Yet more debris falls from a Haas, this timer Gutierrez' car, but no VSCs far less red flags.
Clearly, COTA's unforgiving kerbs are taking their toll, yet the drivers continue to try their luck on them.
"Six minutes left to the end of the session," Wehrlein is told, "we need to run this tyre till the end."
Despite the earlier signs, Ferrari is suddenly looking a lot better, especially Vettel, with Red Bull also very strong. That said, Mercedes still appears to be in a class of its own.
A late spin - and as big one - for Sainz at the infamous T18, the Spaniard a passenger as the Toro Rosso skated across the run-off.
Mercedes still clearly has the edge but not by as much as this morning (thankfully). Tyre wear is clearly an issue, but other than Red Bull and Ferrari, Force India and McLaren are looking stronger.
Rosberg is quickest, ahead of Ricciardo, Hamilton, Vettel, Verstappen, Hulkenberg, Perez, Button, Alonso and Raikkonen.
Sainz is eleventh, ahead of Magnussen, Nasr, Bottas, Kvyat, Massa, Palmer, Grosjean, Ocon, Gutierrez, Ericsson and Wehrlein.
Check out our Friday gallery from Austin, here.