Hamilton keeps the momentum going in FP2

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Lewis Hamilton kept himself and Mercedes at the top of the timesheet in the second practice session for the US Grand Prix.

The current leader of the world championship clocked in with a 1:34.668 lap, the fastest time ever seen at COTA, beating Ham's own pole from last year.

United States Grand Prix - Free practice 2 results

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:34.668s		26
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:35.065s	+ 0.397s	30
3	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:35.192s	+ 0.524s	11
4	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:35.279s	+ 0.611s	39
5	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1:35.463s	+ 0.795s	24
6	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:35.514s	+ 0.846s	29
7	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:36.304s	+ 1.636s	28
8	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:36.460s	+ 1.792s	30
9	Sergio Pérez	Force India	1:36.481s	+ 1.813s	28
10	Esteban Ocon	Force India	1:36.490s	+ 1.822s	34
11	Carlos Sainz	Renault	1:36.529s	+ 1.861s	30
12	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	1:36.534s	+ 1.866s	18
13	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	1:36.761s	+ 2.093s	40
14	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	1:37.285s	+ 2.617s	17
15	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	1:37.463s	+ 2.795s	31
16	Lance Stroll	Williams	1:37.788s	+ 3.120s	27
17	Brendon Hartley	Toro Rosso	1:37.987s	+ 3.319s	41
18	Pascal Wehrlein	Sauber	1:38.165s	+ 3.497s	35
19	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:38.262s	+ 3.594s	22
20	Romain Grosjean	Haas	1:38.387s	+ 3.719s	26

Hamilton edged out Red Bull's Max Verstappen by 0.397s and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel by 0.524s in a session which was hot and humid but run in completely dry conditions from start to finish.

Bottas, Ricciardo and Raikkonen completed the top six, separated by less than a second.

Dany Kvyat was the first driver to hit the track as he played catch-up after sitting on the sidelines in FP1 as Sean Geleal put in his Toro Rosso stint. Team mate Brendon Hartley also joined the fray early as he pursued his F1 apprenticeship.

Valtteri Bottas was the first front-runner to head the timesheet but was quickly displaced by Kimi Raikkonen who was then knocked off the top by Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull.

Sebastian Vettel had a moment in the early part of the session, getting all crossed up at Turn 19 and spinning into the gravel, fortunately with no apparent damage.

Thirty minutes into the session, Lewis Hamilton bolted on a set of ultrasoft rubber and comfortably set the fastest time, a lap which would remain the reference for the remainder of teh afternoon.

Max Verstappen was hot on the heels of the championship leader hwoever, putting Red Bull right in the mix for the weekend.

Most drivers switched to long runs in the latter part of the session as race simulations took hold, but even a dry COTA proved tricky with a few cars slipping and sliding, or running wide.

Vettel concluded his morning complaining about an issue with his Ferrari's front end. The Scuderia crew was seen focusing on the SF70H's front axle.

The intra-team battle at Renault saw Carlos Sainz once again defeat Nico Hulkenberg, although by just 0.005s. Also, the German joined the fray on the ultrasoft compound rather late in the session.

Stoffel Vandoorne proved in FP1 that the McLaren has potential at COTA, enticing Fernando Alonso, who only managed four laps in the morning session, to put some mileage under his belt. A good lap on the pink-marked ultrasoft lifted the Spaniard to P7.

Felipa Massa, along with Force India's pink panthers Perez and Ocon, rounded off the top ten.

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Michael Delaney