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Vettel edges Hamilton by 0.004s in FP2 in Mexico

Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time of FP2 for the Mexican Grand Prix as Ferrari showed competitive pace on Friday afternoon.

Having been first to set his time on supersoft tyres, Vettel set the pace with a 1:19.790, having completed one slow timed lap before going for a fast lap. Tyre preparation was a key part of FP2 and Lewis Hamilton needed two timed laps to get within 0.018s of Vettel's time. A third attempt at a flying lap saw Hamilton close the gap even further but he ended up just 0.004 slower than the Ferrari.

AS IT HAPPENED: Mexican Grand Prix - FP2

Hamilton's team-mate Nico Rosberg - who can win the title this weekend - was third quickest but 0.4s further back from the leading pair. Both Mercedes drivers also struggled under braking for Turn 1 early in the session, with Hamilton running very deep and taking to the grass after locking up heavily.

Kimi Raikkonen ended the session in fourth place, 0.469s adrift of team-mate Vettel, and more encouragingly for Ferrari 0.2s clear of Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull. The two Red Bulls were even split by Nico Hulkenberg's Force India, which was an impressive feat as both Force Indias set their best times on soft tyres compared to supersofts for the rest of the field.

Valtteri Bottas in eighth place was only 0.010s slower than Max Verstappen, while Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso ensured there were seven different teams represented in the top ten, although both were over a second slower than Vettel.

Amid cool conditions - air temperature was just 16C and track temperature didn't climb above 35C - a number of drivers complained of a lack of grip, with both Sergio Perez and Felipe Nasr spinning at Turn 6. Perez ended a difficult session 15th - nine places behind his team-mate - but will have been encouraged by Hulkenberg's pace.

Haas endured a tough afternoon session, with Romain Grosjean confined to the garage with an electrical issue for the first hour of running. Grosjean emerged to eventually complete 14 laps with a best time of 1:22.105, leaving him only ahead of Esteban Ocon's Manor and 22nd-placed Haas team-mate Esteban Gutierrez.

While Ocon was 21st, Manor team-mate Pascal Wehrlein had a strong afternoon as he ended up 17th quickest ahead of both Saubers and Haas drivers.

Grosjean wasn't the only driver with reliability issues, as Daniil Kvyat also hit trouble at the end of the session, with the Russian coming to a halt on the pit lane entry after the chequered flag and having to walk back to the pits.

Traffic was also a problem during the long runs in the second half of the session, with Vettel angrily bemoaning being stuck behind Alonso's McLaren before running wide himself at Turn 12.

Chris Medland's 2016 Mexican Grand Prix preview

TECHNICAL SNAPSHOT: Austin

Scene at the United States Grand Prix

2017 driver line-ups so far

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Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Laps
01	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:19.790	47
02	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:19.794	37
03	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:20.225	46
04	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:20.259	37
05	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1:20.448	43
06	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:20.574	43
07	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:20.619	42
08	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:20.629	41
09	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	1:20.974	46
10	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:21.003	25
11	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	1:21.193	39
12	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:21.198	39
13	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:21.326	45
14	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	1:21.442	39
15	Sergio Perez	Force India	1:21.579	41
16	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1:21.785	44
17	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor	1:21.980	42
18	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:21.997	42
19	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	1:22.037	43
20	Romain Grosjean	Haas	1:22.105	14
21	Esteban Ocon	Manor	1:22.298	44
22	Esteban Gutierrez	Haas	1:22.408	33

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.