Mercedes adds to advantage in second practice

F1 Grand Prix, GP United States, Circuit of The Americas

Lewis Hamilton appeared on top of the timesheet again in the second practice session at Circuit Of The Americas. Marginally ahead of his team mate, the Mercedes duo were more than a second ahead of the rest of the field.

The fastest non-Mercedes driver was Fernando Alonso, closely followed by Daniel Ricciardo, Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen who completed the top 6.

Both Mercedes drivers however reported downshift problems with their gearboxes around 25 minutes from the end of the session.

Most drivers appeared to struggle throughout the session with their car's balance. Button mentioned both ends of his car being unstable, while the Lotus drivers were repeatedly seen (nearly) spinning off track.

The sesson was ended with a trial of the 'virtual safety car' system, limiting speeds of the cars lapping around the circuit, in preparation of deploying such a system after an accident during a race.