United States Grand Prix – United States Grand Prix – The FP2 tyre test saw drivers who missed FP1 allowed to use known tyres and that allowed them to top the times.
After the scheduled Pirelli tyre test, set for FP2 in Japan, was cancelled due to all the rain, FP2 today will instead be used for the test and will run for 90 minutes. The test means that most of the tyres being used in the session will be unmarked and so comparing times will be hard to do. However, the five drivers who sat out FP1 will have normal tyres available to them.
(FP2) Second Practice Results – 2022 United States Grand Prix
Valtteri Bottas, who sat out FP1 while Theo Pourchaire took over his car, was the first out when the lights went green. The Alfa Romeo driver was followed out by Daniel Ricciardo, who also missed the opening session, having handed his car over to Alex Palou.
Bottas in the mediums put the first time on the board, a 1:40.655, though that was pipped by just over a tenth and a half by Ricciardo on the same compound before Charles Leclerc, on the softs, put in a 1:38.856.
Fifteen minutes into the session and there were only seven cars out on track as the majority of drivers had completed two fast laps on their mystery tyres before heading back to the pits. Leclerc, having swapped to the mediums, had extended his lead at the front, shaving two seconds off his opening time to bring it down to a 1:36.810, a few hundredths quicker than Carlos Sainz’ FP1 time.
After the first half hour it was the three drivers on known tyres at the top, Leclerc’s time still held while Bottas and Ricciardo on the softs were the only ones within a second of the Ferrari driver. Sainz was the best of the unknown tyres, the Spaniard though was 1.422 seconds off his teammates’ pace.
The remaining time didn’t see any significant changes on the timesheets with the top three also moving onto the unknown compounds. With a less than 90 minute run plan on the cards, many teams and drivers were finished well before the clock ran out so cars were few and far between, especially in the final half hour.
The day ended with Leclerc, Bottas and Ricciardo the top three, Sainz in P4 while Mick Schumacher took P5 for Haas with a 1:39.507. Lando Norris finished FP2 in P6 with Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton close behind him. The top ten was rounded out by Pierre Gasly and Sergio Perez.
