Red Bull comfortably quickest in second practice

2013 United States Grand Prix second practice

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Sebastian Vettel led a Red Bull one-two in the second practice session at the Circuit of the Americas.

They enjoyed the best part of half a second in hand over their closest rival, Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes. Team mate Nico Rosberg was fourth.

Heikki Kovalainen was next, ending his first day of running for Lotus in fifth place. The two Sauber drivers separated him from team mate Romain Grosjean.

McLaren were the fifth-fastest team courtesy of Jenson Button while Fernando Alonso could only manage tenth for Ferrari, over a second off Vettel’s pace.

Several drivers reported poor grip during the session. Daniel Ricciardo complained of traction problems at turn one and Paul di Resta said his car’s grip level was “absolutely shocking”.

Pastor Maldonado was especially blunt with Williams, who he will be leaving at the end of the year. Asked to give his comments on the FW35 halfway through the session he simply replied “everything is wrong”.

For the second session in a row a Marussia driver came to grief in the final ten minutes. This time it was Max Chilton, who spun off at the final corner.

“I just had complete brake failure,” he said, “the pedal went completely to the floor”. He had described a brake problem earlier in the session but the team weren’t able to pinpoint it on their telemetry.

The marshals took several minutes to recover Chilton’s car, causing some frustration among the drivers still circulating. “Jesus, how long do they need to get that car away?” asked an exasperated Hulkenberg. The Marussia was eventually moved clear moments before the chequered flag came out.

Pos. No. Driver Car Best lap Gap Laps
1 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1’37.305 35
2 2 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1’37.420 0.115 37
3 9 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1’37.785 0.480 38
4 10 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1’37.958 0.653 38
5 7 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1’38.073 0.768 41
6 12 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1’38.229 0.924 40
7 11 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1’38.254 0.949 40
8 8 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1’38.255 0.950 33
9 5 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1’38.269 0.964 34
10 3 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1’38.461 1.156 33
11 15 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1’38.719 1.414 31
12 4 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1’38.938 1.633 37
13 6 Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1’38.941 1.636 31
14 19 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1’39.246 1.941 28
15 14 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1’39.410 2.105 34
16 17 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1’39.512 2.207 37
17 18 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1’39.579 2.274 36
18 16 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1’39.784 2.479 33
19 20 Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1’40.376 3.071 39
20 21 Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1’40.563 3.258 35
21 23 Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1’46.226 8.921 31
22 22 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1’47.987 10.682 20

2013 United States Grand Prix

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Image © Red Bull/Getty

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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27 comments on “Red Bull comfortably quickest in second practice”

  1. Dan M
    15th November 2013, 20:33

    Love the image!

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      verstappen (@verstappen)
      15th November 2013, 21:47

      Stunner indeed!

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    Kribana (@krichelle)
    15th November 2013, 20:35

    This looks like a battle between Webber and Vettel. Both of them evenly matched on both long and short runs. Unbelivable how both RB’s were quicker in the final sector by at least HALF A SECOND on both Mercedes drivers.
    Looks like Rosberg or Hamilton for 3rd and 4th come Sunday. If this happens, this should satisfy both of them. Or as Rosberg said last race, “depends on how Mark’s luck is”.
    Kovalainen!!! Not bad for this guy eh? 4th and just a 2 tenths of the 2 Mercedes.

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      Nick Jarvis (@)
      15th November 2013, 20:36

      I actually hope Kovalainen gets the seat over Hulkenburg now. I love Kovalainen, but I could never see any chance of him going anywhere other than Caterham or maybe Force India.

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        Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
        15th November 2013, 20:43

        That’s a very audacious hope @nickj95gb: based on a couple of practice sessions? Come on.

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          Kribana (@krichelle)
          15th November 2013, 20:46

          (@vettel1 (@nickj95gb
          All of you this is how it will end:

          Heikki: To Lotus
          Hulkenberg: Ditch out of F1. :P :P

          LOL

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          petebaldwin (@)
          15th November 2013, 20:57

          Very much so but it’s certainly a good start. You’d forgive him for being at least a second slower than Grosjean at this point.

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        Jammas (@crazygtown)
        15th November 2013, 21:18

        Kovalainen is 32 years old though. It makes more sense to develop and refine a younger rookie.

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        mnmracer (@mnmracer)
        15th November 2013, 21:19

        Heikki’s had his chance at a top team, but unfortuntaly couldn’t impress. Nico has not yet had that chance. Nico more deserves a first chance, than Heikki a second chance.

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      @HoHum (@hohum)
      15th November 2013, 20:50

      “normal service has resumed”

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    petebaldwin (@)
    15th November 2013, 20:36

    Seb to be 5 seconds clear by lap 3, Hamilton to have a poor start from 4th and end up 6th and struggle for the rest of the race. It’ll end up Vettel, Webber, Rosberg with Grosjean 4th.

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      Kribana (@krichelle)
      15th November 2013, 20:39

      (@petebaldwin

      Mate, Hamilton had 2 cracks of floor damage to his car in the last race to put that clear…

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        petebaldwin (@)
        15th November 2013, 20:43

        Yeah I know – having said that he isn’t on the pace of Rosberg just yet and despite getting off the line well recently, he gets blocked by Vettel every time and ends up getting swallowed up by a Lotus or Ferrari.

        Once that happens, he seems to lose interest. I’d love it to be different this time

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    Force Maikel (@force-maikel)
    15th November 2013, 20:36

    Kovalainen has proved me wrong, I hope he can keep this up tomorrow and get a P5/P4 start, maybe a podium is possible.

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    Prof Kirk (@prof-kirk)
    15th November 2013, 20:42

    I just realised the Lotus team have two Race of Champion drivers. Kov is lookin good!

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    David-A (@david-a)
    15th November 2013, 20:43

    They enjoyed the best part of half a second in hand over their closest rival, Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes. Team mate Nico Rosberg was fourth.

    The Mercedes drivers appear to be the wrong way around.

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      hunocsi (@hunocsi)
      15th November 2013, 21:15

      Well it’s better than what Autosport did, they accidentally wrote Kimi in P5 instead of Heikki.

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    Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
    15th November 2013, 20:44

    Now that’s a surprise from Heikki !

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      @HoHum (@hohum)
      15th November 2013, 20:55

      Well the fat-lady aint sung yet but it does tend to indicate how distorted the driver market is right now.

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        Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
        15th November 2013, 21:45

        @hohum sure, it’s only practice, but I expected him to be uncomfortable with the car and all, but he adapted very quickly !

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      petebaldwin (@)
      15th November 2013, 20:55

      I wonder if that’s sparked the interest of a few teams…. If he can beat Grosjean (and he hasn’t yet to be fair), surely he has to be in with a shout at Sauber and Force India at least?

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    George (@george)
    15th November 2013, 21:12

    They enjoyed the best part of half a second in hand over their closest rival, Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes. Team mate Nico Rosberg was fourth.

    @keithcollantine That’s not what the table says, which is right?

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    electrolite (@electrolite)
    15th November 2013, 21:15

    You’ve got to remember that if you were Kovalainen, you’d out there giving it some in every single session, even the practices! But still, absolutely solid.

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    Joshua Mesh (@joshua-mesh)
    15th November 2013, 21:19

    Well if Hekkie is slower than Hulk, then it would be in Romans interest to ensure he gets the easier of the two possible drivers next year. One way to do that is to make Hekki look good!

  11. UNeedAFinn2Win
    15th November 2013, 22:25

    unbelievable how the negative-nellies are still out for Kovalainen. He just did a solid run and showed his speed and professionalism in a car he’s driven for the first time today. That he beat his teammate is a nice cherry on top of the cake. The man can drive when given a chance.

  12. Abhishek
    16th November 2013, 9:30

    Ferrari – Completely going wrong..really a team which has huge success is absolutely struggling to get their drivers in the top 10..Really am not sure what exactly is happening with the Ferrari..

    Also 2012 car is the best one compared to the 2013 which by look is the best but in rest absolutely worst..I guess they selected Raikkonen atleast to win the constructors championship..maybe atleast in that angle their dream might come true..If this is the case of the car then winning a Driver’s Title is almost impossible even in 2014 due to Seb’s Current dominance

  13. Abhishek
    16th November 2013, 11:13

    Ferrari – Completely going wrong..really a team which has huge success is absolutely struggling to get their drivers in the top 10..Really am not sure what exactly is happening with the Ferrari..

    Also 2012 car is the best one compared to the 2013 which by look is the best but in rest absolutely worst..I guess they selected Raikkonen atleast to win the constructors championship..maybe atleast in that angle their dream might come true..If this is the case of the car in the next coming years as well then winning a Driver’s Title is almost impossible for Ferrari due to Seb’s Current dominance

Comments are closed.