USA Grand Prix – Free Practice 2 Results

Source: autosport.com | lotusf1team.com | twitter

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A solid end to the opening day here in Austin saw Kimi and Romain take P11 / P13 respectively during a busy session; a full field of 24 cars frequently out on track as each team sought crucial data heading into qualifying tomorrow.

Summary

Warmer conditions than those seen in the morning session, but still relatively low despite bright sunshine above
Track evolution slowed in comparison with earlier running, but nonetheless continued at a notable rate
Both the silver marked hard and white marked medium compound Pirelli tyres were used by each driver
Race simulation runs capped off proceedings; combinations of long and short runs undertaken as setup options analysed

Kimi Räikkönen, E20-05

Position: P11
Fastest Lap: 1:40.166
Laps Completed: 32

Key Moments:
02mins: Opening stint on fresh hard tyres begins
22mins: Practice start at the end of the pit-lane to begin short second run
52mins: First appearance for the medium rubber
58mins: Almost collects KOV through the T5 / T6 / T7 complex
65mins: Scrubbed mediums as the pace begins to build; brief outing this time around
79mins: Emerges for a final on-track blast; another set of new medium tyres to round off the day
90mins: Session ends; P11 for the Finn

Pos Driver                Team                  Time                Laps
 1. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m37.718s            17
 2. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m38.475s  + 0.757   36
 3. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m38.483s  + 0.765   35
 4. Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes      1m38.748s  + 1.030   31
 5. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m38.786s  + 1.068   32
 6. Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m39.029s  + 1.311   33
 7. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m39.448s  + 1.730   32
 8. Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault      1m39.531s  + 1.813   38
 9. Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari        1m39.653s  + 1.935   36
10. Michael Schumacher    Mercedes              1m40.115s  + 2.397   30
11. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault         1m40.166s  + 2.448   32
12. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m40.230s  + 2.512   35
13. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m40.286s  + 2.568   32
14. Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari        1m40.326s  + 2.608   35
15. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m40.435s  + 2.717   30
16. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m40.516s  + 2.798   32
17. Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes  1m40.700s  + 2.982   34
18. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1m41.430s  + 3.712   35
19. Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault      1m42.476s  + 4.758   38
20. Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth     1m42.652s  + 4.934   33
21. Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault      1m42.846s  + 5.128   38
22. Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth     1m43.538s  + 5.820   38
23. Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth          1m44.453s  + 6.735   16
24. Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth          1m45.114s  + 7.396   20

Friday quotes: Kimi convinced Lotus will improve with more grip

KR: “At every race we have been suffering on Friday when it’s not very grippy and then once the grip starts to build up, we get quicker. Probably we don’t have enough downforce yet. Let’s just hope that we can get faster tomorrow.”

“We know our car and we can keep changing it but 95 per cent of the time we end up in the same place. We know that it’s more the circuit and the tyres that are not working well for us. We just have to be patient and wait and I think it will come to us. If we keep changing the car, then we just keep moving the issue.”

“I’m sure if the grip improves on the circuit then our car will start working and we should be OK (for qualifying). We’ll do some changes but we know more or less where it works. There’s not some magic big thing that we can suddenly find and we’ll be one second faster. That’s not going to happen. It’s more the circuit.”

Team quotes:

Kimi Raikkonen – 14th/11th: “It’s a nice circuit to drive; the sectors are quite different so there’s a good challenge there. Of course, like with any new track there was no grip at the start of the day which doesn’t give you a very good feeling, but as the grip improves it will be more fun to drive for sure. This morning was very slippery, this afternoon less so but you still can’t really push and it’s a bit tricky to find the limit. There’s a lot of improvement to come – from the track surface and from the setup of the car – so qualifying will be pretty interesting.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: “Despite being an all-new track, it’s been a fairly normal Friday for us. The morning session delivered the expected low levels of grip with the surface improving hugely later on making any comparison tests very difficult. This meant we concentrated on keeping the cars balanced and spending as much time out on track as we could. FP2 was a mix of setting the cars up and then carrying out high fuel work, however both struggled to get a clear lap on the medium tyres. Neither driver was particularly happy with their set-up so we’ve got a little bit of work to do. Our high fuel pace looks okay, and we’re confident we can deliver more on low fuel tomorrow.”

1 thought on “USA Grand Prix – Free Practice 2 Results”

Loppan Struving November 16, 2012 — 10:57 pm

Kimi: Yes Yes Yes I know, just leave me alone …. The Circuit of America is a peace of cake! Just learning, don’t tell me what to do….I know

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