Hamilton tops FP2 at COTA but Leclerc and Verstappen seem to have best pace!

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1 November 2019 at 21:30
Last update 1 November 2019 at 21:43
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  • Nicolás Quarles van Ufford

Lewis Hamilton has topped the timesheets in FP2 at the Circuit of the Americas, although the Brit's time was significantly boosted by a big tow on the main straight, with Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen's one-lap pace seemingly the strongest.

Hamilton, who will most likely be crowned champion for the sixth time this weekend, set the pace with an impressive 1:33.232, which was three-tenths quicker than Leclerc in P2 and Verstappen in P3.

As previously stated, however, Hamilton had a big tow to significantly improve his lap time, which could mean the five-time champion's one-lap pace isn't actually as good as the timesheets might suggest.

The race pace data suggested Verstappen had the upper hand in race trim, although Hamilton and Leclerc were very closely following his average of 1:39.7 across almost 10 laps.

Tricky conditions

Much like in FP1, the cold windy conditions at COTA proved very tricky for the drivers, with many of them spinning out and one of them even smashing into the barriers.

The driver who did that was Romain Grosjean, as he lost control of his Haas coming into turn 7. His black-and-gold car ended up clattering into the tyre wall, breaking both his suspension as well as his front wing.

Other drivers who had a spin were Daniil Kvyat, Leclerc and Antonio Giovinazzi, although none of them broke anything on the car other than the tyres they were on.

Turn 19 again proved to be a point of emphasis, with the stewards deleting a host of laps when drivers ran wide at the run-off of the penultimate corner. Alexander Albon again saw multiple laps get deleted, and we're sure this turn will play a role when qualifying comes around on Saturday.