What happened in US Grand Prix second practice

Sergio Perez was fastest for Red Bull in second United States Grand Prix practice at Austin, but his Formula 1 championship-leading team-mate Max Verstappen was only eighth.

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Key moments

> Verstappen and Hamilton have on-track spat
> Hamilton loses potential session-topping lap to track limits
> Perez fastest on both medium and soft tyres
> Norris second
> Alonso has late spin into barriers

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F1 title rivals Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton had a run-in at the first corner early in the session in when the Mercedes dived to the inside of the Red Bull, earning a laugh and “stupid idiot” radio comment from Verstappen, who also raised his middle figure in the general direction of the fast-disappearing Hamilton.

It continued all the way up to Turn 1 👀#USGP 🇺🇸 #F1 pic.twitter.com/OZ9vYEEO4i

— Formula 1 (@F1) October 22, 2021

Verstappen went on to have a session of traffic frustration and could only manage the eighth-fastest time.

But his team-mate Perez set the pace both on the initial medium tyre runs and again when everyone switched to softs, ending the day on top with a 1m34.946s lap.

Lando Norris lost time early on when he had to pit to attend to something loose near his elbow in the McLaren cockpit.

With that resolved, he took a surprise second place on the soft tyre runs.

Hamilton ended up third but had a lap half a second faster deleted for a track limits infringement. That time would’ve been the quickest of the session had it stood. Team-mate Valtteri Bottas was just behind him in fourth.

Daniel Ricciardo put the second McLaren fifth ahead of Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin and Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari.

Fernando Alonso has bumped the barriers at Turn 19 #USGP 🇺🇸 #F1 pic.twitter.com/qIUEXKPO2q

— Formula 1 (@F1) October 22, 2021

After losing substantial running to a mechanical problem in the morning, Fernando Alonso spun his Alpine into the Turn 19 barriers in the closing minutes. He only tapped the wall lightly and was able to drive back to the pits.

Practice 2 Results