Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes continued to set the pace in Practice 2 for the Brazilian Grand Prix but the gap to their rivals would close in the heat of the afternoon at Interlagos.
The predicted rain would be nothing more than a few drops late on as teams carried out a typical program of short and long runs. In the hotter track conditions, lap times would actually slow compared to the morning with the Briton’s best time of 1:09.515s some three-tenths slower than he managed in Practice 1.
A small mistake at the high-speed Ferradura corner on his first attempt meant Hamilton’s best came on the second flying lap – when the optimum performance of the tyre would have been lost.
Nevertheless, it was still enough as he led the sister car driven by Valtteri Bottas by half a tenth of a second and over two-tenths clear of Daniel Ricciardo, who it was confirmed will take a 10-place grid drop due to new engine parts.
The Australian’s former teammate Sebastian Vettel would be one-hundredth clear of his current Red Bull partner Max Verstappen in fourth and fifth respectively, with the leading quintet separated by less than four-tenths of a second. Kimi Raikkonen would be sixth but some six-tenths off the leading pace as he couldn’t maintain his third from the morning.
Esteban Ocon would move Force India into the ‘best of the rest’ position they have had for much of the year in seventh, just ahead of Felipe Massa and Nico Hulkenberg, who Ocon was involved in a momentary incident as the drivers backed up toward the end of the lap, as the three drivers all lapped in the 1:10.3s bracket.
Fernando Alonso would keep McLaren just inside the top 10 in 10th, edging Hulkenberg’s Renault teammate Carlos Sainz by three-hundredths of a second with Sergio Perez another hundredth back in 12th.
The session would see three drivers spin off at different stages, with Marcus Ericsson having the biggest moment as the Swede went off at Mergulho, making contact with the barrier. Though he was able to get back to the pits, the Sauber driver wouldn’t be seen again for the rest of the session.
Haas’ brake problems returned on Friday with Romain Grosjean going off at the Senna ‘S’ on several occasions. The Frenchman’s biggest moment, however, was at Turn 4 – Descida de Lago – when the car wouldn’t slow down sufficiently and he slid into the run-off area.
The last was a spin for Stoffel Vandoorne at Turn 2, as the Belgian lost the rear of his McLaren over the kerb before continuing.
The two Toro Rosso drivers look to recover from their pair of engine issues in the morning and would complete a combined 97 laps in the afternoon as Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley finished 16th and 17th respectively.
At the bottom of the timings was Antonio Giovinazzi, as Haas chose to have the Italian complete his Friday run in the afternoon, fearing Kevin Magnussen would not have got any dry running if he had not participated in the morning.
