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Formula 1 United States GP

2014 US Grand Prix Friday - Practice

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That's it from us on AUTOSPORT Live for today - our commentary will be back in action for FP3 and qualifying tomorrow.

For now, as our team of journalists work their way around the paddock speaking to the teams and drivers, keep an eye on autosport.com for all the reaction to today's running and the latest on the state of F1 as more teams fight for survival.
Hamilton is telling reporters in the paddock that it was a fluid leak that brought his Mercedes into the pits early in practice two.
Breaking news
Here's EDD STRAW's full report of all the events from US GP practice two, plus the complete results rundown:

US GP practice two report
FP2 final positions:

1 Hamilton
2 Rosberg +0.003s
3 Alonso +1.104s
4 Ricciardo
5 Massa
6 Raikkonen
7 Kvyat
8 Magnussen
9 Button
10 Hulkenberg
11 Bottas
12 Grosjean
13 Vergne
14 Perez
15 Maldonado
16 Sutil
17 Gutierrez
18 Vettel

Remember, Vettel didn't bother with any qualifying performance work as he plans to start from the pitlane on Sunday.

And no, we haven't got used to only having 18 cars in the standings, either.
Plenty of radio traffic from teams to drivers reminding them that the virtual safety car test is about to happen.
The field will now go into another 'virtual safety car' test.
Rosberg is darting around behind Bottas in the first sector, but he'd had to wait until the backstraight to make a pass as the Williams doesn't feel the need to move out of his way.
Checkered flag
The chequered flag is out, practice two is over and Hamilton is fastest on yet another Friday afternoon.
Kvyat reports a vibration on his tyres. He's told to come in, lay some rubber in front of the garage, and go out again.
Red Bull is now giving Ricciardo information about the pace the McLarens and Bottas are putting in.
Raikkonen has had a lock-up into Turn 1, and he couldn't get the Ferrari anywhere near the apex as he tried to turn in while flat-spotting the inside front.
Force India informs Perez that his relative pace is better on this run so he can focus on "keeping degradation under control".
Kvyat tells Toro Rosso he's "losing general grip". A torque map change is suggested.
Ricciardo is asking Red Bull about Alonso's pace, as he sizes up his likely race rivals.
A brief bit of long-run info: Bottas, on 21-lap old mediums, is lapping in a similar bracket (high 1m45s-low 1m46s) to Alonso, who is on softs that are around half that age.
Magnussen clocks in his 31st lap, the most of the session so far, just ahead of Bottas and Maldonado. The troubled Vettel and Hamilton have done 13 and 18 respectively.
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Toro Rosso tells Kvyat he's doing "a very good job".
TV shots from the Mercedes garage show a lot of work going on around Hamilton's car, which is already being dismantled.
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A crackly and slightly giggly Button gives McLaren tyre feedback: "They're not getting worse. They started off pretty bad."
Vergne is the latest to have a lock-up into Turn 12 at the end of the backstraight, although unlike most it's the outside front that locks.
Lead order reminder with 15 minutes to go:

1 Hamilton
2 Rosberg (+0.003s)
3 Alonso (+1.104s)
4 Ricciardo
5 Massa
6 Raikkonen
Hamilton has stayed in the garage since coming in with that problem. Grosjean and Vettel are the only other men in the pits.
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Raikkonen shares some worries with Ferrari: "I think we have a lot of slipping on the clutch, and I can smell some oil".
Hamilton is instructed to carry out a practice pitstop as usual when he comes in, which he does now. The team didn't specify the issue.
Breaking news
Mercedes tells Hamilton to come in due to "an issue with the car".
As expected, seeing as he knows he's starting from the pitlane, Vettel is totally race-focused on this session. He's 5.4s off the pace.
Hamilton takes a tighter line into Turn 1, as Ricciardo locks up and gives the Mercedes a puff of smoke to drive through.
Rosberg tells Mercedes he accidentally pressed the clutch pedal and asks it's OK to keep running. The team gives him the all-clear.
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A gearbox quirk for Hamilton too, who tells Mercedes about a "strange shift, fourth to fifth, across the startline".
Rosberg completes a lap 5s off his earlier pace, which is standard for this period.

For a full in-depth analysis of the field's practice form and what it could mean for Sunday's race, watch out for EDD STRAW and GARY ANDERSON's Friday form feature on AUTOSPORT later today.
The difference between race and qualifying runs is particularly noticeable on the approach to the Austin track's tightest corners - including Turns 1, 11 and 12. Drivers are nowhere near as aggressive on the brakes as we were seeing earlier.
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Mercedes tells Rosberg to "just continue, there's nothing to check".
Rosberg is reporting some gearbox concerns on the radio. He says it's affecting the downshift.
As usual, this is the part of the session where everyone slogs around on heavier fuel testing tyre life on long runs.
And if this was qualifying, in Q1 trouble would be...

15 Sutil
16 Gutierrez
17 Maldonado
18 Vettel
"I lost the KERS at the end of the lap", says Grosjean. The team says it knows the problem but is not able to do anything about it at the moment, so he has to continue as he is for now.
Outside the top six:

7 Kvyat
8 Magnussen
9 Button
10 Hulkenberg
11 Bottas
12 Vergne
13 Perez
14 Grosjean
We're past halfway, there are soft tyres everywhere, here's the lead order:

1 Hamilton
2 Rosberg
3 Alonso
4 Ricciardo
5 Massa
6 Raikkonen

By: Pablo Elizalde, Jamie Klein, Ben Anderson, AUTOSPORT staff, Glenn Freeman, Matt Beer

Published: