USA F1 Grand Prix 2016 Qualifying: Results, Times from Friday's Practice

Nico Rosberg had the edge on Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton in second practice at the Formula One United States grand prix on Friday.

As the teams underwent their qualifying simulation runs, Rosberg's mark of one minute, 37.358 seconds proved too fast for the rest of the field; his title rival was eventually third quickest, with Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo splitting the Mercedes men.

In FP1, Hamilton posted the fastest time by three tenths of a second ahead of Rosberg, with Max Verstappen of Red Bull almost two seconds back.

Rosberg leads his team-mate by 33 points in the world championship battle heading into this weekend, with just four races left on the calendar.

FP2 Recap

Here are the standings after the second practice session of the day, with Rosberg leading the way, per the Formula One Twitter feed:

As has been the case for much of the season, all eyes were on the Mercedes pair again in FP2. Rosberg was initially quickest, putting around three tenths of a second between himself and Hamilton; the German was using the quicker soft tyre, though.

As for Ferrari, Kimi Raikkonen was one of the first to use the supersoft tyre in the afternoon, although he didn’t manage to gather much pace from them initially. “I don't know why but the car is very bad at the rear,” he ominously told his engineers, per BBC Sport.

Clive Mason/Getty Images

Eventually, there were plenty of cars on the fastest compound, with some qualifying simulations ongoing. After the initial efforts from both Mercedes drivers, it was Rosberg again who had the advantage, with almost three tenths to spare over Hamilton on the quickest tyre.

After only using the medium compound in the morning, Red Bull decided to go full pelt in the afternoon, too, and on their qualification simulation runs, Ricciardo was able to split the two Silver Arrows.

Motorsports journalist James Allen was impressed with the efforts of Red Bull, although felt as though there was more to come from Hamilton:

Also impressive were the McLaren pair of Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso, who muscled their way into the top 10 following an impressive burst on the supersofts.

After that injection of speed, the drivers focused on longer, race simulation runs for the remainder of the session. However, their momentum was sapped after a piece of debris from Valtteri Bottas' Williams brought out a red flag.

Mark Thompson/Getty Images

On the longer runs, the Red Bulls were able to stay within range of the Mercedes, suggesting Sunday's race is unlikely to be a procession for the championship leaders. Indeed, as the tyres degraded, Ricciardo was actually a little quicker than Rosberg by a couple of tenths a lap.

If he or Verstappen can split Rosberg and Hamilton in qualifying, we could be set for one of the most fascinating races of the season.

FP1 Recap

Here's a look at the full timetable for the first practice session, per F1's official Twitter account:

Jordan King replaced Pascal Wehrlein in the Manor and was the only man out early during the early session, posting the only time in the first 20 minutes. Fellow Brit Jolyon Palmer joined him on the track and promptly spun out at Turn 18, almost making contact with Sebastian Vettel.

The Silver Arrows predictably posted the two top times, with Hamilton taking the early lead over Rosberg and Vettel sliding into third place. Both Mercedes drivers improved on their times at a fair rate, and Rosberg posted the first really sharp time on the soft tyres, going quicker than on the supersofts.

Verstappen improved his time on the medium tyres, and Vettel didn't have time to respond before an odd incident brought out the virtual safety car. The German went off the track and seemed to rip up part of the body of his car, before driving back one-handed and holding his mirror in the other hand.

Motorsport.com's Pablo Elizalde had to make this joke: 

While it was a funny sight, it was also a smart and thoughtful move from Vettel, who protected the rest of the field from more debris.

Hamilton took the lead by three tenths of a second, while Romain Grosjean held up Verstappen. As F1's official Twitter account shared, the two came close to making contact:

King put together a great session in the Manor at the back, beating Esteban Ocon by almost two seconds.

The battle at the front was never exciting, as Mercedes opened up a massive gap that was somewhat reminiscent of the 2014 season. Red Bull and Ferrari are expected to close the gap somewhat over the course of the weekend, although Rosberg and Hamilton remain the clear favourites for Sunday's race.