Austin, 15 November

Conditions for the second session were much warmer than in the foggy morning and lap times came down considerably by the end of it. Fernando Alonso was tenth fastest, two places higher than Felipe Massa. The Spaniard completed 33 laps, with Felipe doing 37.
The lack of laps in the morning did not have any repercussions on the afternoon programme, which saw both Alonso and Massa start on a set of Hard tyres. The Spaniard did 8 laps on this set, ending up sixth in 1.38.827, while Massa did 11 with a best time of 1.39.616.
Back in the garage, the two F138s continued with the usual Friday afternoon programme, fitting the Mediums for a qualifying simulation, which ended with Alonso posting a 1.38.461 and Massa a 1.38.938. Neither man managed to improve on that with the second sector proving to be the most problematic.
The last 30 minutes were given over to a race simulation, with both men also do practice pit stops and starts. The times over the long run were good, especially on the Medium tyre. Sebastian Vettel was fastest for Red Bull in 1.37.305.