0
Lewis Hamilton has topped the first free practice session in Austin which ran under wet conditions. The Briton set a 1:47.502 to top the session ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas, who was 1.3 seconds behind.
Rain has been falling in Austin for many hours and is expected to continue into the afternoon session. While the race on Sunday is expected to be dry, there is a chance that qualifying on Saturday could take place on a damp track, making Friday running somewhat valuable.
The Red Bull duo followed in third and fourth, with Max Verstappen leading his teammate Daniel Ricciardo. Ricciardo is entering his final handful of races with the energy drink squad, as he will leave at the end of the year to join Renault on a two-year deal.
Sebastian Vettel was fifth, while his teammate Kimi Raikkonen was sixth. Despite running far off the pace the of rivals Mercedes, the Scuderia outfit set triple the number of laps that Mercedes set during the ninety-minute session.
There was a brief pause during the session as the red flag was deployed to clear the track. Sauber's Charles Leclerc had brought a lot of gravel back onto the circuit following a spin at Turn 9, in which he managed to avoid the barriers.
The Monegasque driver, who will be joining Ferrari in 2019, ended the session in ninth place, ahead of teammate Marcus Ericsson who rounded out the top ten. Ahead of the two Saubers was Carlos Sainz and Romain Grosjean, who finished in seventh and eighth respectively.
There were two Friday practice drivers taking part in the session. Lando Norris drove the McLaren MCL33 ahead of his full-time switch for next year, while Sean Gelael made his first FP1 appearance of 2018 in the Toro Rosso.
Circuit of the Americas - 19 October 2018
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
M. Verstappen
C. Sainz jr
C. Leclerc
Bahrain
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Saudi Arabia
Jeddah Street Circuit
Australia
Albert Park
Japan
Circuit Suzuka
United States of America
Miami International Autodrome
Monaco
Monte Carlo
Canada
Gilles Villeneuve
Spain
Circuit de Catalunya
Austria
Red Bull Ring
United Kingdom
Silverstone
Hungary
Hungaroring
Belgium
Spa-Francorchamps
Netherlands
Circuit Zandvoort
Italy
Monza
Azerbaijan
Baku City Circuit
Singapore
Marina Bay Street Circuit
United States of America
Circuit of the Americas
Mexico
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
Brazil
Interlagos
United States of America
Las Vegas Street Circuit
United Arab Emirates
Yas Marina Circuit
756,519 comments on Red Bull Racing
968 members have this team as their favourite
Tweets about Max Verstappen
236,923 comments on Renault 27 members have this team as their favourite Tweets about Renault
Replies (0)
Login to reply