Practice 1 Report - Rain, rain go away

By Dan Knutson

Rain showers were roving through the Austin area in the hours leading up to Free Practice 1 for the United States Grand Prix. It eased off as the session began, and then it all but stopped raining, but the track never really dried out. Lewis Hamilton was the fastest in the mixed wet conditions.

The line-up for the weekend was: Mercedes – Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas; Ferrari – Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen; Red Bull TAG Heuer – Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen; Racing Point Force India Mercedes – Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon; Williams Mercedes –Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin; Renault – Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz; Toro Rosso Honda – Brendon Hartley and Pierre Gasly; Haas Ferrari – Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen; McLaren Renault – Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne; Sauber Ferrari – Marcus Ericsson and Charles Leclerc.

The reserve drivers participating in FP1 were: Sean Geleal in Hartley’s car and Lando Norris in Vandoorne’s car. Nicholas Latifi was supposed to drive Ocon’s car, but at the last minute the team decided to keep Ocon in for the whole weekend.

"I did FP1 in Austin last year so it's a track that I know, even though it was a bit damp last year,” Geleal said. "The last time I was in the car was for the Budapest test, so I'm looking forward to working with the team again.”

Ericsson was the first out to explore the soggy 20-turn 3.425-mile (5.513 km) Texas track.

The ambient temperature at the start of the 90-minute session was 61 degrees Fahrenheit (16 degrees Centigrade) and the track temperature was 63 degrees Fahrenheit (17 degrees Centigrade).

Pirelli’s slick tire options for the weekend were the soft, super soft and ultra soft, but it was the intermediate and extreme wet tires that would be used in FP1.

Ferrari had a new floor for its car, so the team was anxious to try it out on track on Raikkonen’s car while Vettel used the old floor.

About 15 minutes into the session the drivers were switching from extreme wets to intermediate tires, but none of them had clocked a lap time yet.

Then, just before the half hour mark, Verstappen turned a 1:50.642, and Ricciardo beat that with a 1:49.386. Both drivers were on the inters.

Hamilton, meanwhile, had done just one installation lap and then walked back to the Mercedes hospitality cabin in the paddock. His teammate Bottas was out on the track and posted a 1:48.806.

Leclerc was off the track as he spun into the gravel traps but managed to keep going. He had deposited a bunch of gravel on the track, and that brought out the red flags 40 minutes into FP1.

The top 10 at that time were: Bottas, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Sainz. Ericsson, Raikkonen, Alonso, Leclerc, Norris and Vettel.

Once the session restarted, Hamilton ventured out and immediately jumped up to third place. It had almost completely stopped raining now, but there was still a lot of water on the track and spray in the air. Hamilton had fresh tires and that helped him take the lead with a lap in 1:47.502, which was a full 1.3 seconds faster than the time Bottas did when the track was wetter.

In the final half-hour the drivers circulated on worn tires, so nobody was getting close to Hamilton’s lap time. But Vettel did jump from tenth to fourth, albeit 1.9 seconds off the top time. And there was more shuffling in the order as well.

The top ten at the end of the damp session were: Hamilton, Bottas, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Vettel, Raikkonen, Sainz, Grosjean, Leclerc and Ericsson.