Formula 1 Practice Pointers.

Our F1 expert analyst Tom Wilkinson gives us an insight into what too look for during today's Practice Sessions ahead of the US Grand Prix.

Tom Wilkinson's Practice Pointers.

One driver to watch today will be Heikki Kovalainen in the Lotus. Stepping into the car at this late stage of the season it will be interesting to see how he compares to Romain Grosjean. The Finn is confident of a good performance her and in Brazil. “Jumping into a car so late in the year when you have not been competing in the races all season will be a challenge, but I know the team at Enstone well so I have no concerns about getting up to speed”. Kovalainen will take the short wheelbase Lotus for the remaining two races of this season.

Lewis Hamilton won this race last year in the McLaren, but after recent performances, repeating that achievement looks unlikely. But Lewis is determined to take the fight to Vettel. “Austin is a wonderful track and I really enjoyed being the first winner there in 2012, this year it will be a fight to repeat that, but we will be giving it everything we can, especially in the battle to keep ahead of Ferrari in the constructors' championship”. Watch out for upgrades on the Mercedes today, also experimenting on car setup.

Ferrari are in a tense battle in the constructors championship with Mercedes, Fernando Alonso has made no attempt at hiding his frustration with lack of pace. Austin is a fast circuit, the Ferrari may try some new aero packages this weekend to help with straight line speed. I expect to see some Flo-Vis paint used today, not just on the Scuderia but other teams also. Will their new curved sidepod airflow conditioner which was tested in Abu Dhabi make an appearance today? I suspect it could be part of their race package here in Austin.

Finally look at the tyres as Pirelli bring the Medium and Hard compounds to the race. Which will be the better race tyre? I suspect It'll be the Hard as the high energy loads through the corners here, demand a lot from the Pirelli P Zero's. The Medium tyres may begin to degrade after around seven laps or so which makes them good for Qualifying.

Here are your times for today's Free Practice sessions.

FP1: 15:00 – FP2: 19:00

You can watch all the action exclusively Live with SkySports F1.

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