Posted on 24th October 2015
In the first practice session in Austin, Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg topped the timesheets ahead of the Red Bull drivers of Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo in a session that was affected by the wet weather in Texas.
As had been the case in the last two events at Suzuka and Sochi, wet conditions dominated early proceedings as a heavy downpour soaked the Circuit of the Americas just over an hour before the session began.
Fortunately the rain relented with 45 minutes to the start and although it stayed away for the 90 minutes of on-track action that followed; it ensured the circuit was at best damp throughout the session.
After the initial installation lap was conducted on Pirelli’s full wet tyres, the field switched to the intermediates to carry out more meaningful running thereafter.
Unlike many opening practice sessions when the cars sit in the garage on the basis of drier weather being forecast as the event progresses; on this occasion with rain set for most of the weekend, the teams opted to churn out the laps which was great to see.
But it was Nico Rosberg who topped the timesheets with a lap time of 1.53.989 ahead of Daniil Kvyat in second place who was 1.235 seconds behind him but was ahead of his team mate Daniel Ricciardo who finished in third place who was 1.603 seconds behind the Mercedes of Rosberg.
Carlos Sainz Jr finished the session in fourth place ahead of Lewis Hamilton in fifth place, Sebastian Vettel in sixth place and Max Verstappen in seventh place. Kimi Raikkonen ended the session in eighth place ahead of Fernando Alonso in ninth place and Valtteri Bottas who rounds off the top ten finishers.
Felipe Massa ended the session in eleventh place ahead of Sergio Perez in twelfth place, Jenson Button in thirteenth place, Nico Hulkenberg in fourteenth place and ahead of Romain Grosjean in fifteenth place. As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Raffaele Marciello finished in sixteenth place ahead of Marcus Ericsson in seventeenth place, Alexander Rossi in eighteenth place, Will Stevens in nineteenth place and Pastor Maldonado who rounded off the grid in twentieth place.
The classification of FP1 for the United States GP is as follows:-
1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1.53.989
2. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull Renault, 1.235s
3. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-Renault, 1.603s
4. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 1.678s
5. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1.704s
6. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1.721s
7. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 1.980s
8. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 2.337s
9. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, 2.850s
10. Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes, 2.877s
11. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 1.978s
12. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 0.791s
13. Jenson Button, McLaren-Honda, 1.876s
14. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India-Mercedes, 1.44.355
15. Romain Grosjean, Lotus-Mercedes, 4.739s
16. Raffaele Marciello, Sauber-Ferrari, 2.392s
17. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 9.917s
18. Alexander Rossi, Manor, 8.639s
19. Will Stevens, Manor, 13.899s
20. Pastor Maldonado, Lotus-Mercedes, 3.651s
In between the break between Friday's two practices; Hurricane Patricia made her presence known. The rain came down while lightening in the vicinity meant the marshals were unable to take to their posts.
A weather warning went up from the Circuit of the Americas officials, telling spectators to seek cover. The teams and drivers definitely did as, with the start of FP2 postponed, everyone hid in their respective garages watching the rain pour down.
As the storm continued and the light faded the FIA cancelled FP2 just before the hour mark with the following message:- ‘No medical helicopter operations for the next 2 hours.’ This then brought doubts for if FP3 would start on Saturday afternoon in the UK or Saturday afternoon as planned in the USA.
Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa
