Rosberg heads first wet practice at Austin

F1 Grand Prix, GP USA, Circuit of The Americas

Weather played its role in first practice at Austin, but with the weather expected to remain unpredictable throughout the weekend, drivers still went out to get a feel for the conditions. Nico Rosberg eventually came out fastest.

The session got off to an easy start, with everybody understandably taking it easy out on track. Especially in the beginning of the session there was standing water in some areas and a very greasy looking surface overall.

After the early installation laps on full wets, it took only 7 minutes until there was a switch to intermediates. Pastor Maldonado meanwhile found an issue with the gearbox of his Lotus E23 and slowly returned to the pits, not to return to the track in that session. Grosjean on the other hand completed 5 early laps, but after that also went back to the pits for a long break.

Half an hour later, a dry line formed, but with the track still rather wat at several places, everybody continued to run in intermediates as teams started their focus for longer runs.

Fernando Alonso sprung a bit of hope for McLaren Honda, usually peaking 20km/h quicker at the back straight than his team mate. The Spaniard is the only man to use Honda's upgraded power unit this weekend.

Raikkonen at one point also had some problems with his Ferrari's brakes at one point, requiring checks in the garage. Button's complaints were very different as he repeatedly mentioned the bump on the back straight to be very voilent, "nearly a jump".

A point of focus during the session was home driver Alexander Rossi, running a Manor Marussia with the end plates painted as the American stars and stripes. Rossi is set to become the first American racer to compete in a Grand Prix since 2007.