Hamilton tops damp first practice at Austin

F1 Grand Prix, GP USA, Circuit of The Americas

Lewis Hamilton was the fastest around Circuit of The Americas on Friday morning as running commenced in preparation for the USA Grand Prix. Damp and overcast conditions didn't change much at the front as Vettel came closest to Hamilton's pace, followed by Valtteri Bottas.

Vettel was however more than half a second down on the Championship leader. Max Verstappen in fourth was already more than a second behind, almost matched by Stoffel Vandoorne.

Felipe Massa followed in 6th while Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was 7th fastest. Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez were 8th and 9th while Carlos Sainz, for the first time driving in a Renault, completed the top 10.

The session kicked off with light rain and saw Hamilton going fastest on the intermediate tyres. Verstappen and Ricciardo at the time were the closest challengers. It was only past halfway into the session that Verstappen managed to better Hamilton thanks to making use of the improved conditions. Still on intermediate tyres, it was clear that at some point in the session, slicks would become more appropriate.

It was his team mate at Red Bull, Daniel Ricciardo, who first went fastest on slicks, using the supersoft tyre. It was only later than Hamilton improved on that, thanks to the now-pink ultrasofts tyres. Bottas momentarily went second fastest until Vettel improved by another tenth to leapfrog the Mercedes driver again for second place.

McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne slotted into fifth. The Belgian, who is set to take another grid penalty for taking on a new engine, was McLaren spearpoint in the morning as Fernando Alonso was unable to set a time due to technical issues.