Sebastian Vettel took the honour of topping the first session on the new Circuit of the Americas as Formula One returns to US soil for the first time since 2007.
The Red Bull driver was a dominant 1.4 seconds quicker than second place man Lewis Hamilton who had topped the session until the closing minutes.
Hamilton and Fernando Alonso traded fastest laps at the top before the McLaren driver went half a second quicker – a lap that looked comfortable for the lead before Vettel’s late 1:38.125 stole the show.
Jenson Button and Mark Webber completed the top five fastest cars.
Seventh placed man Nico Hulkenberg became the first man to spin on the new circuit as the blind turn one caught out the German. He wasn’t the only one to make a mistake as almost all the drivers left the circuit at some point in an effort to learn where the limit is.
Turn 11 turned out to be another tricky corner, with Hamilton and Massa among others getting caught out.
Marussia’s Charles Pic was best of the rest as he beat Caterham’s Heikki Kovalainen to 18th.
FP1 Results for the 2012 United States Grand Prix:
| # | No. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 01 | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 1:38.125 | 30 | |
| 02 | 04 | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 1:39.543 | 1.418 | 28 |
| 03 | 05 | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 1:40.337 | 2.212 | 29 |
| 04 | 03 | J. Button | McLaren | 1:40.528 | 2.403 | 29 |
| 05 | 02 | M. Webber | Red Bull | 1:40.650 | 2.525 | 30 |
| 06 | 06 | F. Massa | Ferrari | 1:40.966 | 2.841 | 26 |
| 07 | 12 | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:41.023 | 2.898 | 29 |
| 08 | 14 | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | 1:41.036 | 2.911 | 28 |
| 09 | 08 | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:41.159 | 3.034 | 32 |
| 10 | 15 | S. Perez | Sauber | 1:41.473 | 3.348 | 29 |
| 11 | 11 | P. di Resta | Force India | 1:41.783 | 3.658 | 29 |
| 12 | 16 | D. Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 1:41.825 | 3.700 | 28 |
| 13 | 17 | J. Vergne | Toro Rosso | 1:41.833 | 3.708 | 29 |
| 14 | 09 | K. Räikkönen | Lotus | 1:41.880 | 3.755 | 23 |
| 15 | 10 | R. Grosjean | Lotus | 1:41.998 | 3.873 | 27 |
| 16 | 18 | P. Maldonado | Williams | 1:42.539 | 4.414 | 30 |
| 17 | 07 | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:42.588 | 4.463 | 25 |
| 18 | 25 | C. Pic | Marussia | 1:43.288 | 5.163 | 23 |
| 19 | 20 | H. Kovalainen | Caterham | 1:43.443 | 5.318 | 28 |
| 20 | 21 | V. Petrov | Caterham | 1:43.522 | 5.397 | 23 |
| 21 | 24 | T. Glock | Marussia | 1:44.464 | 6.339 | 24 |
| 22 | 19 | B. Senna | Williams | 1:44.548 | 6.423 | 29 |
| 23 | 22 | P. de la Rosa | HRT | 1:46.917 | 8.792 | 13 |
| 24 | 23 | Q. Hua Ma | HRT | 1:48.559 | 10.434 | 19 |
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