Lewis Hamilton comfortably led the way during a wet first practice session for Formula 1’s United States Grand Prix.
The Mercedes driver clocked a time of 1:47.502 in dreary conditions at the Circuit of the Americas, with Intermediates preferred after a brief early stint on Full Wets.
Hamilton’s time left him 1.3 seconds quicker than Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas, as he cemented a sizeable advantage in the tricky conditions, despite completing just six laps.
Max Verstappen finished just 0.041s down on Bottas to take third, with Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo almost half a second further back in fourth spot.
Hamilton’s title rival Sebastian Vettel was fifth, almost two seconds behind the Mercedes driver, having had two minor off-track moments, while Kimi Raikkonen evaluated a new floor on the SF71H and placed sixth.
Renault’s Carlos Sainz Jr. was the quickest midfield runner, three seconds behind Hamilton, as he wound up seventh, with Romain Grosjean eighth on Haas’ home soil.
Charles Leclerc caused the session to be halted when he dragged gravel onto the circuit with a wide moment through Turn 9, prompting officials to deem the surface needed cleaning, but he recovered to place ninth.
Sauber team-mate Marcus Ericsson completed the top 10, edging McLaren pair Fernando Alonso and Lando Norris, who had another FP1 run ahead of his 2019 debut.
Pierre Gasly was 13th, in front of Sergio Perez, Sergey Sirotkin, Kevin Magnussen and Esteban Ocon, who took to the track after Force India opted to shift Nicholas Latifi’s FP1 run to Abu Dhabi.
Nico Hulkenberg, Lance Stroll and Sean Gelael – having his first practice outing of the year with Toro Rosso – capped the 20 runners.
Friday’s second 90-minute practice session is scheduled for 14:00 local time
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