Max P7 in wet first free practice in Austin

Published on 23 October 2015 by Mike Motilall

During the first free practice, as a run up to the Grand Prix of the USA, Max Verstappen clocked the seventh fastest time. Nico Rosberg was, on the 5.515 meters long Circuit of the America’s, the quickest, followed by Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo, both in their Red Bulls.

As mentioned beforehand, the first free practice got underway in wet conditions. Marcus Ericsson is the first to venture out. Moments later, both Ferrari’s follow. In the early stages, we see all cars appear on the full wets on track. Daniel Ricciardo is the first to switch to the intermediates when heading out.

After little over ten minutes, we also see Max head out, for an installation lap. His car is also on the intermediates. Apart from the Japanese Grand Prix, this will be the second time the youngster is on familiar terrain in a Formula 1-car, for a Grand Prix-weekend.

It takes a while before we see Max again on the circuit, but after his first complete lap, he is shortly in P7. After this lap, he immediately pits again. It seems that a great many drivers want to save their tyres for later on during the weekend. Not much later, Max heads back out again. He improves his best time and positions himself in fifth.

At Sauber, we see Raffaele Marciello, who is allowed to do his first free practice in Felipe Nasr’s car. The Ferrari protégé is almost evenly matched with his team mate Ericsson. With half an hour remaining, it’s Rosberg, with a lead of more than one second, who leads the pack.

In the closing stages of the session, the calm seems to have returned. Many drivers stay in their pit box for extended periods of time. Even Max stays in for the remainder of the session. Slowly the track is getting dry, but not dry enough to head out on slicks. It is still too wet  in many parts of the track.

Circuit of the America’s – USA Grand Prix – Friday 23 October

 RESULTS FIRST FREE PRACTICE 
 P No Driver             Team          Time     Gap   Laps
 1  6 Nico Rosberg       Mercedes      1:53.989          7
 2 26 Daniil Kvyat       Red Bull      1:55.224 +1.235s  6
 3  3 Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull      1:55.592 +1.603s 10
 4 55 Carlos Sainz       Toro Rosso    1:55.667 +1.678s  8
 5 44 Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes      1:55.693 +1.704s  4
 6  5 Sebastian Vettel   Ferrari       1:55.710 +1.721s 10
 7 33 Max Verstappen     Toro Rosso    1:55.969 +1.980s  7
 8  7 Kimi Räikkönen     Ferrari       1:56.326 +2.337s 10
 9 14 Fernando Alonso    McLaren       1:56.839 +2.850s 18
10 77 Valtteri Bottas    Williams      1:56.866 +2.877s 15
11 19 Felipe Massa       Williams      1:57.081 +3.092s 13
12 11 Sergio Perez       Force India   1:57.139 +3.150s  4
13 22 Jenson Button      McLaren       1:57.495 +3.506s 20
14 27 Nico Hulkenberg    Force India   1:57.518 +3.529s  4
15  8 Romain Grosjean    Lotus         1:58.319 +4.330s 10
16 36 Raffaele Marciello Sauber        1:59.431 +5.442s 19
17  9 Marcus Ericsson    Sauber        1:59.743 +5.754s 18
18 53 Alexander Rossi    Marussia      2:01.154 +7.165s 11
19 28 Will Stevens       Marussia      2:01.907 +7.918s 13
20 13 Pastor Maldonado   Lotus                          1 

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