Max third fastest at first free practice in Austin

Published on 19 October 2018 by Mike Motilall

Max Verstappen finished third fastest at the first free practice in the run up to the Grand Prix of the United States of America. On a wet 5,515 meter long Circuit of the America’s, Lewis Hamilton was the fastest in his Mercedes followed by team mate Valtteri Bottas. Daniel Ricciardo slotted in behind of Max in fourth.

For the first practice session, Toro Rosso running Brendon Hartley gave control of his car to Sean Gelael, while Stoffel Vandoorne relinquished control of his to Lando Norris at McLaren.

It is cold and rainy when the lights turn green at ten o’clock local time. The weather forecast predicts a rainy Friday. Rain also needs to be taken into account Saturday morning. During qualifying and the race it appears to be dry. We see Marcus Ericsson immediately head out on track. Norris and Nico Hulkenberg follow moments later.

After about fifteen minutes, Hulkenberg straps on a set of intermediates on his Renault. He returns back to the pits after just one lap as the track was probably still too wet for those tyres. After almost twenty minutes, we see some action at Aston Martin Red Bull Racing. Ricciardo leaves the pitbox slightly earlier than Max while both drivers are on the inters. Ricciardo is the first driver to get a timed lap after some twenty six minutes into the session. Moments later Max takes over P1 from the Ozzie. The rapid Dutchman is 1,6 second faster than his team mate. The following lap, Ricciardo tops the board once more and once again Max betters his time and returns to the pits afterwards.

After well over half an hour, Charles Leclerc spins off course in his Sauber, but the Monégasque is able to continue on unscathed. Returning on track, he scatters so much gravel on the deck that Race Control decides to stop the session with a code red.

When the track has been cleared there are still 40 minutes remaining. Hamilton, Ricciardo and Max are the front runners who are immediately out on track. Everyone out on track is on the intermediates. Hamilton takes P3 from Max but he counters that and moves up to P2, just four hundredths shy of Bottas. Moments later, Hamilton is P1. Done with a time that is 1,3 second faster than everyone else.

Ferrari is by then particularly busy with long runs. Mercedes and Red Bull Racing are inside. With less than fifteen minutes to go, only Williams is out on track. The other teams probably fail to see the point in doing more laps and save their tyres and engines. In the closing stages we see both Ferrari’s for a brief moment out on track while the Red Bulls and Mercedes remain inside.

USA GP contest: win a RBR limited edition USA cap and Red Bull Racing umbrella!

Results first free practice United States: