Championship contenders Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel topped the practice times at a damp Circuit of the Americas.
The Mercedes driver ended the first session just under six-tenths of a second quicker than Vettel. Both set their best times on super-soft tyres on a drying track.
The circuit was damp when the 90 minute session began and all drivers used intermediate tyres for their first run. Some took the opportunity to run Pirelli’s new prototype intermediate tyre.
Valtteri Bottas was the only other driver to get within a second of Hamilton. He appeared to suffer an unusual problem with his rear wing vibrating after he went off the track at turn one.
Max Verstappen, who has just signed a new contract with Red Bull, was next ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne. Fernando Alonso in the other McLaren spent most of the session in the garage with a technical problem. Daniel Ricciardo was also limited to just 16th place after doing little running in the latter part of the session when the track was at its driest.
Both Force Indias appeared in the top ten along with Felipe Massa’s Williams, Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari and Carlos Sainz Jnr on his debut with Renault.
Toro Rosso’s test driver Sean Gelael went off twice during the session and ended up over a second off newcomer Brendon Hartley. The latter complained of problems with his crash helmet lifting at speed which the team wasn’t able to fix during the session.
Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’36.335 | 18 | |
2 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’36.928 | 0.593 | 20 |
3 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’36.979 | 0.644 | 10 |
4 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’37.339 | 1.004 | 21 |
5 | 2 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren-Honda | 1’37.352 | 1.017 | 26 |
6 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’37.570 | 1.235 | 23 |
7 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’37.598 | 1.263 | 20 |
8 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Force India-Mercedes | 1’37.808 | 1.473 | 25 |
9 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’37.861 | 1.526 | 20 |
10 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 1’38.093 | 1.758 | 24 |
11 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’38.408 | 2.073 | 16 |
12 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Williams-Mercedes | 1’38.534 | 2.199 | 25 |
13 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’38.904 | 2.569 | 19 |
14 | 39 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’39.267 | 2.932 | 28 |
15 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’39.336 | 3.001 | 17 |
16 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’39.366 | 3.031 | 14 |
17 | 38 | Sean Gelael | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’40.406 | 4.071 | 25 |
18 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’40.448 | 4.113 | 19 |
19 | 37 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’40.828 | 4.493 | 25 |
20 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Honda | 14 |
First practice visual gaps
Lewis Hamilton – 1’36.335
+0.593 Sebastian Vettel – 1’36.928
+0.644 Valtteri Bottas – 1’36.979
+1.004 Max Verstappen – 1’37.339
+1.017 Stoffel Vandoorne – 1’37.352
+1.235 Felipe Massa – 1’37.570
+1.263 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’37.598
+1.473 Esteban Ocon – 1’37.808
+1.526 Sergio Perez – 1’37.861
+1.758 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’38.093
+2.073 Kevin Magnussen – 1’38.408
+2.199 Lance Stroll – 1’38.534
+2.569 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’38.904
+2.932 Brendon Hartley – 1’39.267
+3.001 Romain Grosjean – 1’39.336
+3.031 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’39.366
+4.071 Sean Gelael – 1’40.406
+4.113 Marcus Ericsson – 1’40.448
+4.493 Charles Leclerc – 1’40.828
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
Drivers best times by tyre
Driver | Team | Best ultra-soft time | Ultra-soft gap | Best super-soft time | Super-soft gap | Best soft time | Soft gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | None | 1’36.335 | None | |||
Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | None | 1’36.979 | 0.644 | None | ||
Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | None | 1’39.366 | 3.031 | None | ||
Max Verstappen | Red Bull | None | 1’37.339 | 1.004 | None | ||
Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | None | 1’36.928 | 0.593 | None | ||
Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | None | 1’37.598 | 1.263 | None | ||
Sergio Perez | Force India | None | None | 1’37.861 | 0.053 | ||
Esteban Ocon | Force India | None | None | 1’37.808 | |||
Felipe Massa | Williams | 1’37.570 | 0.218 | 2’15.379 | 39.044 | None | |
Lance Stroll | Williams | 1’38.534 | 1.182 | None | None | ||
Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | 1’37.352 | None | None | |||
Sean Gelael | Toro Rosso | 1’40.406 | 3.054 | None | None | ||
Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso | 1’39.267 | 1.915 | None | None | ||
Romain Grosjean | Haas | None | 1’39.336 | 3.001 | None | ||
Kevin Magnussen | Haas | None | 1’38.408 | 2.073 | None | ||
Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | None | 1’38.904 | 2.569 | None | ||
Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | None | 1’38.093 | 1.758 | None | ||
Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | None | 1’40.448 | 4.113 | None | ||
Charles Leclerc | Sauber | None | 1’40.828 | 4.493 | None |
2017 United States Grand Prix
- 2017 United States Grand Prix Predictions Championship results
- 2017 United States Grand Prix team radio transcript
- 2017 United States Grand Prix Star Performers
- Hamilton only needs fifth – but we’ve heard that before…
- “Can you tell Esteban to let me by?”: US GP team radio highlights
pastaman (@)
20th October 2017, 17:44
Why is RB wasting their time with Gelael? Surely they don’t need the money. Sorry, but the guy is a joke (as a driver).
Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
20th October 2017, 17:58
Just what I was about to say. Surely KFC money isnt enough to leave him in with a shot. Hartley’s driving the car for the first time and he’s already wiped the floor with him.
Driver’s Galael give aspiring drivers from Asia a bad name.
anon
20th October 2017, 21:16
@jaymenon10, well, according to the user known as GT-Racer (who has links within the F1 paddock), it is because Gelael provided surprisingly high quality technical feedback to the engineers when he first tested for Toro Rosso and has turned out to be a decent development driver for them, even if his results in junior series might be indifferent.
Warwick (@warwick)
20th October 2017, 18:02
Tasty chicken money.
Ashwin (@redbullf1)
20th October 2017, 18:35
Must have been the most expensive track day for Sean !
Baron (@baron)
20th October 2017, 19:02
Jeez a lot of unkind comments regarding Sean. I’d never heard of him before today to be honest. His racing results don’t seem that bad and who cares where his money comes from? Good luck to him. You probably will never see him again but what an experience! Y’all are just envious…So get out there and make some cash, then you too can do F1!
Melbourne (@melbourne)
20th October 2017, 17:50
impressive so far for Hartley, lets see how he carried out the weekend
Baron (@baron)
20th October 2017, 18:54
What about Sainz? No words? Yes I know it’s only FP1 but still… To be honest, I find these drivers either parachuting in or changing teams this late in a season, strangely compelling!
Aldoid
20th October 2017, 19:01
Hartley doesn’t look out of his depth at all. I’d say that was a pretty good debut. Can’t say the same about Gelael, though… he looks dreadful. Sainz immediately at home in the Renault too. Really liked what I was hearing after the session from Symonds, Horner & the Sky team regarding the direction of the Formula going forward. I’m really excited at the measured approach being taken by Symonds, Brawn & co and I’m truly optimistic about the future of this sport for the first time in a long time.
Pratyush P (@pratyushp276)
20th October 2017, 19:20
I’m pretty sure Gelael was slow only because he was probably licking his gloves through the turns as part of his daddy’s contractual obligations.
Baron (@baron)
20th October 2017, 19:34
Well, that makes him multi talented then seeing as two (non rookies) were slower…Good skills!
pastaman (@)
21st October 2017, 3:24
Slower in Saubers lol. It’s admirable you want to defend him, but he’s taking the place that many many more talented drivers could be taking. He’s only there because he can (technically) drive a car and daddy has money. He’s only won 3 races in his professional driver career, and that was in Formula Pilota China and Asian Le Mans series…. gimme a break.