Max Verstappen ended the free-practice session of the US Grand Prix in the lead ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen, Mercedes haven’t run any lap with super-soft tyres.
Esteban Gutierrez was the first one to head out on track while Mercedes drivers took all their time to get into their garage. Fifteen minutes into the session, Carlos Sainz Jr suffered from a right-rear puncture but eventually got back to the pits.
Not long later, Pascal Wehrlein went into the gravel trap at T19, provoking a red flag. Nevertheless, the German driver refused to get out of his car and delayed the intervention of the marshals. The red flag lasted for ten minutes to retrieve the Manor.
At the restart, one second stood between Red Bull and Ferrari with super-soft tyres and Mercedes with soft tyres were faster than Ferrari with super-softs. With fifteen minutes to go, Sainz suffered from another puncture, this time on the left-rear.
Meanwhile, Max Verstappen went two tenths and a half faster than his teammate with super-soft tyres. Raikkonen also went faster than his teammate and both Mercedes. Despite getting out with super-soft tyres, both Rosberg and Hamilton had to stop their laps because of traffic.
Verstappen ended the session in the lead ahead of Ricciardo and Raikkonen, Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel, Hülkenberg, Bottas, Button and Alonso completed the top 10.
