Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in the first free-practice session of the Grand Prix of America ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas.
The session started under a light rain, having the drivers to start with intermediary tyres. Two FP1 drivers were running in the session: Charles Leclerc in Pascal Wehrlein’s Sauber, and Sean Gelael in the Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat who made his come-back after two Grand Prix out.
Brendon Hartley also made his F1 debuts in the Italian team as Pierre Gasly was in Suzuka for the Super Formula finale and Carlos Sainz replaced Jolyon Palmer in Renault.
Halfway through the session, Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) was the first driver to head out with super-soft tyres. He lead from Felipe Massa (Williams) and Max Verstappen (Red Bull) on the timesheets. The session kept going on a relatively cold track, making it difficult for the drivers to set a proper flyer.
In the end, Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) claimed the fastest time of the session, half a second away from Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes). Max Verstappen was 4th, 1 full second adrift from the British champion. Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren) was 5th and the 1st driver in ultra-soft tyres. Felipe Massa (Williams) was 7th from Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari). The Force India of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez followed from Carlos Sainz (Renault) who completed the top 10.
