Lewis Hamilton only needed a few flying laps to prove his wet weather superiority as he led the field by over a second in first practice at the United States Grand Prix.
Heavy rain in the hours before the session had left the Circuit of the Americas sodden with plenty of standing water though only light drizzle fell during the opening 90 minutes of running.
Initially, most drivers completed installation laps on the full wet tyres but Red Bull would wait a little longer before sending both cars out straight on intermediates setting the initial pace in the 1m49’s through Daniel Ricciardo.
Valtteri Bottas would emerge and soon moved to the top with his second timed lap, a 1m48.806s, as Ferrari took a more conservative approach on the wet track.
Charles Leclerc would have the first notable off-track excursion at Turn 9 with a half spin, in returning to the circuit, however, he would bring a lot of gravel onto the circuit causing a red flag so the stones can be cleared away.
Hamilton was initially caught out by the short stoppage as he was pushed back to his garage but when the green flags were waved that was when the Briton set about showing off his skills.
Eventually, on the third flying lap, the Mercedes man would set a 1m47.502s to move 1.3 seconds clear of Bottas’ earlier best with Max Verstappen less than half a tenth further back in third.
Daniel Ricciardo slipped back to fourth as the two Ferrari’s, despite completing more laps than most, struggled for pace in the wet with Sebastian Vettel fifth and Kimi Raikkonen sixth.
The Finn would have a few close shaves too during the session, narrowly missing a Williams and having a brief fight with Esteban Ocon in the final minutes.
In the midfield, Carlos Sainz would sit seventh for Renault ahead of Romain Grosjean in the Haas. Despite his spin, Leclerc would end ninth with Sauber teammate Marcus Ericsson completing the top 10.
Lando Norris gained his first experience of COTA and impressed to be within two-tenths of Fernando Alonso as the two McLarens were 11th and 12th.
Force India had a quiet start with newly re-signed Sergio Perez 14th and Ocon, who had a scary moment overshooting his pit box on the slippery concrete in 17th.
Nico Hulkenberg struggled in 18th, over a second slower than teammate Sainz as Lance Stroll and Toro Rosso development driver Sean Gelael completed the order.
A full look at the times can be seen below:
