Hamilton dominates Vettel in US practice
AUSTIN: Championship leader Lewis Hamilton continued his recordbreaking form on Friday when he reeled off a ‘double top’ in practice for this weekend’s United States Grand Prix.
As his title rival Sebastian Vetups and downs in terms of how the track has moved around and second session in which he how the car feels,” said Hamilton. spun off in his Ferrari, Hamilton “But overall the car was feeling smashed the lap record at the good. There are lots of areas we Circuit of the Americas. can improve on, but generally it
His best lap in one minute and feels like a solid platform and a 34.668 seconds saw him outpace solid start to the weekend. nearest rival Max Verstappen, “It was amazing to have so who earlier signed a new deal to much support—which I am super stay at Red Bull until 2020, by grateful for. I’m excited to see nearly four-tenths of a seceveryone tomorrow.” ond and four-time champion Vettel by half a second.
“It’s been an interesting day with lots of
Hamilton, who has dismissed talk of clinching the world title this weekend as “silly”, can take his fourth championship if he
Vettel, who has seen his championship challenge undermined by accidents and engine problems in the last three races, admitted that he had suffered from “a messy afternoon”.
He said: “It’s Friday and you want to run as much as possible. That didn’t work out for me.
“We have to take it as it is right now and make sure that the car is
in good shape to get the rhythm and then I think we should be quick.
“It’s important to feel comfortable. Obviously, we’re missing some laps, but I’m sure with a couple of successive laps tomorrow it should be better.”
After failing to finish two of the last three races in Asia, Vettel may have been happy to emerge
unscathed on Friday, but he completed only 11 laps compared to Hamilton’s 26 laps in the second session.
Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas was fourth ahead of Australian Daniel Ricciardo in the second Red Bull and 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari.
Two-time champion Fernando Alonso was seventh fastest ahead of Felipe Massa of Williams and the two Force India cars of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon.
Debutant Brendon Hartley, in Formula One for 33 years, was Rosso, but is expected to start Sunday’s race from the back of the grid after taking a penalty for having a new engine.