US Grand Prix Friday Practice Ends With Mercedes Out Front... Again

[Paul Jeffrey]

Nico Rosberg had a steady start to his Formula One World Championship challenge in Austin, Texas on Friday of the US Grand Prix weekend, finding himself comfortably outpaced by teammate and championship rival Lewis Hamilton before turning the tables to lead the field heading into day two.

Opening practice in America marked more track action for Alfonso Celis (in for Sergio Perez at Force India) and Jordan King, son of former Sainsbury's CEO Justin King, making his race weekend debut at the reigns of the Manor Racing car vacated by Mercedes young driver (and potential Nico Hulkenberg replacement?) Pascal Wehrlein.

With Hamilton currently looking to make up a 33 point deficit in the fight for the 2016 Drivers World Championship, it was first blood to the British driver as he took the opportunity to post the fastest time during a trouble free opening session, stopping the clocks over three tenths up on the sister Mercedes and almost two whole seconds quicker than next nearest challenger Max Verstappen in the Renau.... TAG powered Red Bull.

Practice two saw a return to form for Rosberg, as he bettered his British teammates time from the morning by a tenth of a second, ending the day fastest ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, Sebastien Vettel and Lewis Hamilton, down in third. Hamilton showed strong pace during his longer super-soft and soft/mediums runs, with the Red Bull partnership of Ricciardo and Verstappen again looking ominous during race simulation runs.

Many drivers found reason to complain about performance of the super soft tyres after only a limited number of laps. Incidents and off track excursions from many drivers left a somewhat ragged session, with bad luck once again visiting Romain Grosjean as the Haas driver again found parts of his car liberating itself while the Frenchman circulated on track. Sebastian Vettel was lucky to escape an incident as the piece of rear wing from Grosjean's Haas fell close to the following Ferrari driver, surely a cause for concern for Grosjean heading into a Grand Prix on the fast, flowing Circuit of the Americas track.

Practice resumes on Saturday as the drivers head into the final session before qualifying commences for round 18 of the FIA Formula One World Championship at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.


Friday Free Practice 1 Results

1. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 37.428s
2. Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 37.743s
3. Max Verstappen NED Red Bull-TAG 1m 39.379s
4. Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 39.407s
5. Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India-Mercedes 1m 39.712s
6. Valtteri Bottas FIN Williams-Mercedes 1m 39.776s
7. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull-TAG 1m 39.963s
8. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 39.988s
9. Daniil Kvyat RUS Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 40.131s
10. Carlos Sainz Jr ESP Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 40.140s
11. Felipe Massa BRZ Williams-Mercedes 1m 40.191s
12. Felipe Nasr BRA Sauber-Ferrari 1m 40.287s
13. Fernando Alonso ESP McLaren-Honda 1m 40.362s
14. Romain Grosjean FRA Haas-Ferrari 1m 40.826s
15. Esteban Gutierrez MEX Haas-Ferrari 1m 40.970s
16. Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber-Ferrari 1m 41.170s
17. Alfonso Celis MEX Force India-Mercedes 1m 41.422s
18. Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Honda 1m 41.663s
19. Kevin Magnussen DEN Renault-Renault 1m 41.942s
20. Jordan King GBR Manor-Mercedes 1m 42.021s
21. Jolyon Palmer GBR Renault-Renault 1m 42.332s
22. Esteban Ocon FRA Manor-Mercedes 1m 43.874s

Friday Free Practice 2 Results

1. Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 37.358s
2. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull-TAG 1m 37.552s
3. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 37.649s
4. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 38.178s
5. Max Verstappen NED Red Bull-TAG 1m 38.258s
6. Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India-Mercedes 1m 38.508s
7. Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedes 1m 38.568s
8. Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Honda 1m 38.713s
9. Fernando Alonso ESP McLaren-Honda 1m 38.801s
10. Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 38.865s
11. Carlos Sainz Jr ESP Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 38.971s
12. Kevin Magnussen DEN Renault-Renault 1m 39.159s
13. Felipe Nasr BRA Sauber-Ferrari 1m 39.189s
14. Valtteri Bottas FIN Williams-Mercedes 1m 39.197s
15. Daniil Kvyat RUS Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 39.202s
16. Felipe Massa BRZ Williams-Mercedes 1m 39.281s
17. Jolyon Palmer GBR Renault-Renault 1m 39.455s
18. Romain Grosjean FRA Haas-Ferrari 1m 39.554s
19. Esteban Ocon FRA Manor-Mercedes 1m 40.086s
20. Esteban Gutierrez MEX Haas-Ferrari 1m 40.114s
21. Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber-Ferrari 1m 40.219s
22. Pascal Wehrlein GER Manor-Mercedes 1m 41.131s

Join in the discussion over at our Formula One sub forum. Catch the latest news, engage in the comments and discuss what's happening in the world of Formula One during the 2016 Grand Prix season.

Do you think Nico Rosberg can extend his advantage in America and right the wrongs suffered during last years event? Will Ferrari find the extra pace to challenge for a victory this weekend? Will McLaren challenge for points on Sunday? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[Andy 'Mars Bar' Graham]

Will Ferrari find the extra pace to challenge for a victory this weekend?

Hell to the no. The third best car behind Red Bull and Mercedes and the 11th best strategy department. Red Bull stand way more chance

Do you think Nico Rosberg can extend his advantage in America and right the wrongs suffered during last years event?

Not extend, though I think he can maintain it. He was bloody quick around here last year and is looking good so far

Will McLaren challenge for points on Sunday?

Yeah

 

[AndrewBo]

Nice one Paul. On FB in 3....2.....1.....

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

Hahaha cheers Andrew. I'd check how it looks but I avoid Facebook like the plague. Don't want to be accused of being modern in any way I type this things up on the typewriter and the wife puts 'em on PC

Jokes aside, looking forward to this GP more than most recently, looks like its going to be low grip and maybe the potential for something surprising to happen on Sunday. I reckon its going to be pretty stale up front, but I'm looking forward to seeing the developing battle between the Red Bull drivers and watching closely how JB gets on in his final US GP (because much as I hate to say it, the bloke aint coming back in 2018 is he?).

 

[arniesan]

I think Mac' will be sorry JB is not in the seat still for 2017...still a lot of work to be done that a young driver probably wont get his head round...make Alonso look good though.

 

[Andy 'Mars Bar' Graham]

I think Mac' will be sorry JB is not in the seat still for 2017...still a lot of work to be done that a young driver probably wont get his head round...make Alonso look good though.

Vandoorne won GP2 by 160 points, outqualified JB straight away and scored points on his debut. JB is still there to help development as well. Stop underestimating Vandoorne