Austin-EL1: Hamilton ahead of Rosberg

Lewis Hamilton recalled yesterday at a press conference that he would give everything to keep hope in the quest for a fourth world crown. The Briton got off to a perfect start to his Texan Austin weekend by setting the best time after the first hour and a half of driving.

At the end of the first three quarters of an hour, the reigning world champion had already taken the lead, with a first benchmark set in 1'38″701 on super-soft tires. Nico Rosberg, clocked at 337 thousandths, was closest to his teammate at Mercedes, ahead of the Ferrari SF16-H Sebastian Vettel, followed by Nico Hulkenberg (Force India), who tested the Halo, and Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari).

If 35' from the end of the session, Nico Rosberg accelerated again, lowering the benchmark to 1'37″734, on soft tyres, Hamilton, also on soft tires, finally regained his lead half an hour from the end in 1'37″428, pushing his teammate back to 315 thousandths, an equivalent margin between the stints on super-soft and soft compounds.

The trifecta of the session is completed by the Red Bull RB12 Max Verstappen, pointed at almost 2″, but with a better lap on medium tires. Kimi Räikkönen follows in fourth position ahead of Nico Hülkenberg. Once installed in the top 3, Valtteri Bottas (Williams), who was also able to test the Halo cockpit protection system on his car, concludes the session in 6th place ahead Daniel Ricciardo (Redbull).

Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) had a small mishap on his car, after going a little too hard on a curb. An aero element thus detached from his SF16-H, causing the virtual safety car procedure to be deployed while the debris remained on the track was removed.

The German was also forced to hold his damaged mirror while entering the pit lane, before finishing eighth ahead of the two Toro Rosso of Kvyat, who made a mistake in the last sector in the last part of these EL1, and Sainz.

The Brazilians Felipe Massa (Williams) and Felipe Nasr (Sauber) follow at the gates of the top 10 ahead of the McLaren de Fernando Alonso and both Haas de Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez. Marcus Ericsson (Sauber), 16th, was forced to return to his pit in slow motion just over 20' from the end of the session, his car appearing stuck in first gear.

The Swede precedes the Mexican Alfonso Celis Jr (Force India), who replaced his compatriot Sergio Pérez for the session. Less success for Renault de Magnussen and Palmer, 19th and 20th, the Briton having also suffered a scare in the right quadruple of the American route, going into a spin, without consequences in the end.

Esteban Ocon (Manor) brings up the rear in the ranking, after also testing the Halo system.

Results Free Trials 1