Two 90-minute free practice sessions โ FP1 and FP2 โ got underway on the on the 5.513-kilometer Circuit of the Americas this afternoon (local time) with FP1 completed under a cloudy sky with intermittent drizzle. This forced teams onto the intermediate tire for the first 35 minutes of the session before the track finally dried out enough for slicks to be used.
The wet track conditions resulted in limited running, with the home country's Haas F1 Team taking a conservative approach in FP1.
Drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen combined for only 10 laps on the Green intermediate tires before switching to the supersoft.
After six laps on intermediates, Magnussen ran 10 laps on Red supersofts, securing his fastest lap on his final tour โ a 1:38.408 that placed him 11th overall. And after four laps on intermediates, Grosjean ran 13 laps on Red supersofts, earning a quick time of 1:39.336 on his 15th lap that put him 15th overall.
โWe didn't get the best of everything we could,โ Grosjean said. โWe had a problem with the ultrasoft in the afternoon, so on the timesheet we are very far away. Even so, we haven't got the sweet spot of the car. We just need to work on that. I think it's just related to how we use the tires. We know this is something where we're not always bang on. We need to find out where to put that. After that, I'm not too worried that the car's going to come back to its level. It's just getting the grip better with the compounds.โ
When FP2 began two-and-a-half hours later, the sun was out and the track was dry and as the weather improved, so did lap times.
Magnussen wrapped FP2 as the 14th-quickest driver with a time of 1:37.285, which was 1.123 seconds better than his best lap in FP1. His quick time came on the seventh of his 17 laps shod on a set of ultrasofts. Grosjean shaved .949 of a second off his FP1 time with a 1:38.387 earned on his eighth lap utilizing the supersoft. He ended the session 20th overall with 26 laps completed.
Magnussen began FP2 on soft tyres and after three laps switched to ultrasofts. Grosjean started on supersofts and ran eight laps before changing to ultrasofts.
โIt was a little bit inconclusive, but I wouldn't say it's been a bad day,โ Kev said. โIt's always good to go out and have a feel for the conditions on the inters, which we did this morning, and to see where the puddles are on track. We had a few technical issues on the car that we needed to sort โ just little things โ but the car feels OK. The balance doesn't feel bad, and that's the main thing. We have some stuff to work on for tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes.โ
Between the two sessions, Haas F1 Team ran a total of 76 laps โ 43 by Grosjean and 33 by Magnussen.
