Hamilton and Mercedes bury Ferrari in opening USGP practice

Lewis Hamilton watches as the other drivers flog around the circuit in vain

In a wet session that saw drivers run the entire session one just 1 set of intermediate tires due to the limited number available, Lewis Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas buried the competition in their Aldo Costa Mercedes that looked like it was on rails while the other drivers were out of shape on numerous occasions.

It's hard to tell who will be quick on Sunday, but in the wet conditions the Ferrari drivers are out to lunch, despite their new underbody that was supposed to generate more downforce. In fact the Mercedes car appears to be stretching their advantage over the field each and every race as Aldo Costa works his magic and the other designers scratch their head.

For the record the Red Bulls were 3rd and 4th (Verstappen over Ricciardo) and the Ferraris 5th and 6th (Vettel over Raikkonen) – all out to lunch vs. the Mercedes cars – 1.3 to 1.9 sec per lap slower.

How superior are the Mercedes? Hamilton and Bottas turned the least amount of laps in the session while the Ferraris turned three times as many laps and could get nowhere near the times of the Mercedes.

Practice 1 Results