16/11/2012
NEWS STORY
On a historic and important day for Formula One, the air temperature is 12 degrees C, while the track temperature is 17 degrees. It's unseasonably cool, cold even, but bright.
We say historic and important because, after numerous botched attempts, the sport finally appears to have found a home in the country that is essentially the home of the motor car, the United States.
While it doesn't have the glitz on Monaco, the sparkle of Singapore or the opulence of Abu Dhabi, already there is a feeling that for once the sport has made the right turn, for once substance takes precedence over style.
There is only one test/reserve driver on duty today and that's Ma Qing Hua who will drive Narain Karthikeyan's car in this session, a move borne of financial needs rather than anything else.
Tyre options are hard (prime) and medium (option), the teams being given an extra set of the prime tyres today. Many believe that Pirelli might have been a little conservative this weekend.
Historic or not the timing system fails as the first drivers head down the pitlane, Kimi Raikkonen leading the way.
Unsurprisingly, the track is very green, as proven by Glock and Kobayashi, two of several cars to run wide. "It's very slippery," advises Massa, "very slippery". "It's worse than rain," adds Hulkenberg.
Massive wheelspin for Webber as he performs a practice start leaving the pits while, moments later, Vettel loses the back end as he enters the pits.
It might be the penultimate race but the teams continue to bring updates, even those no longer involved in the title fight, and new parts mean lots of flo-vis.
In the Mercedes garage mechanics are working on Schumacher's car, the German having returned to the pits with smoke and flames pouring from the back of the car. The German is running a new exhaust while Rosberg sticks with the old one.
Fifteen minutes into the session, Kobayashi is the first driver out for a second run. He remains on track and begins the first ever flying lap here. The car is sliding around and locking up (T12) the Japanese crossing the line at 1:54.846.
As Senna posts 56.291, Kobayashi improves with a 51.228. Moments later, Abu Dhabi winner Raikkonen splits them with a 54.902.
As more drivers pour onto the track Kobayashi gets down to 48.517 ahead of Raikkonen, Senna and Perez, however, a 49.870 sees Webber go second.
As Webber improves to 48.182, the cameras pick up a big excursion for Kobayashi at T17 and Vergne getting all crossed up at T13.
On his first flying lap, Vettel goes sixth (45.735), while Kobayashi raises the bar with a 45.866.
A 44.839 sees Webber take the top spot as Rosberg goes sixth and Schumacher eleventh. Di Resta is straight on the pace, the Scot going third with a 45.474.
Vettel runs wide at T19, the world champion now up to fourth (46.240), ahead of Perez, Senna and Vergne.
A 44.233 sees Vettel make it a Red Bull 1-2, the German 0.561s off his teammate's pace. Moments later however, the two are deposed when Hamilton bangs in a 42.603, over a second quicker than Webber's best.
Like Hamilton, Alonso wastes no time in making his mark, the Spaniard going quickest with a 42.538. Elsewhere a spin for Hulkenberg at T1.
As the drivers familiarise themselves with the track which is slowly becoming grippier, the times continue to tumble. Hamilton goes quickest again (40.918) ahead of Alonso, Rosberg, Vettel, Button, Massa, Webber, Grosjean, Schumacher and Hulkenberg.
As Hulkenberg has another spin, this time at T13/T14, Hamilton complains that the sun is making is impossible to see the warning lights.
Finally, at half-time, we have some live timing.
Alonso retakes the top spot with a 40.603 as Button improves to third, still no sign of de la Rosa.
Every lap sees an improvement throughout the timesheet, Hamilton and Button giving McLaren a 1-2 as the benchmark slips to 40.175.
"There's a lot of graining on the front left," complains Capt No Grip, "it happened around lap 4 or 5. He then proceeds to go through a litany of what's wrong with the circuit, the tyres, the car, the weather, the balance of payments, the BBC…
Grosjean gets spectacularly out of shape at T19 with Schumacher also having problems.
In the Caterham garage, the crew are changing the front and rear anti-roll bars on Kovalainen's car.
With twenty minutes remaining, drivers are focussing on longer runs, Renault revealing that fuel consumption here is among the highest of the season over one lap.
As Vettel goes second (40.335), Alonso is on a strong lap, the Spaniard going quickest in S1. A poor final sector means the Ferrari driver can only improve to third (40.337).
Hamilton ups the ante with a 40.116, as Kovalainen has a big spin in Turns 7/8. Moments later, Alonso appears over the brow of the hill and has to take rapid avoiding action. Hamilton has a similar moment shortly after.
Hamilton is the first driver to dip into the 1:39s, the McLaren driver crossing the beams at 39.687. Elsewhere, Webber spins at T8 and Schumacher runs wide at T11.
Another lap, another improvement for Hamilton who posts a 39.543, almost 0.8s quicker than second placed Vettel. Moments later, Vettel goes quickest in S2 but a poor final sector means he fails to close the gap. However, next time around the German, having goes quickest in the final two sectors, improves the best time by a full 0.851s. A mighty lap.
A further improvement on his next lap sees the world champion improve to 38.125, thereby leaving a 1.418s gap to Hamilton and 2.212s gap to Alonso.
The session ends with Vettel quickest, ahead of Hamilton, Alonso, Button, Webber, Massa, Hulkenberg, Kobayashi, Rosberg and Perez.
Di Resta is eleventh, ahead of Ricciardo, Vergne, Raikkonen, Grosjean, Maldonado, Schumacher, Pic, Kovalainen, Petrov, Glock, Senna, de la Rosa and Ma.
Check out our Friday gallery, here.