Heavy thunderstorms and rain have severely disrupted Friday's practice session's for the 2015 US Grand Prix. Practice 1 saw limited running with the best times being set on intermediate tires. Unfortunately Practice 2 was abandoned as the weather worsened into a full blown thunderstorm.
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| Thunderstorms stopped FP2 from being run. |
From the running we did have in practice 1, Nico Rosberg appeared to be the king of the conditions. He was 1.2 seconds up on the next best time from Daniil Kvyat in the Red Bull. Kvyat's team mate Daniel Ricciardo, finished 3rd just 3 tenths behind his team mate, rounding off a decent session for the Milton-Keynes based unit.
So what have we learned? Not much really. This running can't be a 100% representative of what we will see on Sunday, but it can't be 0% either as it appears the thunderstorm isn't going to stop any time soon.
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| Championship leader, Lewis Hamilton. |
The teams which impressed from practice 1 were definitely both Renault powered teams, Red Bull and Toro Rosso. They finished 2nd and 3rd as well as 4th and 7th respectively. Daniil Kvyat led Ricciardo whilst Carlos Sainz led young gun Max Verstappen. These results are very out of place and the worsening conditions seem to favor the strong chassis both teams possess. Both teams will be one to watch if qualifying and the race are held in wet/intermediate condtions.
Renault aside, Williams looked relatively strong in there car which comes as a massive surprise given there cars track record with rain and there common strategy of running heavy fuel in practice. However we can't be sure if Williams opted to run the heavy fuel today which leaves the result a little in the dark on whether there is any more pace to find. Another team to watch on Sunday.
The team which didn't impress in practice 1 were Force India. They had a weak session with both cars outside the top 10. Sergio Perez led Nico Hulkenberg in 12th and 14th respectively. However I wouldn't be too worried if I was them as both drivers did only set 4 laps. Barely enough to make a judgment that they are weak here.
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| Force India didn't get much running in FP1. |
Honestly there isn't too much to say about the on track action from FP1 and the endless walking around waiting for FP2 to never start. Off track news coming out of the US Grand Prix is that Jolyon Palmer has been selected to drive along Pastor Maldonado at Lotus next year. This is positive for Palmer himself who has appeared in countless practice sessions for the team this year. I hope he has a strong debut in 2016.
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| Jolyon Palmer has been confirmed to drive for Lotus in 2016. |
So with limited Friday running, the teams all now focus on FP3 and pray to the weather gods that it can clear it, even though it likely won't. It should be a very interesting and exciting qualifying and race to follow. Can Mercedes stay on top in the changeable conditions, its all theres too lose and the conditions don't do anyone favors. More to follow.
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