United States 2012 - Free Practice 1 results - Sebastian Vettel sets the pace as drivers get to grips with COTA
Published by Christine
It was a tentative and cool start to proceedings as drivers tiptoed their way around the super-green tarmac of the brand new Circuit of the Americas. Gradually, the times started to drop and it was a battle between Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton with the Red Bull driver taking the top spot. Most teams opted to keep both their drivers in the car rather than subbing a Friday driver in, all except HRT who let Ma Qing Hua in the car for the morning session.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing | 1:38.125 | 30 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Vodafone McLaren Mercedes | 1:39.543 | 28 |
| 3 | Fernando Alonso | Scuderia Ferrari | 1:40.337 | 29 |
| 4 | Jenson Button | Vodafone McLaren Mercedes | 1:40.528 | 29 |
| 5 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing | 1:40.650 | 30 |
| 6 | Felipe Massa | Scuderia Ferrari | 1:40.966 | 26 |
| 7 | Nico Hülkenberg | Sahara Force India F1 Team | 1:41.023 | 29 |
| 8 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber F1 Team | 1:41.036 | 28 |
| 9 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | 1:41.159 | 32 |
| 10 | Sergio Pérez | Sauber F1 Team | 1:41.473 | 29 |
| 11 | Paul di Resta | Sahara Force India F1 Team | 1:41.783 | 29 |
| 12 | Daniel Ricciardo | Scuderia Toro Rosso | 1:41.825 | 28 |
| 13 | Jean-Éric Vergne | Scuderia Toro Rosso | 1:41.833 | 29 |
| 14 | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus F1 Team | 1:41.880 | 23 |
| 15 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus F1 Team | 1:41.998 | 27 |
| 16 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams F1 Team | 1:42.539 | 30 |
| 17 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | 1:42.588 | 25 |
| 18 | Charles Pic | Marussia F1 Team | 1:43.288 | 23 |
| 19 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham F1 Team | 1:43.443 | 28 |
| 20 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham F1 Team | 1:43.522 | 23 |
| 21 | Timo Glock | Marussia F1 Team | 1:44.464 | 24 |
| 22 | Bruno Senna | Williams F1 Team | 1:44.548 | 29 |
| 23 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT Formula 1 Team | 1:46.917 | 13 |
| 24 | Ma Qing Hua | HRT Formula 1 Team | 1:48.559 | 19 |
