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Lewis Hamilton was twice the fastest in the rainy season in Austin. The Briton, who will be world champion for the fifth time on Sunday, made the fewest laps on Friday and was still the top driver. Ferrari star Sebastian Vettel was eliminated in both sessions and will be back on Sunday's grid.
00:08, October 20, 2018
Also Saturday qualifying, which ends at midnight (CEST), conditions should be similar to those of Friday. Only for Sunday, the probability of rain falls to 20 percent. But one of them showed the "battle of the water" on the Circuit of the Americas on Friday: Lewis Hamilton is the fastest on the wet roads.
The 33-year-old can already become champion for the fifth time Sunday, while he scores eight points more than Vettel. On Friday, Hamilton drove in the first 90 minutes, although the fewer laps made by all the drivers, but also the "short work" of six laps was enough to make it 1.3 seconds faster than his teammate Mercedes, Valtteri Bottas. In the second 90 minutes, there was only one part of driving in the last 30 minutes as the teams kept their rain tires for qualifying on Saturday. Again, no one has come to Hamilton's time.
During a training break during the first session, Sauber's driver, Charles Leclerc, completed a lap. Then the track had to be cleaned of the gravel that was lying around. The Leclerc incident had consequences for his next Ferrari teammate, Vettel. As the Germans should have slowed down during the red phase, the commissioners opened an investigation. Vettel was relegated Sunday for three starting positions.
Vettel could not strengthen his mini-hope of a final World Cup miracle at the start of the American race weekend. Austin, 31, has accumulated nearly two seconds ahead of championship leader Hamilton, but finished fifth in the practice field. If the Sunday Mercedes duo (8:10 pm EST / ORF, RTL) finishes in this order, Hamilton may prematurely congratulate himself on being a five-time world champion.
For Vettel, the retransfer on the grid is another serious setback. "He came out of the red flag, I cut the gas, in the eyes of the stewards but not fast enough, or I have not exhausted enough," said the disappointed German. "The system has flaws and shortcomings, but in the eyes of the stewards, it was clear, so the punishment."
Vettel's great hope after his catastrophic departure is that it does not rain Sunday in the race. "I hope it's going to stop," he said. "It was clear today that we are not fast enough in the rain and that we have a lot of work to do, and for now we do not know why."
If conditions in Austin were even worse in the second unit, Hamilton did not stop the fastest lap of the afternoon. Vettel did not surpbad tenth place – more than five seconds behind Hamilton. Which is extremely problematic for Vettel's rather unlikely plan to catch the British in the remaining four races, but could still prove his former team. In front of Vettel, Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were in the Red Bull at the first most significant test session.
The riders had a preview on Friday what to expect during qualifying on Saturday. Already upon arrival at the Circuit des Amériques car park, the water flowed freely. The top of the 76-meter high tower was not visible from a distance in the dark gray sky above Austin.
In Red Bull camp Helmut Marko, a motor sports consultant, advocated for wet tires despite rainy conditions. "We would have liked to drive more, but we could not," said the Austrian for a long time. Above all, Marko had pity on the fans. "They are in poor, poor German pigs, they are in the mud and have nothing to do," Marko said on n-tv. "You have to propose a basic rule change."
Red Bull lost some of his strength in the rain, according to Marko. His hope: "Mercedes is very strong, Ferrari is weakening, we are in the middle, but if we solve all the problems, we could annoy a Mercedes."
In addition to Vettel threaten both Red Bull teams, Toro Rosso. Pierre Gasly has to get to the end of the grid due to a change of engine, which threatens his teammate Brendon Hartley.
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