Lewis Hamilton was happy to be back racing at the Circuit of the Americas, and felt positive about the running both he and team-mate Nico Rosberg did during Friday’s two practice sessions.
Hamilton led a Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team 1-2 in opening practice ahead of Rosberg before finishing third fastest in the afternoon session, and the Briton was happy to have two dry sessions, especially on the back of the 2015 race weekend that was hit by heavy rain.
The reigning World Champion knows there is still work to do to optimise the performance of his W07 Hybrid machine in order to be at the sharp end of the grid.
“This circuit remains special for me as I won my third World Championship here last year,” said Hamilton. “It’s great to see so many fans enjoying F1 in the US and coming out to show their support.
“On track it’s been a great day for reliability and getting our programme done. Given the wet weather conditions here last year and the lack of reference points for each tyre compound Nico and I had to cover as much ground as possible to help with our understanding.
“We’ve still got to go away and analyse the data overnight to make sure we’re ready for P3 and qualifying tomorrow.”
