Lewis Hamilton admits it was “a shame” for the fans at the Circuit of The Americas after the rain restricted running in both sessions on Friday.
The Brit was top in both Free Practice 1 and Free Practice 2 ahead of the United States Grand Prix but only set a few laps in each because of the wet weather.
“It’s not really been an eventful day – which is a shame because a lot of people came out today,” said Hamiton. “The weather was miserable this morning; it looked like it was going to dry up going into FP2 but then all of a sudden the heavens opened again.
“In FP1 I only did a few laps because we need the tyres to last until FP3 and there’s very little to learn in the rain. In FP2 I waited to the end before I went out to see if the track had changed or the tyres had dropped off a little bit for the next run from my previous laps.”
The Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport driver still enjoyed his experience as he “loves” driving the track but did not that the track felt bumpier this year than previous seasons.
“The car still felt good, but the track seemed a bit bumpier than in the past,” he said. “The Intermediate tyres provided pretty good grip for the wet conditions, but I don’t think they will last very long.
“You can actually drive with quite a lot of standing water on the Inters, so finding the cross-over between the Extreme Wets and the Inters is going to be crucial as you can lose a lot if you get it wrong.
“Overall, I still enjoyed it – I love driving this track and it’s great in the wet as well, so I got a little bit of excitement today.”
