Friday night shift - Verstappen & Hamilton top FP, Hulkenberg declines Williams
F1 News
- Nicolás Quarles van Ufford
A busy Friday in the world of Formula 1, with two very interesting Free Practice sessions at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas and some tasty news stories on top of that - here's the lowdown, in case you missed it!
Max quickest in experimental morning
FP1 was used by a lot of the teams to test out the new rubber for the 2020 season, with Pirelli making them available for Free Practice for the first time. Mercedes spent the whole session getting mileage on the new compound, which is why both drivers were nowhere near the top of the timesheet.
Max Verstappen was, on the other hand, with Sebastian Vettel and Alexander Albon following the Dutchman. It was the first-ever time for Albon at the Circuit of the Americas and it showed at times, with multiple of his times getting deleted as he exceeded track limits.
Hamilton tops FP2 but with an asterisk
Although Lewis Hamilton topped the charts by the end of FP2 on Friday afternoon in Austin, it wasn't entirely representative. The 34-year-old got a huge tow down the back straight while on his flying lap which shaved significant time off his eventual 1:33.2 as he finished three-tenths ahead of the rest of the field.
He beat Charles Leclerc and Verstappen in second and third respectively, with the young duo being split by just 0.014 seconds.
With COTA being windy and cold, drivers struggled massively to stay on track and pointing the right way, with a number of them spinning around and one of them crashing and causing a brief red flag situation.
Hulkenberg kindly declines 2020 Williams drive
When asked about a potential return to his old team Williams, current Renault driver Nico Hulkenberg declined a potential seat for the upcoming season, even though the German is without a place on the F1 grid for 2020 as it stands.
Esteban Ocon will replace the one-time polesitter from next season onwards and Williams seems like one of his only options to stay in the sport, but when quizzed about potentially partnering up with George Russell at the Grove-based side, he said he isn't "the right person right now" for the team.