Friday analysis - Little learnt as rain stops play

With a limited number of wet-weather tyres and the prospect of more downpours over the remainder of the weekend, many of the teams chose to do limited running in FP1, before monumental rainfall ahead of FP2 caused the session to be cancelled altogether. The end result? A lot of frustrated faces - and a lot still to be learned…

Mercedes

Nico Rosberg, 1m 53.989s, P1 Lewis Hamilton, 1m 55.693s, P5

Rosberg got straight down to business with the fastest time, then improved on that. Hamilton elected to save his tyres, doing only four laps.

Red Bull

Daniil Kvyat, 1m 55.224s, P2 Daniel Ricciardo, 1m 55.592s, P3

Celebrating their 200th race, Red Bull had their drivers in second and third places in FP1. Kvyat threatened to bring his laptop and some CDs if it rains tomorrow, while Ricciardo said the weather must be good for the local farmers.

Toro Rosso

Carlos Sainz Jnr, 1m 55.667s, P4 Max Verstappen, 1m 55.969s, P7

No problems for either driver. Sainz was delighted to be fourth quickest on his first visit to Austin, while Verstappen said the STR10 coped well with the slick surface.

Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel, 1m 55.710s P6 Kimi Raikkonen, 1m 56.326s, P8

Both drivers admitted there was little to be learnt from Friday’s running. Both cars will run new engines on Saturday, and as a result both drivers will go into the race with 10-place grid penalties.

Williams

Felipe Massa, 1m 57.081s, P10 Valtteri Bottas, 1m 57.318s, P12

Williams tried various set-ups. Massa had a minor spin at Turn 9, while Bottas - who nearly knocked down his mechanics coming into the pits at one point - reported some front tyre graining.

McLaren

Fernando Alonso, 1m 56.839s, P9 Jenson Button, 1m 57.495s, P13

McLaren did some brief aero evaluations, with Alonso running the new Specification 4 power unit, Button the old Specification 3. The Spaniard admitted conditions made it hard to evaluate the new hardware.

Force India

Sergio Perez, 1m 57.139s, P11 Nico Hulkenberg, 1m 57.518s P14

No problems were reported, but Perez said his main concern was for what was happening to his countrymen as Hurricane Patricia wrought havoc in Mexico.

Lotus

Romain Grosjean, 1m 58.319s, P15 Pastor Maldonado, No time, P20

Grosjean ran both full wets and intermediates in FP1; Maldonado didn’t get a timed lap as his gearbox kept selecting neutral.

Sauber

Raffaele Marciello, 1m 59.431s, P16 Marcus Ericsson, 1m 59.743s, P17

Ericsson and Marciello (subbing in FP1 for Nasr) set the initial pace as Sauber prepared for their 400th race, before falling back as others ran as the conditions improved slightly and they stopped running.

Marussia

Alexander Rossi, 2m 01.154s, P18 Will Stevens, 2m 01.907s, P19

Neither driver reported any mechanical problems, but Rossi admitted it was frustrating to spend so much time on the sidelines during his first home race weekend.