United States GP: Bottas 6th for Williams Martini in FP1

Team Summary:
On a dry day the Williams Martini team would commence their weekend for the 2016 United States Grand Prix with the opening Friday practice. The Williams team would run with a halo on Valtteri Bottas car for part of this session. With the start of the session drivers would come out on a mix of tyres. Last to come out would be Magnussen but he would pit leaving the track empty. Alfonso Celis was back in the Force India and Jordan King made his debut at Manor for this session. First back out would be King in the Manor setting a 1m:47.836 as a few other drivers came out. A 1m:47.101 from King as Raikkonen set a 1m:42.738 to go quickest using the soft tyre. Alonso was now second as the circuit now became quite busy.

Rosberg would set a 1m:40.223 to go quickest but using the supersoft tyre. On the same tyre Hamilton would set a 1m:39.246 to move ahead of Rosberg. Vettel was third but Raikkonen would take this spot. After their first runs the Williams drivers would be fifth and sixth just 0.001 separating the pair. A 1m:39.966 from Rosberg but he would remain second. With Verstappen going fifth the Williams drivers would drop to sixth and seventh. Hamilton would set a 1m:38.943 to open the gap to Rosberg. A 1m:38.701 from Hamilton saw him extend his lead over Rosberg. Vettel was third followed by Raikkonen, Felipe, Verstappen, Valtteri, Sainz, and Ricciardo tenth. A 1m:39.038 from Rosberg would see him close the gap to Hamilton to 0.337s.

The Williams pair were now sixth and ninth as both pitted. Fifty minutes remaining and the circuit was clear as the drivers pitted after their first forty minutes to return their set of Pirelli tyres. First back out would be Button improving to eleventh on the medium tyre. On the soft tyre Alonso would improve to be sixth seeing Valtteri seventh. Valtteri would improve to be third as Rosberg set the quickest time with a 1m:37.743 using the soft tyre. Felipe was now sixth after his first lap on the new soft tyres. This would become fifth and eighth with Verstappen now third and Hulkenberg fourth. Vettel was sixth followed by Ricciardo. After their runs Valtteri and Felipe wre sixth and eleventh.

Hamilton would improve with a 1m:37.428 to again be quickest by 0.315 over Rosberg. The Virtual Safety Car would be deployed to allow a piece of debris off Vettel's car to be removed from the track. The Williams pair were on their third runs on the soft tyre looking at longer runs. They were setting times in the high 1m:43s to low 1m:44s. Both Williams drivers had completed thirteen laps on their soft tyres with eight minutes remaining in the session. The session would end with the Williams drivers sixth and eleventh. Hamilton had remained fastest from Rosberg and Verstappen.

Valtteri Bottas:
Valtteri would be the first for Williams to come out using the medium tyre. He had the halo fitted but it was painted white. Valtteri would also come in after two laps but he would not set a time. Upon his return to the garage the team would remove the halo. Valtteri would return wit twenty minutes of the session completed this time on the soft tyre. Valtteri would set a 1m:41.425 to be sixth dropping to seventh. Valtteri would also find time setting a 1m:41.250 to be fifth. But again he would drop to sixth. A 1m:41.105 from Valtteri would see him remain seventh. He would drop to eighth to be behind Verstappen. Valtteri would improve with a 1m:40.767 to be sixth. Valtteri would also pit having completed eleven laps. Valtteri would return with just over forty minutes remaining coming back out on a new set of soft tyres. Valtteri would drop to seventh but his first lap would see him set a 1m:39.776 to be third dropping to fourth behind Hulkenberg. Valtteri would pit currently sixth. Valtteri would return to the track with twenty two minute remaining. He was out on the used soft tyres. He would pit briefly having completed sixteen laps.

Felipe Massa:
Felipe would follow his team-mate out also on the medium tyre. After his installation lap Felipe would pit. Felipe would also come out using the soft tyre. He would set a 1m:41.424 to be fifth dropping to sixth. But on his next quick lap he would set a 1m:41.001 to be fourth. Felipe would also be pushed down one place to be fifth. A further improvement with a 1m:40.844 but he would remain sixth. Felipe would drop to ninth to be behind the Red Bull pair. Felipe would pit having completed nine laps. Felipe would also come back out also on a new set of soft tyres. He would also improve with a 1m:40.191 to be sixth. As others went quicker Felipe would drop to eighth. This would become eleventh behind the Torro Rosso's. But the Torro Rosso's were on the supersoft tyre. Felipe would also pit after his second run. Felipe would follow his team-mate out for his next run also on used soft tyres. Felipe was also on a long run on the soft tyre as the session ended.

Pos  Driver         	Team		        Time     Laps
1  Lewis Hamilton 	Mercedes 		1m37.428s 25 
2  Nico Rosberg 	Mercedes 		1m37.743s 27 
3  Max Verstappen 	Red Bull-Renault 	1m39.379s 28 
4  Kimi Raikkonen 	Ferrari 		1m39.407s 21 
5  Nico Hulkenberg 	Force India-Mercedes 	1m39.712s 27 
6  Valtteri Bottas 	Williams-Mercedes 	1m39.776s 30 
7  Daniel Ricciardo 	Red Bull-Renault 	1m39.963s 26 
8  Sebastian Vettel 	Ferrari 		1m39.988s 15 
9  Daniil Kvyat 	Toro Rosso-Ferrari 	1m40.131s 16 
10 Carlos Sainz 	Toro Rosso-Ferrari 	1m40.140s 26 
11 Felipe Massa 	Williams-Mercedes 	1m40.191s 27 
12 Felipe Nasr 		Sauber-Ferrari 		1m40.287s 16 
13 Fernando Alonso 	McLaren-Honda 		1m40.362s 26 
14 Romain Grosjean 	Haas-Ferrari 		1m40.826s 15 
15 Esteban Gutierrez 	Haas-Ferrari 		1m40.970s 15 
16 Marcus Ericsson 	Sauber-Ferrari 		1m41.170s 17 
17 Alfonso Celis 	Force India-Mercedes 	1m41.422s 27 
18 Jenson Button 	McLaren-Honda 		1m41.663s 21 
19 Kevin Magnussen 	Renault 		1m41.942s 22 
20 Jordan King 		Manor-Mercedes 		1m42.012s 29 
21 Jolyon Palmer 	Renault 		1m42.332s 31 
22 Esteban Ocon 	Manor-Mercedes 		1m43.874s 27