Lewis Hamilton believes Mercedes has a “solid platform” on which to build across the remainder of the United States Grand Prix weekend.
Hamilton, a four-time victor at the Circuit of the Americas, opened proceedings on top in a wet/dry first session, before maintaining his position in second practice.
Hamilton’s lap of 1:34.668 left him almost four-tenths clear of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, with title rival Sebastian Vettel third, and the Briton exuded confidence over his W08.
“It was an interesting day with lots of ups and downs in terms of how the track has moved around and how the car feels,” said Hamilton.
“But overall the car was feeling good. There are lots of areas we can improve on, but generally it feels like a solid platform and a solid start to the weekend.”
Team-mate Valtteri Bottas was fourth quickest, and reckons he extracted the required information from his running.
“The first practice was compromised by the weather,” said Bottas, referring to the slippery conditions.
“We struggled to get many laps, and I also flat spotted at the tyres in FP1 quite badly, so we had limited running.
“But in second practice we got a lot of running done, both short runs and long runs.
“So in the end, we got everything from the day that we needed. Set-up wise I think we have the usual work to do. Overall, it has been a pretty normal day.”
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