» 2012 United States GP: Vettel tops FP1 times

Sebastian Vettel has topped the timesheets in the opening session of Formula 1’s long-awaited return to the United States.

That the German finished in P1 is scarcely newsworthy anymore, but it’s the margin by which he did – 1.4 seconds! – that will send shivers down the rest of the pit lane…

Vettel finished the session a full two seconds clear of his sole championship rival, Fernando Alonso, who was third-fastest overall.

Perhaps the teams can take some comfort from the fact that the track conditions were extremely green – this being the first proper running of any description at the impressive Circuit of the Americas.

This led to plenty of spins, locked brakes and wild moments as the drivers sought to find – and often exceed – that fine line between adhesion and pure talent.

But with such expensive run-offs, as is always the case at any of Hermann Tilke’s creations in today’s Formula 1, there’s never anything to hit except for each other.

Behind the top three, Jenson Button and Mark Webber rounded out the fastest five positions ahead of Felipe Massa, Nico Hülkenberg (who spun twice during the session), Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Pérez.

Aside from the on-the-market HRT F1 team, the rest of the grid elected to run its main driver line-up to give their runners the most opportunity to learn the brand-new circuit. The Spanish outfit’s development driver, Qing Hua Ma, was given his fourth Friday outing in the F111 and finished well off the pace.

The one area where the Chinese driver did emerge quickest was in pit lane, after he was clocked exceeding the speed limit in the final five minutes of the session, earning him a 2,000 Euro fine for his troubles.

2012 United States Formula 1 Grand Prix – Free Practice 1 Session Times:

	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1.	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing Renault RB8	1:38.125		30
2.	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren Mercedes MP4-27	1:39.543	+ 1.418	28
3.	Fernando Alonso	Scuderia Ferrari F2012	1:40.337	+ 2.212	29
4.	Jenson Button	McLaren Mercedes MP4-27	1:40.528	+ 2.403	29
5.	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing Renault RB8	1:40.650	+ 2.525	30
6.	Felipe Massa	Scuderia Ferrari F2012	1:40.966	+ 2.841	26
7.	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India Mercedes VJM05	1:41.023	+ 2.898	29
8.	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber Ferrari C31	1:41.036	+ 2.911	28
9.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG F1 W03	1:41.159	+ 3.034	32
10.	Sergio Pérez	Sauber Ferrari C31	1:41.473	+ 3.348	29
11.	Paul di Resta	Force India Mercedes VJM05	1:41.783	+ 3.658	29
12.	Daniel Ricciardo	Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari STR7	1:41.825	+ 3.700	28
13.	Jean-Éric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari STR7	1:41.833	+ 3.708	29
14.	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus F1 Renault E20	1:41.880	+ 3.755	23
15.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1 Renault E20	1:41.998	+ 3.873	27
16.	Pastor Maldonado	Williams Renault FW34	1:42.539	+ 4.414	30
17.	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes AMG F1 W03	1:42.588	+ 4.463	25
18.	Charles Pic	Marussia Racing Cosworth MR01	1:43.288	+ 5.163	23
19.	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham Renault CT01	1:43.443	+ 5.318	28
20.	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham Renault CT01	1:43.522	+ 5.397	23
21.	Timo Glock	Marussia Racing Cosworth MR01	1:44.464	+ 6.339	24
22.	Bruno Senna	Williams Renault FW34	1:44.548	+ 6.423	29
23.	Pedro de la Rosa	HRTF1 Cosworth F112	1:46.917	+ 8.792	13
24.	Qing Hua Ma	HRTF1 Cosworth F112	1:48.559	+ 10.434	19