Hamilton Tops Day 1 at COTA

A chilly morning in Austin, Texas warmed up nicely for Lewis Hamilton as he worked to capture his sixth Formula 1 world championship in the US Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas. 

Hamilton posted the fastest time in second free practice on first day of the three-day event.  Hamilton overcame a very sluggish performance in free practice 1 where he ran the eighth best time. 

Finishing 0.301 seconds behind Hamilton was Charles Leclerc of the Ferrari racing team, followed by Max Verstappen of the Red Bull team at a 0.315 gap. 

Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel turned in a sub-par performance, finishing 0.658 seconds behind.  Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas failed to establish a rhythm and rounded out the top five times, 0.813 second off the pace.