Fernando Alonso of Scuderia Ferrari set the fastest lap time once the fog lifted at the first practice session of the 2013 F1 USGP in Austin, Texas. (Image by courtesy of Pirelli.)
Some of Friday's 58,276 anticipatory fans were greeted by unusually heavy fog during the first practice session at the 2013 FORMULA 1 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX. After Free Practice 1 being delayed for 40 minutes due to the fog, and brief running of the cars for only 15 minutes, a red flag was raised as the Circuit's medical helicopter was unaccounted for. Eventually, the helicopter returned and Fernando Alonso of Scuderia Ferrari set the fastest pace of the session on new Pirelli P Zero Orange tires, completing 16 laps, reaching 125 MPH, and having the fastest lap time of 1:38.343. The final results for FP1 were:
Fernando Alonso - 1:38.343
Jenson Button - 1:38.371
Valterri Bottas - 1:38.388
Esteban Gutierrez - 1:38.532
Nico Rosberg - 1:38.657
Lewis Hamilton - 1:38.979
Felipe Massa - 1:39.005
Mark Webber - 1:39.083
Nico Hulkenberg - 1:39.158
Pastor Maldonado - 1:39.200
Romain Grosjean - 1:39.238
Sergio Perez - 1:39.256
Heikki Kovalainen - 1:39.487
Adrian Sutil - 1:39.699
Paul Di Resta - 1:39.836
Daniel Ricciardo - 1:39.863
Daniil Kvyat - 1:40.065
Sebastian Vettel - 1:40.662
Alexander Rossi - 1:41.399
Max Chilton - 1:41.605
Charles Pic - 1:42.054
Rodolfo Gonzalez - 1:43.716
When the second Practice Session got underway after the lunch hour, the Austin weather had greatly improved, the sun was shining and track temperature hoovered around 88' F. Switching from Pirelli P Zero Orange hard to P Zero White medium tires, reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel finished on top of FP2, beating Alonso's FP1 time by 1.038 seconds. Vettel commanded his Red Bull Racing RB9 to a top speed of 126.737 MPH, also surpassing the fastest lap time set in FP1. The final results for FP2 were:
Sebastian Vettel - 1:37.305
Mark Webber - 1:37.420
Nico Rosberg - 1:37.785
Lewis Hamilton - 1:37.958
Heikki Kovalainen - 1:38.073
Esteban Gutierrez - 1:38.229
Nico Hulkenberg - 1:38.254
Romain Grosjean - 1:38.255
Jenson Button - 1:38.269
Fernando Alonso - 1:38.461
Adrian Sutil - 1:38.719
Felipe Massa - 1:38.938
Sergio Perez - 1:38.941
Daniel Ricciardo - 1:39.246
Paul Di Resta - 1:39.410
Valterri Bottas - 1:39.512
Jean Eric Vergne - 1:39.579
Pastor Maldonado - 1:39.784
Charles Pic - 1:40.376
Giedo Van Der Garge - 1:40.563
Max Chilton - 1:46.226
Jules Bianchi - 1:47.009