Hamilton's title shot off to perfect start

Lewis Hamilton started his bid for a fifth word title in perfect fashion as he was quickest by a distance in a sodden first practice for the United States Grand Prix, with rival Sebastian Vettel almost two seconds adrift in fifth.

Rain has often caught Vettel and Ferrari short in 2018, notably last time out in Japan where the Scuderia's gamble on intermediate tyres fell flat.

Ferrari have rarely shown their full hand on Fridays this year, but Vettel's huge deficit to Hamilton does not raise hopes of a Sunday battle between the title rivals.

Running was limited as FP1 began with rivers flowing across the Circuit of the Americas after a morning of torrential rain in Austin, Texas.

The advantage that ?@LewisHamilton? holds coming towards the end of #FP1 is a mammoth 1.3 seconds, with everyone on intermediates. Ominous for his rivals. ?@COTA? #USGP pic.twitter.com/No1jQUtITR — Pirelli Motorsport (@pirellisport) October 19, 2018

However, teams soon got on track and most drivers had set a time before a red flag was brought out to clear gravel sprayed on the track by Charles Leclerc, who ran wide between turns eight and nine in the Sauber.

Track conditions steadily improved during the session, with the resumption seeing Hamilton clock one minute 47.502 seconds to top the leaderboard – Valtteri Bottas trailing his team-mate by 1.3 seconds.

A repeat of that sequence on Sunday will crown Hamilton champion no matter where Vettel finishes.

MORE: Bottas reacts to Ocon 2020 suggestion
MORE: Verstappen mocks Renault's new engine