Lewis Hamilton is out of his car, overalls rolled down and baseball cap on, and chatting to his engineers in the Mercedes garage.

It's all gone quiet out on track as the first half hour of the session, where drivers get an extra set of tyres to use, is over. Kevin Magnussen leads the way with a 1:41.078 with his McLaren team-mate Jenson Button just a tenth further back. Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen complete the top five.

Daniel Ricciardo's race engineer asks how his charge to describe how the balance feels. The Australian replies with some constructive comments before finishing with "generally not awful".

Fernando Alonso, who has been in the top three in first practice 10 times in 2014 without ever qualifying that high, is ramping it up, closing to within two tenths of a second of pace-setter Jenson Button with a 1:41.323.

Mercedes have finished 1-2 in this session nine times in 16 races this year. Currently, Lewis Hamilton is ninth quickest, 2.4 seconds off the pace, with Nico Rosberg 14th, a further three seconds adrift.

Byron Foxx Mubaiwa:, external That hill approaching Turn 1 is massive. Could literally roll back.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

"Kimi Raikkonen was asked on Thursday about reports in the Italian media that the Ferrari 2015 car had been showing disappointing results in the wind tunnel and was producing less downforce than the current car. As is so often the case, what was presented by some as a denial was not one at all, although Raikkonen insisted he was confident the team would improve next season.

"There are a lot of rumours in F1 but I have 100% ,' Raikkonen said. 'People are always speaking, but the problem is they are not the people designing the car or in the wind tunnel. I am sure we can have a good package. Is it good enough? Time will tell. But we have a lot of work to do. We learned a lot from this year and we don't expect to lead the championship from the front and be winning all the races. But I am sure we will make a big leap and be up there fighting and improving things.'"

Image source, Getty Images

Kimi Raikkonen celebrated his 35th birthday earlier this month. It's hard to believe that he made his debut way back in 2001, when he was 21 and had just 23 car races under his belt. The Finn is currently 12th fastest, four seconds off the pace.

Jenson Button goes quickest with a 1:41.158, two seconds clear of Fernando Alonso, with Lewis Hamilton, who has pitted, three tenths of the pace in third. Still 70 minutes to go.

Sauber's Giedo van der Garde tells Jennie Gow that the aim all season had been to ben promoted from third driver to race driver next season and the chances of that are "looking very good". Interesting. Who will make way? Esteban Gutierrez or Adrian Sutil?

With Caterham and Marussia not taking part this weekend, thus leaving a field of 18, the stewards have made a tweak to the qualifying procedures.

Ordinarily, six cars are booted out in Q1 and another six in Q2. That has been changed to four in Q1 and four in Q2 to leave 10, as usual, to fight it out for pole in Q3.

Mercedes on Twitter:, external Ghoulish understeer to report after those 1st runs - overnight rain washed the soul from the surface...

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

"While the world waits for Fernando Alonso's future to be firmed up, and with it that of Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen, one driver's plans were revealed recently - Nico Hulkenberg is staying with Force India. The German is considered by many as a future star but a seat in a top team remains elusive, which he admits is not easy.

"'Every driver wants to be in the top car and fight for wins and it is no different with me,' Hulkenberg said, 'so you are impatient and it is frustrating not to have it yet. But I will keep working hard here and I'm sure one year the opportunity will come.' Team-mate Sergio Perez said he was in the final phases of securing his own future with the team."

Image source, Force India/Twitter

Force India on Twitter:, external Warm and sunny here at stunning Circuit of The Americas.

BBC F1 pit-lane reporter Tom Clarkson reports that the piece of carbon fibre which Kimi Raikkonen is running on top of the Ferrari is there because the team are considering raising the height of the chassis at that point and want to see if it adversely affects the drivers' visibility.

Lewis Hamilton is the early pace-setter, the Mercedes driver and championship leader clocking a 1:49.164, one second clear of team-mate and title rival Nico Rosberg. Adrian Sutil in the Sauber is the only other driver to have set a time, and he's 1.5 seconds further back.

Image source, Lotus on Twitter

Here's a shot of the new Lotus nose, which is certainly more aesthetically pleasing. It's very similar to the one on the Ferrari. It'll only be run in this session, though, as it's a 2015-spec nose, and only Romain Grosjean will be running it.

Marussia and Caterham were deemed to be in breach of the regulations by the race stewards as they are not participating in this weekend's grand prix and therefore weren't present for scrutineering on Thursday.

However, the stewards said that in "view of the teams' current financial circumstances" no penalty will be imposed and have instead referred the matter to FIA president Jean Todt.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

"Fernando Alonso's future continues to be a focus of interest in F1, with the Spaniard weighing up a move to McLaren or a year out, in either case with one eye on a Mercedes drive in 2016. He was gnomic on the subject on Thursday, repeating that he has a 'very ambitious plan for my future which I think is the best for Ferrari as well'. Although how it can be the 'best' for Ferrari to lose arguably the best driver on the grid is an interesting one.

"In between the evasions, though, he did say it was 'unlikely' he would be taking a year out, and he came up with an interesting answer to a question about whether this decision was his last chance of securing a third title. 'Um, probably, yes,' Alonso said. 'But at the end of the day winning or not winning is a matter of being in the right place in the right moment, and getting the respect of everyone has more value sometimes. When I joined Ferrari in September 2009 I didn't have the respect I have now. I didn't win in five years, it was difficult but I grew up as a driver and as a person as well. So definitely I want to win and to win the third title. I'm sure I will have the opportunity in the next years.'"

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg have taken their respective Mercedes out for a spin, as has the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen, who is running an interesting metal plate just in front of the cockpit. I've not seen that before. It looks like the Finn is doing some constant speed tests.