AUSTIN, Texas – Ever since Formula One began coming to Circuit of the Americas in 2012, Lewis Hamilton has used the Texas track as his personal playground, and that romp continued despite a rainy day on Friday.

Hamilton swept the pair of free practice sessions for the United States Grand Prix at the 3.427-mile permanent road course, posting his top time of 1:47.502 in FP1 behind the wheel of the No. 44 Mercedes W09 EQ.

As conditions worsened, the speed threshold dropped, with the four-time champion and current point leader only able to muster a 1:48.716 during final practice later in the afternoon.

Even still, he was more than a second clear of the pack on the overall time sheets at day’s end, unsurprising considering the Briton has won five out of the six F-1 races held in Austin.

“It’s not really been an eventful day, which is real a shame because a lot of people came out today,” said Hamilton. “The weather was miserable this morning; it looked like it was going to dry up going into FP2 … but then all of a sudden the heavens opened again.

“In FP1 I only did a few laps, because we need the tires to last until FP3 and there’s very little to learn in the rain. In FP2 I waited to the end before I went out to see if the track had changed or the tires had dropped off a little bit for the next run from my previous laps,” he continued. “The car still felt good, but the track seemed a bit bumpier than in the past. The intermediate tires provided pretty good grip for the wet conditions, but I don’t think they will last very long.

“Overall, I still enjoyed it. I love driving this track and it’s great in the wet as well, so I got a little bit of excitement today.”

Hamilton enters the weekend 67 points clear of title rival Sebastian Vettel. Should he leave the United States with a lead of 75 or more, he will secure his fifth F-1 driver’s championship.

Valtteri Bottas completed an early one-two punch for Mercedes AMG Petronas with his lap of 1:48.806 in the first practice session, followed by the Red Bull pair of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo.

Vettel completed the top five in his Ferrari, with the Toro Rosso of Pierre Gasly landing sixth-best overall as the only driver in the top 10 to post their best lap in the second session on Friday.

The sister Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen was seventh behind Gasly. Renault’s Carlos Sainz, Haas F1’s Romain Grosjean and Sauber’s Charles Leclerc completed the top 10.