Defending champion Lewis Hamilton topped the times ahead of his Mercedes team-mate and current series leader Nico Rosberg in Friday morning’s opening free practice session for this weekend’s United States Grand Prix.

The 31-year-old three-time champion clocked a best lap time in one minute and 37.428 seconds around the Circuit of the Americas to outstrip Rosberg by three-tenths of a second.

The Silver Arrows pairing were a luxurious 1.951 seconds clear of their nearest rivals led by Dutch teenager Max Verstappen of Red Bull, followed closely by Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari.

Hamilton trails Rosberg by 33 points with four races remaining and knows that even if he wins all of them his team-mate can still take the title providing he finishes second every time.

After his charm offensive in Thursday’s news conference, Hamilton was all concentration and business on Friday as he set about his preparations for Sunday’s race on one of his favourite tracks, where he has won three out of the four races run since it began to host America’s only Formula One race.

If he wins again, Hamilton would equal seven-time champion German Michael Schumacher’s record of five United States victories and record his 50th career Grand Prix win.

Nico Hulkenberg, who has signed to race for Renault next year, was fifth fastest for Force India ahead of Valtteri Bottas of Williams and Australian Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull.

Four-time champion Sebastian Vettel was eighth for Ferrari ahead of Daniil Kvyat and his Toro Rosso team-mate Carlos Sainz.