Alonso wishes he had Vettel's package

Sebastian Vettel tearing up COTA by Jamey Price

Fernando Alonso is ready to concede pole to the Red Bulls, faster than anyone on the super slippery Austin asphalt, but not the race.

Because Texas

“No surprises for us, they are the quickest out there, they have the fastest package, they do first and second in all the practices, first and second in all qualifying, and if everything goes normal, first and second in the race.

“In the race sometimes everything is not going normal, and we put more pressure on them on Sundays, we will take out opportunities, we will fight every lap in the race.

“We know the strong point of them, we keep repeating this every race, is the speed of the package. They are very quick. Our strong points are the united team, a very strong team, the driveability of our car. We try to use each of our strong points, and the important thing is to score 11 points more than them in these two races. I’m still convinced that we can do it, but we are not surprised when they are first and second in practice and qualifying.”

There is more scuttlebutt about these mysterious water leaks from the RB8 with some whispering about a fluid transfer ballast system (it actually was an engine coolant tank) but Alonso wanted no part of it...

"Up to now they have passed technical inspection and that means they are legal. The FIA has always modified the rules when it finds they are inadequate"

Ferrari have showed up with a new rear but it is not enough at least over a single lap. Tire wear should not be much of an issue as the surface in Austin is very smooth but for all the praise lavished on the track on this first day, it remains to be seen if there will be much in the way of passing opportunities.   COTA  may look cool but it still is a Tilke track,  a great challenge to drive but where passing is impossible with an F1 car.

Pos Driver                Team                  Time                Laps
 1. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m37.718s            17
 2. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m38.475s  + 0.757   36
 3. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m38.483s  + 0.765   35
 4. Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes      1m38.748s  + 1.030   31
 5. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m38.786s  + 1.068   32
 6. Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m39.029s  + 1.311   33
 7. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m39.448s  + 1.730   32
 8. Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault      1m39.531s  + 1.813   38
 9. Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari        1m39.653s  + 1.935   36
10. Michael Schumacher    Mercedes              1m40.115s  + 2.397   30
11. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault         1m40.166s  + 2.448   32
12. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m40.230s  + 2.512   35
13. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m40.286s  + 2.568   32
14. Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari        1m40.326s  + 2.608   35
15. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m40.435s  + 2.717   30
16. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m40.516s  + 2.798   32
17. Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes  1m40.700s  + 2.982   34
18. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1m41.430s  + 3.712   35
19. Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault      1m42.476s  + 4.758   38
20. Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth     1m42.652s  + 4.934   33
21. Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault      1m42.846s  + 5.128   38
22. Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth     1m43.538s  + 5.820   38
23. Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth          1m44.453s  + 6.735   16
24. Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth          1m45.114s  + 7.396   20