WATCH: Ride onboard with Bottas as he sets the fastest time of US GP Friday practice in Austin

Valtteri Bottas set the fastest time of Friday practice in the United States as he topped the time sheets in FP1 at the Circuit of The Americas.

The Mercedes driver navigated COTA's sweeping curves and long straights under the scorching sun to end up just 0.045s faster than his team mate Lewis Hamilton and take P1 in Friday's first practice.

READ MORE: Verstappen explains traffic frustrations – and that moment with Hamilton – in FP2 at COTA

That left Red Bull's Max Verstappen in P3 but FP2 painted a remarkably different picture as Verstappen's team mate Sergio Perez went fastest, leaving Hamilton and Bottas third and fourth respectively.

Bottas will also take a five-place grid penalty – joining Sebastian Vettel of Aston Martin and Williams' George Russell – to make it a trio of penalised Mercedes-powered drivers this weekend with all three taking on new power unit parts.

Watch Bottas's fastest lap of Friday running in the video player above.