US GRAND PRIX - RACE
Lewis Hamilton secured his fiftieth GP win at the US Grand Prix this weekend, a much needed victory in his championship battle. Teammate Nico Rosberg secured second and remains ahead of Hamilton in the championship standings, whilst a virtual safety car ruined Daniel Ricciardo’s strategy and left him in third.
Red Bull were hoping the super soft tyres were going to give Ricciardo the edge at the start of the race, with the two Mercedes drivers ahead of him on the soft compound tyres. Ricciardo shot off of the line, immediately challenging Rosberg for second and managing to get past. Hamilton managed to escape holding onto second as he led the way into the race.
Meanwhile, there was the usual opening lap bumps further back in the pack. Both Force India drivers were caught up in contact. Nico Hulkenberg found himself in trouble, unable to turn, and hit Sebastian Vettel ahead of him. That bounced him into Valtteri Bottas, and left him with damage to his front wing, and Bottas with a punctured tyre.
Sergio Perez was hit by Daniil Kvyat and sent into a spin. There didn’t seem to be too much damage for the Mexican, though, and he managed to continue after dropping down through the order. Kvyat was given a ten-second-penalty for the incident.
Hulkenberg and Bottas dived into the pits to repair the damage done by the opening lap. Bottas managed to come back out after a tyre change, but Hulkenberg wouldn’t be so lucky. The German retired from the race.
Back at the front of the pack, Hamilton was building up a gap to Ricciardo. With the softer tyres, Ricciardo was forced to pit earlier than Rosberg but, once the Mercedes drivers had pitted, it was the same order in the top three.
Ferrari were the main story in the first set of pit stops. The Italian team had tried the undercut with Kimi Raikkonen, bringing him into the pits early. It wouldn’t work though, with the Finn being stuck in traffic. Max Verstappen, who’d gotten a poor start, was able to catch up with the Ferrari and a move up the inside with DRS put the teenager in fifth.
Next up for Verstappen, once Sebastien Vettel was pitted, was Rosberg. It didn’t take long for the Red Bull to close in on Rosberg, who was on the medium compound tyre, but getting past was proving difficult. Verstappen was reminded by the team that his tyres needed to last to the end of the stint. Verstappen’s reply? “I’m not here to finish fourth.”
Verstappen did back off though and, a few laps later, came into the pits. Unfortunately, Red Bull weren’t ready for him, as they hadn’t actually called him into the pits. It was a long stop that dropped him back to seventh.
Setting off to try and recover, Verstappen found himself in more trouble. The Red Bull was going very slowly and Verstappen described something “Hitting the engine. The faster I go, the harder it hits.” It was later found to be a gearbox problem. Verstappen stopped on track, bringing out the virtual safety car.
At the front of the race, Mercedes reacted quickly, both of their cars diving into the pits with a “free” pit stop. Ricciardo, who had only pitted a handful of laps before, lost out. The tyre strategy that could have given him a fighting chance at second was now wasted as Rosberg emerged from the pits ahead of Ricciardo.
Rosberg wasn’t able to take the fight to his teammate, though. The German came out of the pits behind Pascal Wehrlein and wasn’t able to overtake during the virtual safety car. There, he lost a lot of time to Hamilton, believing Wehrlein to be driving slower than necessary. When racing began again, Rosberg easily got past, but he was now on the back foot.
Raikkonen would have more trouble in the pits at his next pit stop. Ferrari released the Finn early, with the wheel gun still attached and the wheel not properly screwed onto the car. Raikkonen stopped at the end of the pit lane but, as reversing in the pit lane is banned, his race was over.
The closing stages of the race saw a battle between Carlos Sainz Jnr, Felipe Massa, and Fernando Alonso in the fight for fifth place. It seemed that Sainz needed to pit again for a fresh set of tyres but, as the laps ticked down, it became obvious Sainz was aiming to make his tyres last until the end of the race, and Massa and Alonso would have to get past him on track.
Sainz made a small mistake ahead of them, but it was Alonso who would take advantage of that. The older Spaniard moved up the inside of Massa, but it appeared Massa didn’t see his old team mate trying to make the move. The two made wheel to wheel contact, but Alonso managed to get ahead, leaving Massa in sixth and with a punctured tyre.
The incident was investigated after the race, but there was no further action.
Overtaking Sainz was a little easier for Alonso. With DRS, the McLaren was faster than the Toro Rosso on the straights and Alonso swept past Sainz for fifth place.
Hamilton took the win four and a half seconds over Rosberg after fifty six laps. He closes the gap to twenty six points to his team mate. Red Bull have a fifty three point lead over Ferrari in the battle for second in the constructors championship.
RESULTS:
1. Lewis Hamilton / Mercedes-Mercedes / Great Britain / + 25 Points
2. Nico Rosberg / Mercedes-Mercedes / Germany / + 18 Points
3. Daniel Ricciardo / Red Bull-TAG-HEUER / Australia / + 15 Points
4. Sebastian Vettel / Ferrari-Ferrari / Germany / + 12 Points
5. Fernando Alonso / McLaren-Honda / Spain / + 10 Points
6. Carlos Sainz / Toro Rosso-Ferrari / Spain / + 8 Points
7. Felipe Massa / Williams-Mercedes / Brazil / + 6 Points
8. Sergio Perez / Force India-Mercedes / Mexico / + 4 Points
9. Jenson Button / McLaren-Honda / Great Britain / + 2 Points
10. Romain Grosjean / Haas-Ferrari / France / + 1 Point
11. Kevin Magnussen / Renault-Renault / Denmark
12. Daniil Kvyat / Toro Rosso-Ferrari / Russia
13. Jolyon Palmer / Renault-Renault / Great Britain
14. Marcus Ericsson / Sauber-Ferrari / Sweden
15. Felipe Nasr / Sauber-Ferrari / Brazil
16. Valtteri Bottas / Williams-Mercedes / Finland
17. Pascal Wehrlein / Manor-Mercedes / Germany
18. Esteban Ocon / Manor-Mercedes / France
RETIRED - Kimi Raikkonen / Ferrari-Ferrari / Finland / Attached Wheel Gun
RETIRED - Max Verstappen / Red Bull-TAG-HEUER / Netherlands / Gearbox Failure
RETIRED - Esteban Gutierrez / Haas-Ferrari / Mexico / Brake Problem
RETIRED - Nico Hulkenberg / Force India-Mercedes / Germany / Collision Damage
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Article Written By: Bethonie Waring
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