Sebastian Vettel has won the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin today, becoming the first driver in the history of the sport to win eight consecutive races in a single season as well as claiming his first victory in the United States.
The German driver dominated proceedings in Texas today, leading all but two laps and eventually finishing over six seconds ahead of second-placed Romain Grosjean, who in turn held off Red Bull’s Mark Webber in the final few laps of the race to secure his best result of the season so far. Lewis Hamilton’s winning streak in the USA came to an end as he was forced to settle for P4, whilst Fernando Alonso fought back from a poor start to finish fifth ahed of Nico Hulkenberg. Sergio Perez impressed in front of a sizeable Mexican fan-base to finish seventh, whilst Valtteri Bottas scored his first points in Formula One in eighth place.
Vettel made his usual good start from pole position, but teammate Webber was not so fortunate as Grosjean managed to slingshot around the outside of turn one to jump up into second place. Lewis Hamilton followed suit to claim P3 whilst Fernando Alonso struggled and dropped down to seventh. Further back, Heikki Kovalainen’s lack of recent racing showed as he dropped down to P12, but the real drama came further back as Adrian Sutil made contact with Pastor Maldonado, resulting in the Force India driver spinning into the wall and out of the race on the main straight. The safety car was deployed on the first lap to allow his car to be recovered, giving Esteban Gutierrez the chance to pit for repairs.
Racing resumed on lap five and Vettel quickly set about establishing a gap to the chasing pack, pulling out a six second lead before stopping. However, Hamilton was more concerned by the other Red Bull as Webber got within DRS range and began to close on the Mercedes driver. The Australian pulled out nine-tenths of a second through the middle sector and, thanks to DRS, managed to make a move around the outside of Hamilton to move up into third place as the Briton struggled for grip. Nico Hulkenberg had started well to remain in fifth place, but he was soon coming under pressure from Sergio Perez and Alonso in sixth and seventh respectively. However, the Ferrari driver soon dropped back into the clutches of Williams’ Valtteri Bottas, who was looking on-course for his first points in Formula One ahead of the first round of stops. Alonso soon managed to find his feet and close on Perez once again. Kovalainen was the first driver to stop as he looked to get the undercut on the drivers ahead, but a front-wing problem meant he had to come in for a second stop early. At the front, Vettel was told to save his tires and go as far as possible into the race. Jenson Button and Felipe Massa took their battle to the pits with the Brazilian driver staying ahead as Alonso closed on Perez before the Mexican driver stopped. However, the front-runners managed to make their tires last, allowing Alonso to come back out ahead of Perez and move up a position.
Vettel eventually made his first stop on lap 27, releasing Grosjean into the lead with Webber in second place, but the Australian driver pitted just one lap later and emerged in third. Grosjean failed to last much longer, coming in on lap 29 and retaining second place as Vettel steamed into the lead with the fastest lap of the race. Further back, Gutierrez was well into the points after pitting on lap one, but he could not hold back a fiery Alonso for sixth place. Perez soon followed to pass his compatriot, and Valtteri Bottas eventually picked off his fellow rookie with a close pass heading into the esses. Nico Rosberg continued his charge further back, picking off Daniel Ricciardo and Paul di Resta to move up into the points whilst Massa and Button continued to languish outside of the points. Further back, Mark Webber looked to catch Grosjean for second place, but he soon dropped back as he looked to save his tires before closing again.
Fernando Alonso looked to keep Ferrari’s bid for second place in the constructors’ championship alive by catching Hulkenberg and Hamilton, but the decision to stop Massa for a second time ended the Brazilian driver’s faint hopes of points. His teammate did manage to pass Hulkenberg, though, making the pass on the inside of turn one, but Hamilton was just out of reach. Further ahead Webber made another pursuit for Grosjean’s second place. Thanks to DRS, the Australian was able to close right up to the back of the Lotus, but he lacked the pace through the final sector to make a move stick.
At the front, Vettel was given the usual warnings by engineer Guillaume Rocquelin, but he did not heed them by setting the fastest lap late on. Come the checkered flag though, there was no stopping the German driver who waltzed to his eighth straight victory and his first on US soil, put Alberto Ascari’s record of nine in a row (split across two seasons) well within reach.
Hulkenberg, Perez and Bottas all produced fine displays to finish sixth, seventh and eighth respectively, with the points being Bottas’ first in Formula One. Nico Rosberg battled his way through the pack to finish ninth whilst Jenson Button made a late pass on Daniel Ricciardo to pick up the final point in tenth place as Gutierrez spun off on the final lap as he tried to pass Jean-Eric Vergne. The second stop for Kovalainen proved costly as he could only finish fifteenth, whilst Pastor Maldonado’s terrible weekend came to an equally-poor end down in P17.
