Advantage Hamilton following Austin win

Hamilton USGP 2014

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton achieved his fifth consecutive victory of the season by beating Nico Rosberg to the chequered flag at the Circuit of the Americas.

The Mercedes driver is now 24 points ahead of his title rival with only two races left in this exciting season.

Having taken a brilliant pole position, Rosberg narrowly led the United States Grand Prix through the first round of pitstops, as Hamilton nursed a set of soft Pirelli tyres that he flat-spotted during qualifying.

Rosberg seemed less comfortable than Hamilton when they switched to the medium compound tyre though, and his Mercedes team-mate pounced to take the lead by using DRS and diving down the inside under braking for Turn 12 on lap 24 of 56.

From that point on, Rosberg was powerless to prevent Hamilton clinching his tenth grand prix victory of the season – the 32nd of his career, making him the most successful British driver in the history of Formula 1.

Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo overcame a poor start to beat the Williams duo and complete the podium.

The Australian’s slow getaway from fifth on the grid cost him four places initially, but he climbed back up to sixth before the end of the opening lap, when the safety car was deployed after Sergio Perez’s Force India bounced off Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari and into Adrian Sutil’s Sauber.

Ricciardo dived past Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari to take fifth at the restart, before jumping both Williams at successive pitstops to climb to third.

The Williams drivers finished fourth and fifth, Felipe Massa coming home ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas after jumping him at the start.

Ricciardo’s Red Bull Racing team-mate Sebastian Vettel gambled on a pitlane start and a low-downforce set-up, after exceeding the five-engines-per-season limit for this event.

The reigning world champion found it difficult to make progress initially, but climbed as high as sixth before being passed by Alonso’s Ferrari (on a much fresher and softer set of tyres) in the closing stages.

Vettel then plummeted to P14 after making a late pitstop for fresh rubber, but recovered back to seventh as the cars ahead battled to the end on much older rubber.

The McLaren of Kevin Magnussen succumbed on the final lap and thus finished eighth, while Lotus scored its first points since the Monaco Grand Prix as Pastor Maldonado finished tenth.

The Lotus driver passed Jean-Eric Vergne’s Toro Rosso for ninth on the final lap, but was bumped back by his second five-second penalty of the race, in this case for pitlane speeding.

Vergne was classified ninth, but is under investigation for hitting Romain Grosjean’s Lotus while lunging down the inside at Turn 1 with six laps to go.

Both Vergne and Maldonado received earlier five-second penalties for speeding behind the safety car.

Grosjean finished P11 on the track, ahead of the McLaren of Jenson Button, which fell away badly in the closing laps.

Kimi Raikkonen ran close behind his Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso early on, but lost ground with a late first pitstop and never recovered.

The 2007 world champion finished a disappointing P13, ahead of the Sauber of Estaban Gutierrez and the Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat, last of the classified finishers.

So advantage Hamilton with only Brazil and Abu Dhabi remaining to seal the championship. Lewis could actually win the title by finishing second to Nico Rosberg in those two races, but the racer will always go for the ultimate prize.

United States Grand Prix, 56 laps:

1 Lewis Hamilton    Mercedes    1h40m04.785s
2 Nico Rosberg    Mercedes    4.314s
3 Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull-Renault   25.560s
4 Felipe Massa    Williams-Mercedes    26.924s
5 Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes    30.992s
6 Fernando Alonso    Ferrari    1m35.231s
7 Sebastian Vettel    Red Bull-Renault    1m35.734s
8 Kevin Magnussen    McLaren-Mercedes    1m40.682s
9 Jean-Eric Vergne    Toro Rosso-Renault    1m43.863s
10 Pastor Maldonado    Lotus-Renault    1m47.870s
11 Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Renault    1 Lap
12 Jenson Button    McLaren-Mercedes    1 Lap
13 Kimi Raikkonen    Ferrari    1 Lap
14 Esteban Gutierrez    Sauber-Ferrari    1 Lap
15 Daniil Kvyat    Toro Rosso/Renault    1 Lap

Retirements:

Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes
Sergio Perez    Force India-Mercedes
Adrian Sutil    Sauber-Ferrari

Drivers’ Championship:

1 Lewis Hamilton    316
2 Nico Rosberg    292
3 Daniel Ricciardo    214
4 Valtteri Bottas    155
5 Sebastian Vettel    149
6 Fernando Alonso    149
7 Jenson Button    94
8 Felipe Massa    83
9 Nico Hulkenberg    76
10 Kevin Magnussen    53
11 Sergio Perez    47
12 Kimi Raikkonen    47
13 Jean-Eric Vergne    23
14 Romain Grosjean    8
15 Daniil Kvyat    8
16 Jules Bianchi    2
17 Pastor Maldonado    1
18 Adrian Sutil    0
19 Marcus Ericsson    0
20 Esteban Gutierrez    0
21 Max Chilton    0
22 Kamui Kobayashi    0

Constructors’ Championship:

1 Mercedes    608
2 Red Bull-Renault    363
3 Williams-Mercedes    238
4 Ferrari    196
5 McLaren-Mercedes    147
6 Force India-Mercedes    123
7 Toro Rosso-Renault    31
8 Lotus-Renault    9
9 Marussia-Ferrari    2
10 Sauber-Ferrari    0
11 Caterham-Renault    0

Next race: Brazilian Grand Prix, Interlagos. November 7-9.

7 thoughts to “Advantage Hamilton following Austin win”

  1. Despite starting on pole and leading the first stint, Nico Rosberg admitted he struggled to find rhythm compared to race winner Lewis Hamilton. Autosport.com has the story.

    Nico Rosberg put his United States Grand Prix defeat by Formula 1 title rival Lewis Hamilton down to not getting up to speed quick enough during the race.

    Mercedes driver Rosberg led the first part of the Austin F1 race from pole, before being reeled in and overtaken by team-mate Hamilton just before half-distance.

    “Pretty simply I didn’t find my rhythm early on – it took a long while,” said Rosberg.

    “In the overtake I knew there was a chance he could try. I tried halfway defensive, Lewis did a good job, and that was it.

    “Five to 10 laps later I started to feel OK, but unfortunately it was then too late.”

    Rosberg chipped away at Hamilton’s lead after the final pitstops but could never get close enough to reignite the lead battle.

    “That was the period where I started to feel more comfortable,” he said.

    “I never gave up, I was fully determined to put pressure onto Lewis all the way and try to get a bit closer, but it just wasn’t possible today.”

    Hamilton’s Austin win puts him 24 points clear of Rosberg, and the double points finale in Abu Dhabi means there are still 75 points available.

    Rosberg said he sees no need to change anything going into the title-deciding races, despite Hamilton having now completed a streak of five straight wins.

    “The same approach for me: fully committed, full attack, try to be on pole and then win Interlagos and that is it,” he said.

    “There are many points to be had and a lot can happen, same as all the time.”

  2. Nico Rosberg has revealed that an ERS error was key to allowing Formula 1 title rival Lewis Hamilton to overtake him for victory at the United States Grand Prix.

    The German led the early stages of the race from pole position, but he was unable to hold on to the front spot after Hamilton pulled off a move at the end of the back straight on lap 24.

    Following a post race debrief, Rosberg discovered that he had been left without extra ERS power to defend the position after requesting the boost via a switch change rather than using a button.

    “I made a mistake because I used the wrong thing to get more KERS,” said Rosberg, when asked by AUTOSPORT about the move.

    “When I saw him coming I decided to go for extra boost but I never got it.

    “I thought I was using the right thing, but there was a delay in that one.

    “If I did it with a button it would be immediate, but with a switch there is a delay, so I never got the extra KERS.

    “I had a big drop off, which is why in the last metres he got a good jump on me.

    “So, that was a mistake that I didn’t know about.”

    Although Rosberg accepts he could have been more aggressive in defending the inside line against Hamilton, he thinks it ultimately would have made little difference.

    “I am sure I could have done better, but it is a judgement thing,” he said.

    “If I defended a lot he would brake late on the outside and get me on the next one.

    “I thought indicating I am closing the door would have been enough to stop him from trying, but it wasn’t.

    “Because I was part way over already, I thought that was enough for him to think he should not try, but it wasn’t.”

    Source: Autosport.com

  3. Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne loses his ninth place finish following a collision with Lotus driver Romain Grosjean. Autosport.com has the details.

    Jean-Eric Vergne has lost his ninth-placed finish in the US Grand Prix after being penalised for colliding with Formula 1 rival Romain Grosjean.

    Toro Rosso F1 racer Vergne made contact with Grosjean’s Lotus in the closing stages of Sunday’s race at Austin, after locking up his brakes while trying to overtake into Turn 1.

    Officials subsequently hit Vergne with a five-second penalty for forcing Grosjean’s Lotus off the circuit in the collision.

    The penalty means Vergne switches places with Grosjean’s 10th-placed Lotus team-mate Pastor Maldonado in the final results.

    Grosjean ultimately finished 11th, but felt Vergne’s aggressive move cost him a potential points finish.

    “Jean-Eric came into Turn 1 and bumped into me, broke my front wing and my floor and I couldn’t really recover,” Grosjean told NBC Sports.

    “I was on the radio saying ‘guys, that’s not fair, he [should] get something’, because I could have got P8.

    “I may not get my points and position but it’s good that Pastor scored and we were finally able to fight with Ferrari and Toro Rosso.”

    Vergne said he felt he had to take a risk in trying to pass Grosjean when he did.

    “I had to do something, I was not going to stay sitting behind waiting,” Vergne explained.

    “I saw the opportunity and I went for it. He closed the door but it was too late.”

  4. As for Sergio Perez, the race stewards have also penalised the Force India driver for reckless driving. Autosport.com has the story.

    Sergio Perez will take a seven-place grid penalty for the next Formula 1 race in Brazil, after being found guilty of reckless driving in the US Grand Prix.

    Force India F1 racer Perez collided with the Sauber of Adrian Sutil on the opening lap of Sunday’s race at Austin, putting both out of the event and causing a safety car period.

    The stewards have slapped Perez with a seven-place grid penalty and two penalty points on his licence for causing the collision.

    An FIA statement read: “The driver of car #11 [Perez] could not reasonably have expected to complete the manoeuvre. His collision with car #99 [Sutil] was reckless.”

    Perez described the incident, in which he also made lighter contact with Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari, as “unfortunate”.

    “I made a move on Adrian at Turn 15 when he left the door open, so I went up the inside, then Adrian started to close the door and I had to try and brake later than him,” Perez explained.

    “By doing so I was unable to avoid contact with Kimi, which caused me to make contact with Adrian also.

    “I just didn’t expect Kimi to be in that position.”

    Sutil started a season’s best ninth for the race, and was frustrated to miss out on a chance of scoring Sauber’s first points of the season.

    “It was such a shame and so disappointing and so unnecessary,” Sutil said.

    “We were hoping for a great result today and because of a silly action like this we missed everything.

    “It is very disappointing that we missed our biggest chance of points because of this move.”

  5. This was another disappointing race for The Iceman and Kimi Raikkonen admitted he hates this current situation. Autosport.com has the news story.

    Kimi Raikkonen says he hates the situation he finds himself in with the handling of his Ferrari Formula 1 car at the moment, following a disappointing US Grand Prix.

    The 2007 world champion came home 13th and one lap down on race winner Lewis Hamilton at Austin on Sunday, as his race was marred by front-end problems that plagued him all weekend.

    “Here was again one of the most difficult weekends,” Raikkonen told reporters after the race.

    “Japan was similar – we fight with understeer the whole weekend and whatever we do we can’t seem to get rid of it.

    “Then you can expect in the race to destroy the front tyres.

    “Obviously I hate the situation the way it is and the way things are going, and I cannot solve it by myself.”

    Raikkonen added that the main frustration with his problems was that he and Ferrari have been unable to pinpoint what is causing them.

    “To try to drive slowly in certain places didn’t make any difference [to the life of the front tyres] so I don’t understand it really,” he said.

    “Wherever we finished it’s pretty disappointing. Not being able to solve certain issues is frustrating.

    “Hopefully something comes up and we find what the issues are.

    “I appreciate some help and obviously we try to help each other to fix these issues, but if we knew the issue it would be easier to solve.”

    The Finn said that team-mate Fernando Alonso – who finished sixth – is not as sensitive to the front-end difficulties with the 2014 Ferrari.

    “In certain places, yes, it’s the same issue, but I think he doesn’t mind too much when the front is sliding,” he said.

    “So the effect is not so big then. It’s a bit of a different story.”

    Alonso only just held onto sixth at the end of the race, beating Sebastian Vettel to the line by half a second after his car developed a serious vibration in the closing stages.

    “I had huge vibrations on the tyres for the last two laps,” said Alonso. “I could not even see the track, basically.

    “I tried to control the pace. I was asking for the gap from behind to cross the line just in front of them.

    “But then Vettel overtook [Kevin] Magnussen and there was no time to save any more so on the last lap I was flat out with huge vibrations.”

  6. Lewis Hamilton’s father always told him to ‘drive like you stole it’ but there was never any question about who owned Sunday’s US Grand Prix.

    The Mercedes driver did not start on pole, that honour denied him by team mate and title rival Nico Rosberg in Saturday qualifying, but the Briton knew he had something special going on.

    Hamilton feels at home in the United States, where he spends time with singer girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger and friends in Los Angeles, and won the inaugural race at the Circuit of the Americas in 2012.

    As he took the chequered flag for his 10th win of the season, and fifth in succession, the championship leader entered the record books as the British driver with most Formula One wins — his 32 now one more than 1992 champion Nigel Mansell.

    “Once I got past Nico it was really just about controlling it,” he told the crowd in a podium interview with 1978 champion Mario Andretti, the last U.S. driver to take the title.

    Later, once he had tried Andretti’s black Stetson sheriff’s hat for size, he told reporters: “Before the race there’s a lot you can do to really understand what opportunities could come up and in different scenarios, how you approach it, and I felt very much on top of that as I have done for quite some time.

    “I just went into the race with the belief that I could win it,” he added.

    “I went into the race thinking I need another race just like 2012 and it was just like that. I was catching him through exactly the same points at which I was catching Sebastian (Vettel in 2012).

    “There wasn’t a moment in the race when I didn’t think that I would get him. Once I was past, as I said, I was able to relax for a second and really try to manage the tyres.”

    The move, when it came, was on the 24th lap — a fitting number since the win sent him 24 points clear of Rosberg with two races remaining and a maximum of 75 points available.

    It could still be that he ends up with 11 wins and no title, a casualty of the new rules that allow double points for the final round in Abu Dhabi, but on Sunday he was not thinking of that.

    Instead, Hamilton was fizzing with the excitement of another win on the continent where he took his first two victories in his debut 2007 season.

    The manner in which he took the lead, an aggressive swashbuckling pass through the inside as Rosberg braked early and went slightly wide into turn 12, was the mark of a true champion.

    “I had been planning that for many laps and just never really got close enough,” said Hamilton.

    “The opportunity was there and I knew there was a big head wind into that corner. All weekend there’s been a head wind into turn 11 and today it turned around, so it was a head wind into 12. So braking there was really strong.

    “I felt really confident going into there, I had the slipstream and I pulled out, out-braked him. But it was really important that I didn’t lock up and out-brake myself and go wide,” he added.

    “It felt good.”

    Source: Reuters

  7. Good write-ups as always Leaf. I can’t complain too much about the decisions, but I feel for Vergne because, honestly, that was AMAZING. Yes, a bit dangerous perhaps but it was soooo funny to watch.

    Vergne: OH!!! Closing the door on ME like that!?!?!? NOT TODAY B!TCH!!!!! I’M closing the door on YOU! MOFO!!!!!! Taste some AstroTurf, ya dirty RATBAG!!! Ohhhh, you like that, huh!!?!?!? No problem, TASTE SOME MORE MOTHERF*CKER!!!!!!!! Heheeeh. Ohhh yeah, like a BOSS!!!! Later bro! )_)
    Grosjean: WTF!?!?!? YOU… sunuvaB!TCH!!!!!!!!!
    Button: …the HELL is going on behind me!?!?!?! O_o

    And then at the end, even the podium was more fun than usual!!!!!
    Hamilton: Heeeeeyyyy… nice hat you got there! Can I wear it!?!? Huh!?!? Can I!?!? CAN I!?!? 😉
    Ricciardo: OMG THIS IS SO FUN!!! Did you see me on the podium banking just now!?!?! It’s like the Nurburgring…. ON FOOT!!! LMAO!!!! Move over Rubens, there’s a NEW Mr. Smiley in town!!!! Wooohoooo!!!! Look, I even got a trophy!!! YAY!!!! ^_^
    Rosberg: *HEAVY sigh* Yeah… um, the race, it… kind of sucked. >_>

    And the commentary was amazingly funny at times!

    Ted Kravitz: Well you know me!!! Right!??! I love a ferret!!! Erm, I mean um…
    *gets cut off by team radio transmission*
    Ted Kravitz: Erm, yeah so uh, anyway…
    (never explains about the Ferret!!!) :O

    Seriously, in spite of all the controversy beforehand (and the sad news about the two teams dropping out) the race itself was AMAZING. Even Brundle had his moment when he accidentally blocked off Pamela Anderson harshly before the race!!! How many people can say they’ve done that!?!?! You show em’ ‘celebs’ who’s boss, Martin!!!! 😛

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