Hamilton wins Inaugural US GP

Hamilton wins Inaugural US GP as Vettel posts fastest lap

In a thrilling Formula One  US Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton snatched the win from pole sitter Sebastian Vettel. Title contender Fernando Alonso came third as Mark Webber retired.

In a controversy before the start of the race, Ferrari changed the gear box of Felipe Massa so that he got a five place grid slot penalty. Massa was to start at 5th and Fernando Alonso at 8th. Fernando Alonso would have started on the dirty side of the grid which would is estimated to yield two places during the race start. By exploiting the loop hole in the laws, Ferrari changed the Gear box of Massa so after the penalty Fernando Alonso started at 7th and Massa dropped down to 11th. Alonso immediately took benefit of the decision as he quickly moved to fourth and then after Mark Webber retired was on third. Though Alonso traded a few places up and down during the pitstops, he ended in the podium in third place behind championship leader Vettel.

Felipe Massa finished a creditable 4th behind Fernando Alonso.

Michael Schumacher who started at 5th went slower every lap and kept on sliding back till he made an early pit stop to change into hard tires. However, he could not make the hard tires last and then had to make another pit stop and ended a lap down and in 16th position.

Jenson Button had a strong race despite his poor starting position and finished at 5th ahead of Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus. Romain Grosjean had a spin and appeared to damage his tires and went back to the grid. He then changed to hard tires and set fastest lap times after about 10 laps in the hard tires. This made other drives rush to change to hard tires.  Grosjean finished at 7th place. Nico Hulkenberg of Force India who is off to Sauber after this season held off the charging Willams drivers Pastor Maldonado and Bruno Senna and they finished in 8th, 9th and 10th positions respectively.

Sergio Perez of Sauber finished outside the points at 11th, followed by Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso at 12th, Nico Rosberg of Mercedes at 13th. Kamui Kobayashi finished at 14th followed by Paul di Resta of Force India at 15th ahead of Schumacher at 16th.

Schumacher became the Formula One driver to have driven the maximum miles in races. Schumacher after driving two laps in the Formula One US GP broke the record of Brazilian Rubens Barrichelo.

Vitaly Petrov held off his team mate Heikki Kovalainen of Caterham to finish 17th and 18th respectively. Timo Glock and Charles Pic of Marussia finished 19th and 20th respectively followed by Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan of HRT at 21st and 22nd positions.

Mark Webber and Jean-Eric Vergne retired in the Formula One US Grand Prix.

After the Formula One US Grand Prix Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull leads the drivers championship with 13 points more than Fernando Alonso of Ferrari. The season ending Brazilian Grand Prix will be a thrilling affair. At the Formula One US Grand Prix Red Bull won the constructors championship. It is to be seen if Sebastian Vettel can hold back Fernando Alonso to win the Formula One drivers championship.