Sebastian Vettel on pole in US Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel on Pole in US F1 Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel ran a brilliant third sector to beat his team mate Mark Webber of Red Bull by 0.1 seconds and grab the pole position in the US Grand Prix. It appears that Vettel will again score a win, since this year we have seen his teammate Webber faces numerous equipment problems as well as unfavourable strategies adopted by his team to ensure that Vettel wins the championship.

Behind the Red Bull cars, it was expected that Mercedes will line up. However, it was Romain Grosjean who scored the P3. In this race Heikki Kovalainen is racing for the Lotus team in place of Kimi Raikkonen, who opted to sit out the two races and have back surgery. Heiki Kovalainen who has earlier raced for Lotus's previous avatar as Renault and then with McLaren and have won race as well, was the surprise choice. He had been earlier dumped by Caterham who went in search of pay drivers to fill their coffers. Heikki Kovalainen came 0.6 seconds behind his team mate and it translated to P8 position.

Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber who is in contention for the vacant Lotus seat next year was earlier invited by Lotus to drive for them for these last two races. However, he wisely decided to say no, as the deal for next year with Lotus is not yet done. So he didn't want to antagonise Sauber either. He was 0.141 seconds behind Romain Grosjean with a time of 1:37.296

Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes scored a P5 position with a time of 1:37.345. He was followed by Fernando Alonso of Ferrari at 1:37.376. Interestingly both their teammates Nico Rosberg of Mercedes and Felipe Massa of Ferrari could score 14th and 15th positions with time of 1:38.364 and 1:38.592

Sergio Perez who has been having his first and last season with McLaren scored a P7 with a time of 1:37.452 where as his experienced team mate and former world champion Jenson Button could score only a P13 with 1:38.217. Sergio Perez has been unexpectedly dropped from McLaren after only a season and he is now struggling to find a drive next year.

Valtteri Bottas got some cheer for the Williams team when he finished at P9 with a time of 1:37:836. Unfortunately his experienced teammate Pastor Maldonado could only finish in P18. Bottas was followed by Esteban Gutierrez of Sauber with a time of 1:38.034. Gutierrez was later handed a 10 spot grid penalty for having impeded Pastor Maldonado. Gutierrez was weaving on the track to warm up his tyres when Maldonado was on a flying lap. He will accordingly start at the back of the grid.

Pastor Maldonado has said that he suspects someone from the Williams team has tried to tamper with the car to scuttle his chances. He said that since he is leaving the team at the end of the season, the Williams team wanted to show that he is worse than his teammate. He said "..I think in my car somebody is playing with the pressures and temperatures - its not that clear. One more race to go...so great." Later he added "it was not just the typical problems we have had all through the season, today we have something more". Williams though denied that they will do such a thing. "Never in Williams' history would we ever do that" was the comment by Williams Deputy Team Principal Claire Williams.
Max Chilton will serve a drive through penalty within the first five laps of the race because he impeded Pastor Maldonado and Adrian Sutil during qualifying.

Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso was 11th with a time of 1:38.131 and was followed by Paul di Resta of Force India with 1:38.139

US F1 Grand Prix Qualifying

1. Sebastian Vettel                Red Bull

2. Mark Webber                   Red Bull

3. Romain Grosjean             Lotus

4. Nico Hulkenberg             Sauber

5. Lewis Hamilton                Mercedes

6. Fernando Alonso             Ferrari

7. Sergio Perez                      McLaren

8. Heikki Kovalainen           Lotus

9. Valteri Bottas                    Williams

10. Esteban Gutierrez          Sauber

11. Daniel Ricciardo            Toro Rosso

12. Paul di Resta                   Force India

13. Jenson Button                McLaren

14. Nico Rosberg                 Mercedes

15. Felipe Massa                   Ferrari

16. Jean-Eric Vergne            Torro Rosso

17. Adrian Sutil                     Force India

18. Pastor Maldonado         Williams

19. Giedo van der Garde     Caterham

20. Jules Bianchi                  Marussia

21. Charles Pic                      Caterham

22. Max Chilton                   Marussia

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.