United States Grand Prix: Sebastian flies in Texas!

The first corner of the race surprised me, because I expected drama. In fact, privately, I had predicted that Hamilton and Rosberg wouldn't get through the first hairpin, without making contact. Actually, the first few corners were extremely tidy, for everyone. Then all hell broke loose. Perez ran deep in to one of the corners, colliding with the back end of Kimi Raikonnen's Ferrari, and then spinning Adrian Sutil's Sauber around, spreading debris across the circuit. It was very unfortunate for Sutil, who had been so successful in Saturday's qualifying, and led to a lengthy safety car period. It was during this safety car period that Vettel and Red Bull made the decision that resulted in a decent turn around for the German reigning World Champion.

Vettel had been forced to start from the pit lane, due to the fact that he had needed an engine change. As the safety car came out, for the recovery of Sutil's Sauber, Vettel proceeded to make two pitstops, to cover both of his tyre stints, leaving him with an opportunity to go to the end of the race on virtually one set of tyres. Unfortunately, that feat wasn't quite possible, but the decision did give him the chance to have a run at a decent points paying position. On lap forty-nine he was forced to pit one final time, dropping him down to fourteenth, but he fought, with tenacity, back up to seventh place.

It is for this determination that Sebastian Vettel achieves Driver of the Day. He had a couple of opportunities to retire from the Grand Prix, as he reported his lack of pace and his struggle for grip, over the team radio. However, he continued to fight and it paid off in the end. There were some fantastic battles, at different stages of the race. At one point Button and Alonso were trading places, whilst Ricciardo managed to out-pace the two Williams drivers, despite the usual gulf in speed between the teams. Overall, however, the race didn't feature much incident.

The United States Grand Prix wasn't the most action-packed of the season, but it certainly made for an exciting spectacle. The result, at the front, was as predictable as always, with the two Mercedes drivers having very tidy races. That, in itself, was frustrating since we expected to see some action, some contact and maybe even a little foul play. However, Lewis and Nico were extremely civil and boringly responsible. Hopefully we'll see some fireworks in the penultimate race of the season, as both drivers close in on their last chance to take the title.

The Result:

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	56	1:40:04.785	2	25
2	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	56	+4.3 secs	1	18
3	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-Renault	56	+25.5 secs	5	15
4	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	56	+26.9 secs	4	12
5	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	56	+30.9 secs	3	10
6	14	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	56	+95.2 secs	6	8
7	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	56	+95.7 secs	18	6
8	20	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes	56	+100.68 secs	7	4
9	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Renault	56	+103.86 secs	14	2
10	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Renault	56	+107.87 secs	10	1
11	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	55	+1 Lap	16
12	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	55	+1 Lap	12
13	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	55	+1 Lap	8
14	21	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari	55	+1 Lap	15
15	26	Daniil Kvyat	STR-Renault	55	+1 Lap	17
Ret	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	16	Engine	13
Ret	11	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	1	Accident damage	11
Ret	99	Adrian Sutil	Sauber-Ferrari	0	Accident	9

Singaporean Qualifying: Gaps closing as night falls...

On the floodlit streets of Singapore, the usual hierarchy threatened to be disposed of, as teams who have shown weakness and lack of pace, through the first half of the season, delivered fantastic performances. As we approached the final top ten shootout, things appeared to settle down, but Q1 was certainly dramatic. The Ferrari's looked very strong, whilst Gutierrez, in the Sauber, spent a short time in second place and Force India's Hulkenberg held pole for a time. Whether it was simply a case of tyre differences or the track gradually rubbering in, the first session of qualifying was uncharacteristically exciting.

Both Q2 and Q3 were as predictable as ever, but the third session threatened to throw everything in to disarray. Both Hamilton and Rosberg deserve credit for pulling out all the stops in the closing minutes of the top ten shootout, because both of them had struggled throughout the weekend. It was revealed that Mercedes had new brakes, coming to Singapore, and in fairness that was glaringly obvious. Rosberg over shot one of the corners, after a lock up in the first few moments of Q1, which was uncharacteristic for Nico, at least at that stage of a qualifying session. Lewis also locked up a few times, the rear end of his race car looking very loose.

Ferrari might might show some good pace during the race, because with Raikonnen's engine problem, right near the end of Q3, we may have been robbed of a challenge to Mercedes, who eventually locked out the front row. It certainly feels like the chasers are closing in on the Silver Arrows, even though they won't be able to make a dent in their Championship lead, this late on. One promising aspect of qualifying, was the impression that the cars were all struggling for grip, around the twenty-four turns of the Singaporean street circuit. With it's treacherously placed walls, the race promises some costly mistakes, with so few stages of the season remaining and the competition hotting up.

The Grid:

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:46.921	1:46.287	1:45.681	17
2	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:47.244	1:45.825	1:45.688	19
3	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:47.488	1:46.493	1:45.854	12
4	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:47.476	1:46.586	1:45.902	15
5	14	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:46.889	1:46.328	1:45.907	16
6	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	1:47.615	1:46.472	1:46.000	20
7	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:46.685	1:46.359	1:46.170	14
8	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	1:47.196	1:46.622	1:46.187	18
9	20	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:47.976	1:46.700	1:46.250	18
10	26	Daniil Kvyat	STR-Renault	1:47.656	1:46.926	1:47.362	21
11	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:47.161	1:46.943		12
12	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Renault	1:47.407	1:46.989		14
13	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1:47.370	1:47.308		13
14	21	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari	1:47.970	1:47.333		9
15	11	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	1:48.143	1:47.575		13
16	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	1:47.862	1:47.812		14
17	99	Adrian Sutil	Sauber-Ferrari	1:48.324			6
18	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Renault	1:49.063			8
19	17	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Ferrari	1:49.440			7
20	10	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham-Renault	1:50.405			8
21	4	Max Chilton	Marussia-Ferrari	1:50.473			7
22	9	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham-Renault	1:52.287			5

Hungarian Qualifying: Hamilton in mourning, again!

The story of qualifying, revolved around Lewis Hamilton, once again. Question is, does it really matter? He sounded pretty dejected in the press pen, but somebody should fish out a videotape of last weekend, to remind Lewis that all is never lost. Of course, it's still hard work, but it's far from impossible, to achieve something, not only respectable, but downright great, from the back of the grid. Then again, it wouldn't be Lewis Hamilton, without the characteristic sorrowful failure interview; cue the violins.

It wasn't only Hamilton who suffered in Q1. Raikonnen and Ferrari made a big mistake, which resulted in one of the weakest teams in the paddock knocking them out of the session. Bianchi and Marussia will be over the moon at outperforming the legendary Italian outfit. Ferrari simply misjudged the pace out on track and counted their chickens before they'd hatched. There appeared to be in a mad panic in their garage with seconds of the session remaining, but it was far too late to do anything about the situation.

In Q3 all hell broke loose, when the rain destroyed everyone's first flying lap. All the talk was that Nico Rosberg had to get around the track, being the first one out, and put in a clean lap before the rain got too heavy. Instead, he overran the first corner, whilst Magnussen smashed in to the tyre barrier, resulting in a red flag. When the cars reemerged, once the track had dried out, things were exciting, but nothing like what they would have been, had they been able to qualify in the wet. The positions, up the front, were chopping and changing, but Rosberg was on pole again, with the Red Bull's taking up the second two places. Fingers crossed for somebody to challenge Nico, away from the lights, this weekend.

The Grid:

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:25.227	1:23.310	1:22.715	20
2	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:25.662	1:23.606	1:23.201	16
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	1:25.690	1:23.776	1:23.354	19
4	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:25.495	1:23.676	1:23.391	18
5	14	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:26.087	1:24.249	1:23.909	17
6	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	1:26.592	1:24.030	1:24.223	19
7	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:26.612	1:24.502	1:24.294	21
8	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Renault	1:24.941	1:24.637	1:24.720	19
9	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1:26.149	1:24.647	1:24.775	22
10	20	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:26.578	1:24.585		13
11	26	Daniil Kvyat	STR-Renault	1:25.361	1:24.706		14
12	99	Adrian Sutil	Sauber-Ferrari	1:26.027	1:25.136		12
13	11	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	1:25.910	1:25.211		11
14	21	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari	1:25.709	1:25.260		10
15	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	1:26.136	1:25.337		16
16	17	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Ferrari	1:26.728	1:27.419		14
17	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:26.792			5
18	10	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham-Renault	1:27.139			10
19	4	Max Chilton	Marussia-Ferrari	1:27.819			7
20	9	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham-Renault	1:28.643			10
21	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	No time			2
22	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Renault	No time			1