United States Grand Prix: where were the Stetsons?!

Sebastian Vettel is on top of the world, his dominance is unrivalled and his achievements are already historic. He broke yet another record today to become the first driver to win eight grands prix consecutively. The emotion was clear, up on the podium, and before that through Seb's team radio. There was an outpouring of praise and love from Vettel, broken up with sobs and tears. Sebastian looks utterly invincible as the season approaches its conclusion.

Mark Webber, on the other hand, had another frustrating race, in this his penultimate grand prix. He had yet another terrible start, finding himself slipping back behind Romain Grosjean and then Lewis Hamilton. He was later able to get past Hamilton but was unable to overtake Grosjean and gain the second step of the podium. The frustration was clear for all to see, in his face and his mannerisms. A combination of not making the most of qualifying, not being able to make more of his second position on the grid, and the fact that his season isn't proving to be a fairy tale send off, is obviously taking its toll on the Aussie.

The vast majority of the race was as dull as dishwater. There were very few passes and very little incident, the only real excitement coming on the first lap. Adrian Sutil was unaware of Pastor Maldonado moving up on his left hand side and moved over in to his path. As he clipped Pastor's front wheel he was spun around and was powerless to stop his Force India car from being wrecked against the barrier. The incident resulted in a safety car, but once the race got back underway all action went out of it. The DRS zones were relatively ineffective and drivers didn't seem to want to commit to anything risky or daring, at least not until the final few laps.

Any action there was, occurred in the middle of the pack and mainly between the Ferrari's and McLaren's. The final laps threatened to be extremely exciting, but it was all a bit of an anti-climax. In the final couple of laps Mark Webber lost touch with Romain Grosjean as the tyres on his Red Bull car went off, whilst Alonso passed Hulkenberg with a fantastic move, but Hulkenberg was unable to fight back again.

The biggest controversy of the weekend was the absence of Stetsons. I was looking forward to seeing those hats on the podium and without them the American Grand Prix was lacking. Hopefully next year we will see the return of the Stetson!

Race result:

1	Sebastian Vettel	1	Red Bull	1	1:39.856	1:39:17.148	25
2	Romain Grosjean	8	Lotus	3	1:40.445	+00:06.284	18
3	Mark Webber	2	Red Bull	2	1:40.591	+00:08.396	15
4	Lewis Hamilton	10	Mercedes	5	1:40.818	+00:27.358	12
5	Fernando Alonso	3	Ferrari	6	1:41.186	+00:29.592	10
6	Nico Hulkenberg	11	Sauber	4	1:40.952	+00:30.400	8
7	Sergio Perez	6	McLaren	7	1:41.830	+00:46.692	6
8	Valtteri Bottas	17	Williams	9	1:40.492	+00:54.509	4
9	Nico Rosberg	9	Mercedes	12	1:41.133	+00:59.141	2
10	Jenson Button	5	McLaren	15	1:41.285	+01:17.278	1
11	Daniel Ricciardo	19	Toro Rosso	10	1:42.119	+01:21.004	0
12	Jean-Eric Vergne	18	Toro Rosso	14	1:41.320	+01:24.574	0
13	Felipe Massa	4	Ferrari	13	1:41.209	+01:26.914	0
14	Esteban Gutierrez	12	Sauber	20	1:41.401	+01:31.707	0
15	Heikki Kovalainen	7	Lotus	8	1:41.028	+01:35.063	0
16	Paul Di Resta	14	Force India	11	1:41.148	+01:36.853	0
17	Pastor Maldonado	16	Williams	17	1:43.058	lapped	0
18	Jules Bianchi	22	Marussia	19	1:43.419	lapped	0
19	Giedo van der Garde	21	Caterham	18	1:43.933	lapped	0
20	Charles Pic	20	Caterham	22	1:43.968	lapped	0
21	Max Chilton	23	Marussia	21	1:43.775	lapped	0
22	Adrian Sutil	15	Force India	16	No time	retired, 0 laps	0

Japanese Grand Prix: Webber pushes to the max!

The end of the Japanese Grand Prix was a bit of an anti-climax, in the closing few laps, simply because neutral fans were denied a fight between Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. The redeeming factor in preventing Webber from snatching the win back from Vettel, was a fellow by the name of Romain Grosjean. Grosjean showed a level of maturity and competency that we have not really seen from him before. On the podium he choked up a little, when interviewed by Eddie Jordan, and it was a fascinating display of how much success means to the young man. The old hand, Mark Webber, was a little disappointing and disappointed, in equal measure. Yelling at the TV screen, did very little to help Webber pass Grosjean at his first and most ideal opportunity, a pass that would almost certainly have seen him then racing with Vettel.

Vettel appears to simply get better and better. As the race began, he found himself squeezed and hampered by both Grosjean and Hamilton and was lucky to come out of it in third place. Hamilton was less fortunate, as he clipped his right rear tyre on Vettel's front wing and was victim to an instant puncture. The puncture all but ended his race and when he detected further damage he was forced to retire his Mercedes. Vettel played a game that many would have felt he was incapable of, protecting his tyres and saving his engine. He has become renowned for his habit of pushing hard when the team is telling him to ease off. However, in a race that quickly became a two stopper for the German, he had to preserve the car and did it perfectly.

Once again, the racing in the middle of the field was intense. Race cars chopping and dicing for positions, with tyres bouncing off each other on the exits of corners. DRS didn't seem to have too much impact on the race and it allowed some of the real quality to shine through. Nico Hulkenberg had yet another fantastic race, whilst the two McLaren drivers found themselves well down the order again. With only four races to go, despite Seb looking certain for the title now, its fair to say that the racing, further back down the order, will just get more exciting.

The Result:

	Driver	Car	Team	Grid	Fastest Lap	Race Time	Points
1	Sebastian Vettel	1	Red Bull	2	1:35.317	1:26:49.301	25
2	Mark Webber	2	Red Bull	1	1:34.587	+00:07.129	18
3	Romain Grosjean	8	Lotus	4	1:35.991	+00:09.910	15
4	Fernando Alonso	3	Ferrari	8	1:35.877	+00:45.605	12
5	Kimi Raikkonen	7	Lotus	9	1:35.516	+00:47.325	10
6	Nico Hulkenberg	11	Sauber	7	1:36.482	+00:51.615	8
7	Esteban Gutierrez	12	Sauber	14	1:36.499	+01:11.630	6
8	Nico Rosberg	9	Mercedes	6	1:34.650	+01:12.023	4
9	Jenson Button	5	McLaren	10	1:35.549	+01:20.821	2
10	Felipe Massa	4	Ferrari	5	1:37.001	+01:29.263	1
11	Paul Di Resta	14	Force India	12	1:37.407	+01:38.572	0
12	Jean-Eric Vergne	18	Toro Rosso	17	1:35.895	lapped	0
13	Daniel Ricciardo	19	Toro Rosso	16	1:35.020	lapped	0
14	Adrian Sutil	15	Force India	22	1:37.367	lapped	0
15	Sergio Perez	6	McLaren	11	1:35.845	lapped	0
16	Pastor Maldonado	16	Williams	15	1:37.423	lapped	0
17	Valtteri Bottas	17	Williams	13	1:37.856	lapped	0
18	Charles Pic	20	Caterham	20	1:37.489	lapped	0
19	Max Chilton	23	Marussia	18	1:38.713	lapped	0
20	Lewis Hamilton	10	Mercedes	3	1:41.202	retired, 7 laps	0
21	Giedo van der Garde	21	Caterham	19	No time	retired, 0 laps	0
22	Jules Bianchi	22	Marussia	21	No time	retired, 0 laps	0