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

United States Qualifying: So many let downs...

Formula One shot itself in the foot, once again, before the weekend even got underway. The first big news was that the underdogs, albeit very popular teams, Marussia and Caterham would not be taking part in Texas. Very simply put, the inequality in Formula One has pushed two of the teams out of the Championship, leaving only eighteen cars on the grid. Also, it's difficult to take a sport seriously, that, through regulations and imposed penalties, allows its reigning World Champion to be forced to start the race from the pit lane, before the qualifying session has even got underway. The mind boggles!

The biggest news of the session, in my opinion, was Sutil's fantastic performance for the struggling Sauber team. The team have had an absolutely dire season, but this was a small piece of success, which was received with clear enthusiasm and elation. It was only tenth place, but the achievement of actually making it in to the top ten shootout will be a great boost for the team.

The rest of the session was just as tedious as most of the other qualifying sessions. Pole and second place were taken by the usual suspects, although interestingly Nico Rosberg is taking the fight to Lewis Hamilton, by bagging the top spot. The promising thing about the race is that the gloves are off again, at Mercedes. The team have taken the Constructor's Championship, so all that is left is for Lewis and Nico to smash in to each other, block each other and hinder each other. I really don't know who I want to win the Driver's Championship. Hamilton is a Brit, is fair and honest, but he regularly comes across as quite soft and a moaner, which is irritating. Rosberg, on the other hand, is cerebral and smart, with an infectious personality, but he is undoubtedly a cheat. It's a difficult choice, but maybe after this weekend I can make a decision.

The Grid:

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:38.303	1:36.290	1:36.067	20
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:37.196	1:37.287	1:36.443	16
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	1:38.249	1:37.499	1:36.906	19
4	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	1:37.877	1:37.347	1:37.205	20
5	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:38.814	1:37.873	1:37.244	17
6	14	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:38.349	1:38.010	1:37.610	16
7	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:38.574	1:38.024	1:37.655	17
8	20	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:38.557	1:38.047	1:37.706	16
9	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:38.669	1:38.263	1:37.804	22
10	99	Adrian Sutil	Sauber-Ferrari	1:38.855	1:38.378	1:38.810	15
11	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Renault	1:38.608	1:38.467		16
12	11	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	1:39.200	1:38.554		16
13	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1:38.931	1:38.598		16
14	26	Daniil Kvyat	STR-Renault	1:38.936	1:38.699		17
15	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Renault	1:39.250			10
16	21	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari	1:39.555			10
17	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:39.621			3
18	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	1:39.679			8

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