Vettel wins US GP for 8th win in a row

8th win in row for Vettel

As expected Sebastian Vettel won the US F1 GP and made it 8 races in a row. He overtook Michael Schumacher’s record of 7 consecutive race wins.

Starting from pole position, it was known that Vettel would conjure up the race win despite his teammate Mark Webber started in second place. The only challenge was from Romain Grosjean of Lotus who had a superb start and finished in second place. Vettel finished 6.2 seconds ahead of Grosjean.

Mark Webber was stuck behind Lewis Hamilton for sometime and hence it was not easy for him to challenge Romain. To his credit Romain Gorsjean did as he was prompted over radio and managed to keep the Red Bull of Mark Webber at bay. Even his detractors will feel sad for Mark Webber fading away from F1 in such an unceremonious manner. Most of the times it has been his team throwing a googly at him. And in this race, he made a mistake and couldn’t take the pole position. Nevertheless, Webber has been in a lose-lose situation. On hind sight, he shouldn’t have continued with Red Bull this year.

Lewis Hamilton finished in 4th position. He came under pressure from Alonso, however, he could hold on to his position. Later on Hamilton said that he was happy to have a new chassis for this race as his team discovered a crack in his car chassis. Lewis Hamilton said that there was a huge difference after the change in chassis and it felt like “night and day” difference. Hamilton had qualified in 5th position and finished at 4th in the race. He said that he was looking after the tyres and he would have increased the pace if Fernando would haveUnfortunately, his teammate Nico Rosberg could only finish in ninth position.

Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber finished behind Fernando Alonso in 6th position. This finish and no information from Lotus is now making him contemplate staying at Sauber for another year. Earlier in the year, it was known that Nico Hulkenberg was not paid by Sauber. We are yet to know whether that has been resolved yet. The financial situation of teams in Formula 1 is precarious.

Sergio Perez of McLaren drove a fine race to finish at 7th ahead of Valtteri Bottas of Williams in 8th. It was the first points earning position for Bottas. He should be especially happy as his teammate Pastor Maldonado has scored only a single point so far and hence he can finish ahead of him in the drivers championship.

Nico Rosberg of Mercedes and Jenson Button of McLaren finished at 9th and 10th positions.

Final Restuls in US F1 Grand Prix 2013

1. Sebastian Vettel                Red Bull

2. Romain Grosjean               Lotus

3. Mark Webber                    Red Bull

4. Lewis Hamilton                  Mercedes

5. Fernando Alonso               Ferrari

6. Nico Hulkenberg               Sauber

7. Sergio Perez                       McLaren

8. Valtteri Bottas                    Williams

9. Nico Rosberg                      Mercedes

10. Jenson Button                 McLaren

11. Daniel Ricciardo              Toro Rosso

12. Felipe Massa                    Ferrari

13. Esteban Gutierrez           Sauber

14. Heikki Kovalainen           Lotus

15. Paul di Resta                   Force India

16. Jean-Eric Vergne             Toro Rosso

17. Pastor Maldonado          Williams

18. Jules Bianchi                    Marussia

19. Giedo van der Garde      Caterham

20. Charles Pic                       Caterham

21. Max Chilton                     Marussia

Retirements in US F1 Grand Prix 2013

Adrian Sutil                            Force India