Vettel remorseless in USposted in F117 | 11 | 2013
THE SEBASTIAN VETTEL Red Bull steamroller continued to flatten all opposition in its way by dominating the US Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
The four-times world champ's victory was his eighth straight win and set a new F1 record. Staring from pole position, the 26-year-old (pictured) immediately leapt into the lead and was never seriously challenged as he disappeared into the distance.
Frenchman Romain Grosjean continues to emerge from the shadow of his Lotus team-mate, Kimi Raikkonen — who sat out the race having undergone surgery to a bcd injury — and equalled his best-ever finish, grabbing second.
Vettel's team-mate, Aussie Mark Webber completed the podium, with the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso rounding out the top five.
The race though quickly became a rathe boring procession as tyre-wear dictated countless laps of drivers being instructed by their teams to manage the Pirelli rubber.
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And afterwards, the talk in the pitlane was over growing concerns that 2014 might well develop into one long borefest.
Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali admitted that the situation was now a worry for next year.
"It is a point of concern or discussion in the next couple of weeks, because we cannot have a situation where in order to be very conservative we will have races where there is not any thrill," Domenicali said.
"I'm sure with Pirelli we will find the right solution because it is not a problem of giving more favours to one team or to another — it is important for the sport and the show.
"We will have a different car that will produce different torque, above all on the rear, so I think this is a point that needs to be heavily discussed in the next few weeks."
DRIVER QUOTES:
Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull:
“It’s the day after, normally on the Monday, when you feel what you have achieved. It’s a great feeling, you have a grin on your face and it’s nice. On Sunday things happen fast and you don’t always realise what has been achieved until later. It’s down to team effort today.
"Everyone is willing to push; this morning the guys were working hard as we had some concerns about reliability on the car, so they were flat out trying to fix the problem and the car ran okay all race, so a big thanks to them.
"I’m not sure what we have done since the summer break in order that we have been winning races, but whatever it was it has worked. When you are a sports man, not every day is supposed to be a good day and you have ups and downs.
"Certainly you feel the points when you are low, they hurt more than when you are on a high, of course you enjoy those times, but I kept saying that there’s no guarantee for the next race or the one after that or after that! You never know what is coming next, so you have to enjoy today and look forward to tomorrow.”
Mark Webber, Red Bull:
“The initial launch and my getaway was pretty good. Romain had a good start too, I wanted to get on the right for the breaking point at the first corner, but that’s what everyone did too. I got boxed in and didn’t get a good exit off the corner, but after that it was a strong race.
"Our pace was good, but you have to manage the tyres well here. Qualifying was where a lot of the race was decided. In the end I did what we could, but I think we left some on the table yesterday. I have some family and friends here this weekend, so it’s good to get a strong result. It would have been better to have had a win, but Seb did a good job here this weekend.”
Jenson Button, McLaren:
“Even though I was only battling for a single world championship point, I still wanted to do the best job I could this afternoon. As in all the past few races, I made contact with another car on the first lap – and that contact broke my left-hand front-wing endplate. It wasn’t quite as bad as in Abu Dhabi, but it still left me with quite a lot of understeer.
"We considered changing the nose-box at the pit-stop, but, instead, the mechanics added some extra front wing, and that helped to rebalance the car. It still wasn’t ideal, because losing downforce at the front doesn’t affect only the front-end, it affects air-flow across the whole car as well.
"Still, I enjoyed the race. The first 30 laps, during which I was stuck behind Felipe (Massa), were particularly tough, but I was able to make some good moves at the end, and that made our day a bit more interesting. Now, I’m hoping for a trouble-free, exciting and prosperous final grand prix of the season in Brazil next weekend.”
Fernando Alonso, Ferrari:
“This weekend ended with a result that can’t be seen as satisfactory. The race lacked any major dramatic moments and the outcome was decided on the first lap. Once again, the qualifying result conditioned our performance and on this occasion, the regret is even stronger. The gap to fifth place yesterday was minimal and if we’d started from the clean side of the track, maybe we would have witnessed a different race.
"Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out like that and now we must grit our teeth all the way to the end in Brazil, trying our best to maximize the car’s potential, because I expect the team to react in Interlagos. Today’s result means I've finished second on three occasions in the last four years, a small reward up against the Red Bull steamroller.
"Thanks to my fifth place, the battle for second in the Constructors’ Championship is still open, even if we will have to keep an eye on Lotus, which although fourth, seems to be, to all intents and purposes, the second force in the Championship."
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes:
“That felt good out there this afternoon and I'm really happy with fourth place. It was so nice to have a race where I could fight for position and make progress. The car felt much better today than recently so the change in chassis has definitely made a difference and a big thanks to my guys in the garage for their efforts there.
"I had a great start today and that was crucial to my race. We had to give up third place to Mark fairly easily to make sure our tyre management and strategy worked as it was more important for the team to finish ahead of Ferrari. There was no way I was letting Fernando past at the end; I was ready for him to make his move and had a couple of tenths ready to pull out if he did!
"We've had a few difficult races on my side of the garage and I'm so proud of the team for all the hard work they have put in. We're all determined to maintain our second place at the final race in Brazil next weekend.”
Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus:
“My start wasn’t great but then it was going okay until the first pit stop as I was racing with the pack with the car feeling quite good. After the pit stop I started to have a few problems, but it was difficult to know exactly what was going on. We had issues with downforce so we changed the front wing and after that it was much better, although still not as good as it’s felt previously this weekend. There was a KERS issue too, though not enough to account for my lack of race pace. We’ll have a good look at the data and hopefully be on top of things far better for the race in Brazil.”
Romain Grosjean, Lotus:
“That was a really tough race. I had to have probably one of my best ever drives to keep Mark (Webber) behind and it’s a great feeling to have tamed at least one of the Bulls in Texas as they clearly had the fastest package today. We knew a good start would be the key, so making up one place in the first corner was really important and the car was just fantastic from there onwards.
"The whole team here and back at Enstone are doing an amazing job. Every day I see them working hard together to keep us at the front and when you look at the gap to the next nearest challenger, it’s clear that we’re the second best team after Red Bull right now. I think this place must bring me luck; this time last year I found out my wife was pregnant and now I’ve equalled my best finish in Formula 1, so I can’t wait to come back again and see what happens next year!”
Paul di Resta, Sahara Force India:
“I made a good start and was in reasonable shape for the first stint. But it soon became clear that we were struggling for pace and not really in the zone with the tyres. We were pushing to do a one-stop race, but the tyre wear was a bit higher than expected and I ran out of tyre performance with nine laps to go.
"It was hard to defend my position so I had to make a second pit stop. It’s a shame because we were quite optimistic before the race and we thought the warmer weather might play into our hands. So it’s a bit disappointing, but we will pick ourselves up and look to end the season with a better result in Brazil next weekend.”
F1 US Grand Prix, Austin, Texas — Result:
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h39m17.148s
2. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault +6.284s
3. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault +8.396s
4. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +27.358s
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari +29.592s
6. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari +30.400s
7. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes +46.692s
8. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault +54.509s
9. Nico Rosberg Mercedes +59.141s
10. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +1m17.278s
11. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1m21.004s
12. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1m24.574s
13. Felipe Massa Ferrari +1m26.914s
14. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari +1m31.707s
15. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault +1m35.063s
16. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes +1m36.853s
17. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault +1 lap
18. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth +1 lap
19. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault +1 lap
20. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault +1 lap
21. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth +2 laps
Retirements:
Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 0 laps
Fastest lap: Vettel 1m39.856s
World Championship standings (After 18 of 19 grands prix):
Drivers:
1. Vettel 372
2. Alonso 227
3. Hamilton 187
4. Raikkonen 183
5. Webber 171
6. Rosberg 161
7. Grosjean 132
8. Massa 106
9. Button 61
10. Di Resta 48
11. Hulkenberg 47
12. Perez 41
13. Sutil 29
14. Ricciardo 19
15. Vergne 13
16. Gutierrez 6
17. Bottas 4
18. Maldonado 1
Constructors:
1. Red Bull-Renault 553
2. Mercedes 348
3. Ferrari 333
4. Lotus-Renault 315
5. McLaren-Mercedes 102
6. Force India-Mercedes 77
7. Sauber-Ferrari 53
8. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 32
9. Williams-Renault 5
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Jim McGill