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Tag: Hamilton
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Hamilton wins as Ocon pulls Verstappen down: Brazilian GP; Mercedes win Constructors’ title
Hamilton wins on Sunday at Interlagos. An FIA image Sao Paulo, 11 Nov 2018: Max Verstappen was denied an almost certain Brazilian Grand Prix victory when he was taken out of the lead in a collision with Racing Point Force India’s Esteban Ocon. The dramatic incident gifted Lewis Hamilton the second career Brazilian Grand Prix victory that helped Mercedes to a fifth consecutive FIA Formula 1 Constructors’ title, with the Abu Dhabi round to spare in the FIA Formula One World Championship.
Though Verstappen called Esteban Ocon `such an Idiot’ in the post-race press conference, both Ocon and his Racing Point Force India team Principal, Szafnauer, defended their action and said that the Force India was much faster at that time and the rules permitted ` unlapping.
Esteban: “It’s disappointing not to score when we had a good pace. I had made some good overtakes throughout the race, but it all came to nothing after the contact with Max [Verstappen]. He came out of the pits, I stayed behind him for nearly two laps but I was much faster than him and the team advised me to unlap myself. I went on the outside at turn one – the same move I made on Fernando [Alonso] and on many others before, but Max didn’t give me any space. Once I was beside him I couldn’t just disappear, so we collided. But it was my corner and I had the right to the space. I was saddened by his behaviour after the race: he was very aggressive and the guys from the FIA had to intervene. That’s not the way to handle these things.”
Otmar Szafnauer, team Principal and CEO said: “Esteban had done a good job making up ground from the back of the grid and would have probably finished in P11 if it hadn’t been for the clash with Verstappen. The rules state that you’re allowed to unlap yourself and Esteban was much faster than Max at that stage. Unfortunately, he wasn’t left any space in the corner and that ruined the race for both.”
Earlier, Verstappen had stormed through from fifth on the grid to put pressure on polesitter and early race leader Hamilton and the Red Bull driver eventually seized the lead from the recently crowned champion on lap 39.
On lap 44, however, Verstappen went to lap 14th-placed Ocon, making a move down the inside of the French driver’s car in Turn 1. Ocon took a wide line but appeared to fight to hold his position, and when Verstappen turned in for the second corner the pair collided.
Hamilton kneels down in gratitude after his race win on Sunday. Mercedes Photo by Steve Etherington, Verstappen was pitched into a spin, and as the Dutchman recovered, Hamilton swept past to reclaim the lead. Despite significant floor damage, Verstappen fought back in the closing stages, but he was unable to reel in the Briton and Hamilton took his 10th victory of the season. That, allied to a fifth-place finish for Valtteri Bottas, handed Mercedes an unassailable lead over Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship.
At the race start, Hamilton held his advantage from pole position to take the lead but a poor getaway by fellow front-row starter Vettel allowed Bottas, starting third, to get past the German through the opening two corners.
Verstappen, starting from fifth, was already beginning to work his way forward. He closed on Kimi Räikkönen and at the start of lap three, he went past the Finn around the outside into Turn 1. Vettel was the Dutchman’s next target and at the start of the next lap he again used DRS to close but this time he opted for a dive down the inside to claim P3.
Behind him, team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was also gaining places, and after passing Haas’ Kevin Magnussen on lap one he quickly began to pick off the cars ahead, rising to P6 on lap seven, ahead of Sauber’s Charles Leclerc.
On lap 10 Verstappen made another move, this time choosing the inside of Turn 1 to dive past Bottas and claim second place. Race leader Hamilton was now just 1.7s ahead.
Bottas was the first of the leaders to pit, the Mercedes man heading in for medium tyres at the end of lap 18. Hamilton then ceded the lead to Verstappen at the end of lap 19, with the Briton also stopping for medium compound rubber. Hamilton emerged in P6 behind Charles Leclerc but by lap 25 he was past the Monegasque and closing on fourth-placed Daniel, who was just under six seconds ahead.
Vettel then pitted at the end of lap 27 and the German also opted for medium tyres before rejoining in ninth place. Freed from behind the Ferrari, Daniel moved up to third and set the fastest lap of the race to that point, a 1:12.919. And when Räikkönen pitted the Australian was promoted to second place behind his team-mate.
The Red Bulls began to pull out a lead from those who have already pitted but Verstappen was unable to build a big enough margin before his own stop, and when he rejoined on lap 35 he was in third place, 3.0s behind Hamilton. Verstappen was armed with newer rubber and greater pace than the champion, however, and as the pair arrowed towards the start-finish line to begin lap 39 he eased past Hamilton.
The Dutchman’s lead wouldn’t last long, however. At the start of lap 44, he went to lap Ocon, making a move down the inside of the Force India. Despite being lapped, Ocon protected his position and tried to deny the pass. Verstappen turned in to take the second corner and the pair collided. Verstappen was sent into a spin and sustained serious floor damage in the incident, while Hamilton was allowed to sweep past into the lead. Ocon was later handed a 10-second stop/go penalty for causing the collision.
Ricciardo, meanwhile, was having his own close calls, twice banging wheels with Vettel as he tried to get past the Ferrari. At the second attempt the Australian won out and he climbed fifth place behind Bottas.
Both Red Bulls began to close on the cars ahead, with Verstappen edging to within two seconds of Hamilton and Ricciardo getting inside DRS range of Räikkönen but neither could make a move stick in the closing stages and after 71 laps Hamilton crossed the line to take the second Brazilian Grand Prix win of his career, ahead of Max, with Räikkönen third ahead of Daniel.
Bottas was left with fifth place ahead of Vettel, while Leclerc finished in a best-of-the-rest seventh place. Grosjean took eighth place for Haas ahead of team-mate Kevin Magnussen and the final point on offer went to Racing Point Force India’s Sergio Pérez.
2018 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix – Race
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes –
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1.469
3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 4.764
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 5.193
5 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 22.943
6 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 26.997
7 Charles Leclerc Sauber 44.199
8 Romain Grosjean Haas 51.230
9 Kevin Magnussen Haas 52.857
10 Sergio Perez Force India 1 L
11 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 1 L
12 Carlos Sainz Renault 1 L
13 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 1 L
14 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1 L
15 Esteban Ocon Force India 1 L
16 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 2 L
17 Fernando Alonso McLaren 2 L
18 Lance Stroll Williams 2 L
Nico Hulkenberg Renault
Marcus Ericsson Sauber. -
Max is that go-getter guy and every now and then it bites you: Hamilton
Hamilton at the Press Conference on Sunday. An FIA image Sao Paulo, 11 Nov 2018: Hamilton said that Max Verstappen is a go-getter and sometimes incidents happen that affect you. He was talking at the post-race FIA Press Conference at Interlagos on Sunday. Verstappen who ended up second after he was pulled down by Ocon, who is lapped, also was at the press meet with Kimi Raikkonen, who came third on Sunday.
The track interviews were conducted by the former F1 driver of Force India, Paul Di Resta.
Q: Max, can you tell us what happened?
Max Verstappen: I don’t know what to say, I mean, you do everything well, you go through the field, we had a great car, and then by such an idiot you get taken out while he is being lapped. I have no words.
Q: What a fight it was. I don’t think anyone quite expected that after yesterday. I mean, the moves you were making early on, very bold into Turn 1, pushing your way through and using everything you had.
MV: I think it was better than expected today. The car was working brilliantly today. The team also gave me the right strategy, we could be going quite well on the supersoft, so we did quite a long stint. But, yeah, I don’t know what to say. Still I’m happy with second, but we should have won today.
Q: Yeah, as you say, it was almost back-to-back victories, does it give you confidence going into next year that something is going to come of this machine?
MV: Well, we should have more power, so we’ll be even better.
Q: All the best. Kimi, late pressure from Daniel coming in, but a good race from you?
Kimi Raikkonen: Yeah, it was good. Not easy, but there was some battling, so it was fun. Obviously, we hoped for better but not the easiest.
Q: Ferrari’s tyres choice didn’t look like it worked out in the end, these guys looked very strong at the beginning, certainly Max on the supersoft. Do you think that was wrong?
KR: I don’t know. My tyre was good, but it was difficult to pass and it took too long to pass. You cannot replay on other tyres, so we don’t know.
Q: Lewis, that’s 2018 Constructors’ champion as well. And you can see what that means to Toto Wolff – the barriers have fallen over twice here in Parc Ferme, which is unusual. Lewis, what does that mean to the team?
Lewis Hamilton: Honestly, these guys have worked so hard the last six years and it’s been an incredible journey for them. This is what everyone works for the whole year, you know. Everyone wakes up and goes to work every day and tries to bring the best out of themselves and they really pull together as a unit. I’ve always told you how much of an honour it is to drive for them, and this was the best style we could do it, because we were struggling. We had problems with the engine. Also he passed us like we were a sitting duck at one stage, but obviously they made a mistake and that brought us back into contention. I’m just so proud of everyone. Everyone back home, thank you so much for your continued efforts. For all our partners, for all our sponsors, who without we would not be here, powering along to a win in Brazil. So, God bless you, thank you.
Q: What goes through your mind when you see Verstappen spin? Did you know he was going to be back on a charge and coming strong?
LH: I saw it happen and it wasn’t something that… I wasn’t surprised by it or anything like that. I saw them racing but they weren’t racing for the same position. In my mind, I would have been in a different frame of mind. Fortunately, he was able to keep going, no one got hurt, and they kept going, it’s a racing incident I guess. Max is that go-getter guy and every now and then it bites you. But I’m really, really proud; I don’t care about anyone else.
Q: I’ve got one last question for you. Big credit to you, that’s 49 wins in the turbo-hybrid era of Formula 1. That’s 50% of all the races. A lot of that’s owed to you, isn’t it?
LH: I keep telling you, I’m just a chink in the chain. They give me the tools and I try to do the best I can with it. I’m proud that I’m able to sometimes bring a little bit more than is needed or that it’s capable of, but that’s what I live for.
Press Conference: Questions from the floor:
Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Max, I can only imagine the frustration, the emotions at the end of the race for you. Can you just explain what happened between you and Esteban after the race? We saw your altercation. Did he do anything to antagonise you and will you try and speak to him at once when emotions have settled down later on?
MV: I don’t really have a lot to comment on that, except that he was being a pussy.
Q: (Rodrigo Franca – Revista VIP) From a drivers’ point of view, how do you see the future of Formula One to attract a young audience as self-driving cars and electric cars are being developed so quickly? And if you see a future better between Formula E and Formula One?
LH: It’s a difficult one because I’m conflicted. The gasses that we emit with our cars are not particularly helpful for the climate and for the world, so on one side that’s a concern for me but on the other side, as a racing fan, I’m a petrol head and I will always be a petrol head. There will never be a time when I’m an electric head. I hope, at least, in my period of time, it’s always going to be a fuelled car with at least some sort of V-shaped engine, with some sort of sound. I think it’s great what Formula E are doing and it’s a great start, it’s great to see all the top brands – Audi, BMW, Mercedes – are all getting heavily invested because, particularly on the roads – just coming here, for example – you see the traffic every single day, there are thousands and thousands of cars on the road. There’s the same in every country you go to so the sooner we can get rid of the majority of those cars and then turn them into hybrids, then I think that would be a massive difference, but there are a lot of other things we can do around the world with businesses to help with those emissions. But I don’t think you are ever going to compare Formula One and Formula E. Maybe in five, ten years maybe, but the technology that we have, it’s quite far advanced compared to what they would be having and they’re slower than Formula Ford at the moment so they’ve got a long way to catch the speed of a Formula One car. I don’t know if that’s their target but I think it’s really impressive. I’ve been watching their cars on social media and they look pretty cool, so I wish them all the best and looking forward to seeing it progress.
MV: I think the boss clearly said of Formula E already that they don’t want to compete or be seen competing against Formula One so I guess that says enough. It’s just a different category. It seems like it’s getting more interesting, of course, with all the big car manufacturers joining in but at the moment I’m happy where I am and I will probably be one of the last people in the world to try and buy the last barrels of oil.
KR: Nothing to add, really. Formula E looks nice but…
Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globoesporte.com) Max, you have more of an opportunity to talk about the incident with Ocon in a more extended way. Do you think that just one stop and go of ten seconds, against the work of 900 people in your team, that this punishment is enough?
MV: I think at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter what penalty he gets. I already have the penalty of not winning the race so even if you disqualify him, give him two drive-throughs or whatever, it’s not going to make a difference to our race. I don’t know what the right penalty would be but, like I said, of course they have the right to unlap themselves but you have to be careful. I think that has always been the case.
Q: Max, can you just tell us how badly damaged your car was after the incident with Ocon?
MV: So, you know all the cut-outs you have on the side of the floor, that whole area, so I guess that’s this wide(about 15-20cms) that was completely gone so it was pretty bad. I lost a lot of downforce. I had to lock a lot of tools on the steering wheel but that was still not enough. But still the car was quick. We could have been much faster, for sure.
Q: (Dario Coronel – Gran Premioweb) Lewis, today your celebration was very emotional. Why?
LH: I think it was probably an explosion of the last race in Mexico winning the World Championship… I didn’t really feel the celebration there because I knew that we still had another championship to win and I really needed to remain focused for the team and I really came here, to build up to here, just really focused on making sure that I could deliver for them. Naturally the will to want to win is so high for everyone and the stakes are high. Ultimately, you could make mistakes and all these different things but we didn’t or I didn’t on the track, for example, so to come in and see my guys who I’ve come along this great journey with and we’ve had a lot of success but we’ve still remained fierce and competitive and I think our relationship is better than it’s ever been so just that bond, it was just a great great moment, plus it was a really hard race. I was constantly, like, talking to the car: ‘come on, keep going, keep going’ because we had this engine problem and I knew I could see Max just in my mirrors so I was doing qualifying laps every lap to keep him behind, which is how racing should be really anyway. Unfortunately that’s not the case a lot of the time this year but… We’ve just won the World Championship for the fifth time so that’s real history in the making for the team and if I was to stop today, for example, Mercedes would always remember this day and that I was a part of it, and that’s cool.
Q: (Arjan Schouten – AD) Max, over the last days, you’ve told us a lot of times that this is not a circuit for Red Bull, winning was not an option. Ending 1.6s from the winner, with a spin, what does that say about your chances in Abu Dhabi in two weeks?
MV: I don’t know, because this was much better than expected to be honest. I expected to be good in the race but not this good. We will have to wait and see.
Q: (Mattheus Sacramento – ESPN Brazil) Max, there was a similar incident – not exactly the same – but in 2001 in Brazil with Jos Verstappen and Montoya. You’re too young, I’m not sure if you ever heard of it. Montoya was in first place and Jos was 16th I guess and they had a crash. I just wanted to know if you knew that or if that came back to your mind in some ways, that impacts the way you saw Ocon?
MV: Well, I think that was completely different but yeah, that happens. I don’t know what you want me to say, it’s always bad when you get taken out from the lead.
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I have got Senna’s design on the back of my helmet and I am happy to be here, says Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton (centre) at the Saturday Press Conference. An FIA image Sao Paulo, 10 Nov 2018: Lewis Hamilton who won the 100th pole for Mercedes AMG Petronas team edging Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari and third-placed teammate Valtteri Bottas attended the Saturday FIA press conference after the qualification. The Track Interviews were conducted by former Force India F1 driver Paul Di Resta.
Q: Lewis, another pole position, your 10th pole position of the year. What have you got to say?
Lewis Hamilton: That was a tough qualifying session. Obviously, the weather was going up and down and we didn’t really know what to expect. Obviously, Ferrari are incredibly quick this weekend a lot of work went on in the background with my engineers to make sure we got the car to be in the best place we could. I’m just really happy to be here in Brazil, you know, knowing I’ve got Senna’s design on the back of my helmet, so I mean… I didn’t know I had the pole, the last lap wasn’t that great if I’m honest, I had a bit of understeer in a few places but I was so grateful when I heard I got pole.
Q: This place means so much to you. You can see the tribute you do to Ayrton every year and the Brazilian fans love you as well?
LH: I just appreciate so much the love that I get here. It’s been a crazy journey with the Brazilian fans. Obviously, the first year I came here I was fighting against Felipe and I was almost the enemy when I left but over the years it’s really grown to I think adore each other. There’s a huge amount of respect I have for them and I love the country so it works hand in hand.
Q: What can we expect tomorrow. Obviously, Ferrari are doing a different tyres strategy. I think you guys were going to do it but the rain compromised Q2, can you still dominate this race?
LH: I don’t know, we’ll see. You’ve seen how quick the Ferrari’s are. I mean, they had a lot more blistering yesterday than we did on the supersoft tyre. I don’t know if it’s correct but we wanted to be on the soft and things kind of swung us the wrong way. Right or wrong we will see tomorrow but hopefully still, with the choice we have, I’ll make the best of it.
Q: Enjoy tonight, at least you’ve got that four-metre head start tomorrow. Sebastian, coming very close there – P2. A different tyre strategy as we just discussed with Lewis. Are you happy with today?
Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, I think it was good fun. In the end I had a tiny lock-up in Turn 8. I got a good start to the second attempt in Q3 and I thought I’d go for it, but it was a little bit too much, so I lost some time and didn’t improve. It was very close, so it was a fun session.
Q: I don’t know if you are aware but you have been called to the stewards for the scale incident. What do you have to say about that?
SV: I think it’s better if I don’t say anything… They shouldn’t call us, because when the conditions are changing like that I think it’s unfair if somebody gets called in and yeah, I wanted them to hurry up.
Q: How difficult is it for a driver and an engineer to read the conditions when it’s coming like that. Is it more the driver’s feel or do you have to stick to the weather systems on the computer?
SV: It’s a difficult one. Inside the garage we don’t really see much, you can’t see out. You have to trust the laps you did before. You have to trust the communication you are having with the pit wall on the conditions, what you see other cars are doing. But when it’s like this it can be anything, so I think in the end we all got lucky that we got more or less the same conditions for everyone, so as long as that’s the case then it’s fine.
Q: Well, I hope you put on a good show like you did in Mexico, show that fighting spirit. Valtteri, third today, not far away, but I guess you can’t be happy with that?
Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, not far away but here the margins are small. I knew this weekend I did have the pace to be on pole. I think it was there for me to grab but I couldn’t take it today. I was more than two tenths up in the second run but lost everything in the last corner on the back straight without any tow, so it was quite disappointing.
Q: When you see the rain falling what do you feel as a driver? Do you keep pushing or is there a bit of trepidation?
VB: Yeah, it really depends on the situation but once the rain really started to come down luckily we already had a good lap on the board, so there was no need to take risks. But sometimes you need to go for it and try.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Lewis, that looked like an exciting session in tricky conditions. Just what were the conditions like?
LH: Well, the track was actually really good. There’s a lot of grip here and it’s a fantastic circuit. They don’t generally make circuits like this anymore. You’ve got the different… it’s quite hilly, but it’s a real challenge, even though it’s quite short. It’s very technical – but the grip felt quite good and obviously, the rain was popping in every now and then – but it was just spitting. It was difficult to really tell whether it was going to be slippery in the next corner or not – because when you’re travelling at the speeds we go at, on your visor, because you’re driving through all the rain, it looks like it’s raining more than it is. So, that was definitely tricky – but I think everyone did quite a good job with it – and luckily it held off so we could push at the end when the track was good.
Q: You mentioned the speeds you’re doing here at Interlagos. Valtteri’s pole position last year was a new track record – you have taken more than a second off that time. Just how quick does it feel around here now?
LH: With the new tyres, with the soft tyres, supersoft tyres and the updates that we have to our car… it’s a smaller circuit, shorter circuit, so therefore the difference usually… for example our car is a lot quicker than it was last year at this point – but it doesn’t show as much. At other circuits it’s three seconds-plus. Around here a second is still quite a lot. So, it does feel great though, around here. Into Six and Seven it’s a little lift through there basically and flat though… there’s no other corners where you’re flat out, or anything like that but you definitely do feel… the grip is what you feel, it’s just amazing. It’s better than ever.
Q: Sebastian, coming onto you, less than a tenth of a second behind pole position. How are you feeling after that session?
SV: Pretty good. I think it was fun. I think the track was good, as Lewis said, and obviously very close. I had a good start to my final attempt but yeah, tried a little bit too hard probably, going into Turn Eight in the middle sector and locked the front and then lost a little bit the rhythm. Tried something special in the last corner, didn’t work so… yeah. All in all pretty happy. I think we got the car where it is happiest, and the balance was good in qualifying throughout, so we’ll see. We’ll start with a different tyre tomorrow. Maybe that can make a difference.
Q: Just to elaborate on that point about the tyres, do you think that’ll be the crucial point in the race?
SV: Hmmm… might be. I mean, I think it’s the tyre that probably most of us probably wanted to start on but then with the conditions it was a bit tricky. Yeah, in the end it wasn’t really wet but there was some rain around the track, so yeah, happy that we got it done and now we start with a different tyre, so let’s see.
Q: Valtteri, fastest in Q2, you’re less than a tenth off pole position but starting third tomorrow. Just sum-up the session for us.
VB: I think the gap is a bit more than one-tenth but obviously, it’s a bit disappointing one red car got in-between us and the pace I had this weekend so far felt like I could definitely fight for the pole position, and I think it was there for me to grab it. But in the second run I was more than two-tenths up on my best lap but somehow Turn 12, just lost a little bit and then I think I was the first car out in the last run so I had no tow on the back straight and just kept losing time on the uphill. And I saw that it was not going to be an improvement, so for sure that’s disappointing but yeah, it was a strong qualifying for us as a team and another great pole for Lewis – but yeah, I think for tomorrow, we’ll see how our decision to go with the supersoft is going to… what’s going to happen.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Seb, could you just talk through the weighbridge incident please, just from your perspective – and are you now worried about getting a grid penalty for tomorrow’s race?
SV: No, I don’t want to talk through. I think it’s pretty clear what happened, so. I think we do qualifying, we should talk about qualifying.
Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsport-Magazin.com) Lewis, there was a situation between you and Sergey in Q2, I think. Can you talk us through that situation? It looked pretty scary from outside.
LH: Yeah, basically everyone was on an ‘out’ lap – me, Sergey and everyone in front of me – and when you’re on your ‘out’ lap, towards the end of the lap Valtteri was up ahead of me so he was backing off to get his gap so I had to make sure I kept a gap with him. As far as I was aware, no one behind was on a lap so I was making sure I had the gap but then all of a sudden, out of the last corner – sorry, out of turn 11 – I saw a car coming at high speed so I was like ‘oh my God, is that someone on a lap?’ so I went to move to the left and that’s where he decided to go but he wasn’t on a lap, so I don’t really know what his thinking was really, with it, because respectfully, between all the drivers, we all do respect… you know, I could have easily tried to overtake Valtteri or Valtteri whoever was in front of him. We all know to keep our space by that point so it was generally quite a disrespectful move in the sense of where it was dangerous between us both because I was not expecting it to happen that way, and so I was actually trying to get out of his way but he ended up going inside but then he got to the corner and then slowed up to utilise the gap but then also I don’t know whether to slow my lap up or not. It was kind of strange. It was completely unnecessary because we had a space behind, behind him there was a bit of a space so ultimately his lap and my lap weren’t great from that so hopefully he can learn from it.
Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Valtteri, you talked about having a moment at turn 12, what happened on the lap? The car snap away or was it just not as quick?
VB: No, I didn’t really have a moment, I just lost a few hundredths there, I think. I think at the beginning of the lap it was getting very good, then the middle of the lap was average and lost a tiny bit in the last corner, but the main time loss, I think it was more than a tenth, was just up the hill, just losing time on the straight. No drama, but definitely not a perfect lap but I think with a perfect lap pole would have been possible.
Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Seb, in Q2 you were almost as fast as the Mercedes on the soft tyre, so the harder tyre, have you been surprised that there wasn’t a bigger gap with the supersoft?
MS: Yes, the lap felt really good, the tyre felt really good. You go into the weekend, you have an estimation of what’s the difference between the tyres and then you do your Friday running and you might correct it but I was definitely surprised, the tyre felt really good. I don’t think it was much slower. Yeah, but it didn’t feel… usually we were expecting something like three or four tenths but it felt really good. I was surprised when I crossed the line in Q2 because I also kept some margin for the rain so could have gone faster on that tyre easily. So if it’s that good tomorrow, then happy days!
Q: (Christian Menath – Motorsport-Magazin.com) You’re starting on different tyre compounds. Lewis has been quite outspoken in Austin, I think, when you started on the harder compound, that it was quite a disadvantage there. What do you expect just from starting on different tyre compounds?
LH: I was told that there’s not a huge difference, but there’s always a difference of some sort. It will definitely be a little bit interesting. It’s not a massive run down to turn one but Ferrari are very good at their starts in general normally. However, we are actually quite even in terms of the overall year performance with Ferrari. We’re actually quite equal with them, so we’ve both had a similar amount of good starts so I’m excited to just have a battle, you know. But making that tyre last I think is going to be the interesting scenario but it is what it is. We’ll give it all we can tomorrow.
SV: Again, we have an estimation of what the penalty might be with the harder compound at the start but it’s a very short way to turn one so we’ll see. I have quite good memories from P2, starting P2 here so we will see. I think it depends a lot more on the job that you do at the start, to get everything right then a little bit of difference on the tyres.
Q: Are there similar grip levels on both sides of the track?
SV: I think so. The last years it was pretty even so, yeah. Usually the right side or the odd side here is a bit cleaner but I’m sure that with the other races across the weekend it should be fine, there should be plenty of rubber.
VB: Nothing to add.
Ends
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Hamilton takes pole: Brazilian GP
Hamilton after taking pole on Saturday. An FIA image Sao Paulo, 10 Nov 2018: Lewis Hamilton took the 82nd pole position of his career with the fastest lap in qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix, the 20th of the 21 races in the FIA Formula One World Championship calendar. The Mercedes driver edged out Sebastian Vettel by just under a tenths of a second. Vettel hit trouble during the session, however, being summoned to the stewards’ room following a mid-session incident at the weighbridge.
Race officials called the Ferrari driver to the weighbridge during Q2 but according to FIA Technical Delegate Jo Bauer’s report “the driver of car number 05, when called for weighing, refused to turn off the engine. The car was pushed onto the scales and weighed with running engine, which makes it difficult to get a stable result. After weighing the driver drove off the scales under its own power, and by doing so, he destroyed the scales.” Vettel was summoned to see the stewards at the end of Q3. vettel was later handed a reprimand and a €25,000 fine over the incident.
Earlier, ahead of Q1 circuit weather forecasters increased the likelihood of rain for the session from an earlier 40% to 60% and with ominous clouds moving towards the track a stream of cars took to the track in search of banker laps at the start of Q1.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen set the early pace, with the Dutchman setting a time of 1:08.205. That put him more than two tenths clear of Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen, with Hamilton third ahead of Vettel, who eventually improved to steal third with a time identical to that of his team-mate.
At the lower end of the order the men in danger in the final minutes of the session were Renault’s Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley, McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, Williams’ Lance Stroll and second McLaren driver Stoffel Vandoorne.
With rain falling in the closing moments of the segment, none was able to find the time needed to escape the danger zone and all five were eliminated in their pre-final final run positions.
Q2 proved to be a race against time as the rain closed in and after the first runs Bottas held top spot ahead of Hamilton, Verstappen and Ricciardo. Räikkönen, though, chose to abandon his supersoft tyres and drove back to the pits to take on soft tyres.
Vettel wanted to make a similar move but as he went to make the switch he was called to the weighbridge, leading to the incident with the FIA officials. He subsequently bolted on softs and jumped to P2, setting hbis best time on the yellow-banded compound.
Red Bull and Mercedes tried the same switch but none of their drivers could improve and thus they will start the race on supersofts, while Ferrari will start on softs.
In mixed and difficult to read conditions at the end of the session Sauber’s Charles Leclerc delivered a spectacular lap to rise from P11 and potential elimination to P8 and safety ahead of team-mate Marcus Ericsson and Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly, who was the last man through to Q3.
Eliminated at the end of Q2 were Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, Racing Point Force India’s Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon, Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and Williams’ Sergey Sirotkin.
In Q3 Hamilton seized control of proceedings, setting an opening time of 1:07.301 to sit 0.073s ahead of Vettel, with Bottas third ahead of Räikkönen. Max again took P5 ahead of Daniel, though by the incredibly small margin of just 0.002s.
And that was how the order remained. Hamilton improved marginally to 1:07.281 to claim his 82nd career pole position ahead of Vettel who made a small error on his final lap. Bottas took third ahead of Räikkönen and with no improvement forthcoming, Max ands Daniel qualified on row three of the grid. Seventh place went to Ericsson with Leclerc in eighth ahead of Grosjean and Gasly.
2018 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:07.281 230.561
2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:07.374 0.093 230.243
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:07.441 0.160 230.014
4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:07.456 0.175 229.963
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:07.778 0.497 228.870
6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:07.780 0.499 228.863
7 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:08.296 1.015 227.134
8 Charles Leclerc Sauber 1:08.492 1.211 226.484
9 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:08.517 1.236 226.402
10 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 1:09.029 1.748 224.722
11 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:08.659 1.378 225.933
12 Sergio Perez Force India 1:08.741 1.460 225.664
13 Esteban Ocon Force India 1:08.770 1.489 225.569
14 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:08.834 1.553 225.359
15 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 1:10.381 3.100 220.406
16 Carlos Sainz Renault 1:09.269 1.988 223.944
17 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 1:09.280 1.999 223.908
18 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:09.402 2.121 223.515
19 Lance Stroll Williams 1:09.441 2.160 223.389
20 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1:09.601 2.320 222.876. -
Lewis Hamilton crowned World Champion for the fifth time: Max Verstappen wins Mexican GP
Mexico City, 28 Oct 2018: Fourth place in the Mexican Grand Prix was good enough to hand Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton his fifth FIA Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship title, as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took his second successive win at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen here on Sunday.
Going into the race Hamilton knew that even if Vettel won the race a seventh-place finish in Mexico City would be good enough to take the title and starting from third on the grid, ahead of his title rival, the Briton was well positioned ahead of the start to score the points necessary.
In the end, despite a brief challenge for the lead after the start, tyre issues in the race hampered Hamilton’s chance of finishing on finishing on the podium but fourth place was good enough to end Vettel’s hopes and seal a title that puts him joint second on the list of all-time title winners behind seven-time winner Michael Schumacher.
For his part, Vettel did everything possible to keep the title fight alive, climbing from fourth on the grid to second. But with almost 14 seconds to make up on race leader Verstappen in the closing stages the task was simply too great for the German.
At the start, Hamilton got away well and the Mercedes driver charged into the gap Dutchman Verstappen had also made a good getaway, however, and as the trio powered towards Turn 1 it was the Red Bull driver who had the best line. As they swept through the corner Verstappen emerged in the lead, with Hamilton second and Ricciardo in third.
Behind them Vettel initially lost out to Valtteri Bottas, but when the Mercedes man was forced wide in Turns 4 and 5 of the opening lap, the Ferrari driver was able to reclaim fourth place. On the edge of the top 10, Force India’s Esteban Ocon tangled with Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg in Turn 1 with the result that Ocon’s front wing was destroyed.
The debris from Ocon’s car was hit by Fernando Alonso and soon after, smoke could be seen trailing from the back of the Spaniard’s McLaren. He pulled over at the edge of the track in Turn 11 and retired from the race. That led to a brief VSC period but when the action resumed Max began to quickly pull away from Hamilton. By lap 10 he had built a 3.4s advantage over the Mercedes driver.
Hamilton was the first of the leaders to pit, the Briton stopping at the end of lap 11 to take on supersofts. Bottas followed moments later in a double stop and they emerged in P5 and P8 respectively.
Red Bull responded by pitting Ricciardo a lap later and Verstappen on lap 13, with both drivers also taking on supersofts. Vettel now led the race ahead of Ferrari team-mate Kimi Räikkönen with Verstappen third ahead of Hamilton and Ricciardo.
Verstappen soon made his way back to second place, however, closing on Räikkönen and sweeping past the Finn under DRS on lap 15. Hamilton and Ricciardo quickly followed suit as the Ferrari driver’s tyres went off, and at the end of lap 17 the Italian squad opted to pit Vettel and his team-mate in quick succession. Verstappen was now back in the lead ahead of Hamilton and Ricciardo.
Fourteen laps later, as Verstappen worked through the first sector of his 31st lap, Carlos Sainz steered off track and stopped. That sparked another VSC period.
When racing resumed, Vettel began to once again close on Daniel and when the Aussie got stuck behind the battle for eight place between Racing Point Force India’s Sergio Pérez and Sauber’s Charles Leclerc, Vettel saw his chance. He made a move in Turn 1 and squeezed past Ricciardo as they exited the Turn 2.
Vettel next targeted Hamilton as the Briton struggled on his supersoft tyres, the Ferrari driver swept past to take P2 on lap 39. Ricciardo now began to close on the title leader.
On lap 47, Ricciardo made the decisive move. As the pair crossed the line to start the lap the Australian opened the DRS and dived to his left. Hamilton tried to outbrake the Red Bull but went off track, leaving Ricciardo to sweep through to third place.
Hamilton immediately pitted for a set of ultrasofts, as did Vettel, and at the end of lap 48 race leader Max also made a second stop, with the Dutchman bolting on a set of supersofts. The order was now Verstappen ahead of Ricciardo, with Vettel third ahead of Räikkönen and Hamilton.
Ricciardo’s race ended on lap 62. With smoke trailing from the back of his car he slowed in Turn 1 and pulled over to retire.
Verstappen now led Vettel by a little over 14 seconds with Räikkönen third. Hamilton was in fourth place almost a minute off the lead but secure in the knowledge that the placing would be good enough to hand him his fifth world title.
And that was how it ended, with Verstappen taking his fifth career win and a second successive win in Mexico City. Vettel finished second, some 17 seconds adrift of the Red Bull, with Räikkönen third.
Hamilton, meanwhile, cruised home in fourth place to seal his fifth world championship title, equalling Juan Manuel Fangio. Behind the champion, Bottas took fifth place ahead of Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg with Sauber’s Charles Leclerc in seventh. Eighth place went to 15th-place starter Stoffel Vandoorne of McLaren. Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson took ninth place, and the final points position went to Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly, who started from last place on the grid.
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Flash: Hamilton crowned World Champ for the fifth time: Verstappen wins Mexican GP
Mexico City, 28 Oct 2018: Britain’s 33-year old Lewis Hamilton won the FIA Formula One world championship for the fifth time at the Hermanos Rodriguez circuit here on Sunday to equal Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio and now the sights are set on Michael Schumacher’s seven.
Hamilton finished fourth in the race today after losing the battle with Verstappen to take the lead at the start, but that was enough for the Briton to clinch the 2018 Championship with two races to spare. Max Verstappen won the Mexican race for the second successive year ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. Polesitter Daniel Riccardo of Red Bull Racing had to retire, his 8th this season.
After finishing the race, Hamilton got a congratulatory message from Wilbur Smith, in his typical cowboy style and did a couple of donuts. Then he sported the Union Jack proudly before filming the huge crowd and in the Mercedes garage, he hugged each and everyone.
“A big thank you to my team. Bono said it wasn’t won here, it was won with a lot of hard work across a lot of races. It is an incredible feeling, and very, very surreal,” said Hamilton.
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Max Verstappen tops FP3 ahead of Hamilton, Vettel: Mexican GP
Max Verstappen tops FP3 on Saturday at Mexico City. An FIA image Mexico, 27 Oct 2018: Max Verstappen completed a clean sweep of quickest time in practice for the Mexican Grand Prix, the 19th round of the Formula One World Championship here on Saturday.
The Dutchman topped the timesheet in FP3 at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, more than two tenths of a second clear of championship leader Lewis Hamilton and title contender Sebastian Vettel.
Verstappen went quickest late in a weather-compromised final practice session, moving ahead of Sauber’s impressive Charles Leclerc with his first qualifying-style lap on hypersoft tyres.
The Dutchman set a time 1:16.385 to lead the Monegasque driver by 0.674s. Mercedes driver Hamilton and Ferrari man Vettel then closed in with their quali sims, but neither could overhaul the Red Bull Racing driver and when Verstappen popped in another late flying lap he opened the gap further to end the session 0.254s behind the Dutchman. Vettel was left with third place, just under three hundredths of a second behind Hamilton.
The session began on a damp track and with drivers reluctant to run in the unrepresentative conditions, there was little action in the opening half of the session, with mots drivers completing only an installation lap before returning to the pit lane.
As the session reached the halfway point, McLaren’s Fernando Alonso was the first to bolt on slick tyres and that prompted a steady stream of lap times as driver worked their way into the session and the conditions.
Leclerc was quickest in the early phase of consistent running with the Sauber driver jumping into P1 ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen despite encountering traffic in the final part of his lap.
Mercedes Valtteri Bottas then dislodged the Monegasque driver with a lap of 1:18.839 but his pre-eminence was brief as Leclerc upped his pace and retook top spot. His time there was brief, however, as Vettel then became the first man to dip blow 1m17s with a time of 1:17.836.
Verstappen slotted into P2 with a time of 1:17.918, but the session was then neutralised as Bottas was forced to pull over at the side of the track in the stadium section with a suspected hydraulic issue.
While Verstappen had snuck in a lap before Bottas’ problem, the double waved yellow flags and then the deployment of the Virtual Safety Car scuppered Daniel Ricciardo’s first flying lap.
When the action resumed with a little over 11 minutes remaining, the field began their qualifying simulations and Leclerc was the first to show his hand, lapping 0.777s faster than Vettel’s earlier benchmark.
With little time remaining the track became congested in the final minutes, with all fit to run car on track. That again compromised Ricciardo’s quali simulation and as Hamilton and Vettel found the improvements to take P2 and P3 respectively, Ricciardo, who had finished second in both Friday sessions, was left with fourth place ahead of Räikkönen.
Leclerc finished as best-of-the-rest with a lap of 1:17.059. That left him just 0.775s behind Verstappen on a good morning for Sauber as its second driver Marcus Ericsson finished in P9, albeit half a second off Leclerc.
Seventh place went to Carlos Sainz, with the Renault driver finishing just under two tenths of a second ahead of Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly. With Ericsson ninth, tenths place in the session went to Nico Hulkenberg in the second Renault.
At the bottom of the order Haas’ Kevin Magnussen failed to set a time in the session, with the Danish driver restricted to the garage by an intercooler problem.
2018 Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix – Free Practice 3
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 9 1:16.284
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 9 1:16.538 0.254
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 11 1:16.566 0.282
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 7 1:17.028 0.744
5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 16 1:17.045 0.761
6 Charles Leclerc Sauber 13 1:17.059 0.775
7 Carlos Sainz Jr. Renault 11 1:17.336 1.052
8 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 16 1:17.525 1.241
9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 14 1:17.565 1.281
10 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 10 1:17.623 1.339
11 Esteban Ocon Force India 10 1:17.731 1.447
12 Sergio Perez Force India 10 1:17.819 1.535
13 Romain Grosjean Haas 10 1:18.145 1.861
14 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 15 1:18.445 2.161
15 Fernando Alonso McLaren 11 1:18.548 2.264
16 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 10 1:18.637 2.353
17 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 9 1:18.669 2.385
18 Lance Stroll Williams 8 1:18.698 2.414
19 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 5 1:18.839 2.555
20 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1 -
Max Verstappen heads Red Bull Racing’s one-two
Mexico City, 26 Oct 2018: Max Verstappen headed a Red Bull Racing one-two in the opening practice session for Sunday’s Mexican Grand Prix, with the 2017 race winner here beating out team-mate Daniel Ricciardo by almost half a second in the 19th round to the Formula One World Championship here on Friday.
Verstappen and Ricciardo set their quickest times on Pirelli’s hypersoft tyres and while both Mercedes and Ferrari ran on the pink-banded tyre during the 90-minute session, they posted their best laps on the ultrasoft tyres as they minimised running on the softest tyre in Pirelli’s range.
As such, championship leader Lewis Hamilton, who can seal the title with a seventh-placed finish on Sunday, ended the session in fifth place, with team-mate Valtteri Bottas sixth ahead of the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen.
Verstappen seized control of the session with a lap of 1:18.588, with Ricciardo just a tenth behind his team-mate. Hamilton then moved into top spot with this best lap on hypesoft tyres, three tenths ahead of the Red Bull drivers’ early pace, but in the second half of running Red Bull again bolted on the pink-banded tyres and after exchanging improvements, Verstappen eventually stepped up the pace and set a time of 1:16.596. Ricciardo also found more improivement but in the end couldn’t get close to his team-mate’s pace and ended the session 0.483 behind the Dutchman.
Third place in the session went to Renault’s Carlos Sainz with a lap of 1:17.926, some 1.2s behind Verstappen. The Spaniard’s team-mate Nico Hulkenberg was next on the timesheet, a tenth off Sainz.
With fifth to eighth occupied by Mercedes and Ferrari, ninth place went to Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley. The New Zealander, who was running with the upgraded front wing and floor trialled last weekend on team-mate Pierre Gasly’s car, set a best time of 1:19.024 to finish 2.368s off Verstappen’s pace.
Force India tester Nicholas Latifi, standing in for Racing Point Force India regular Esteban Ocon rounded out the top ten, finishing four hundredths of a second ahead of local hero Sergio Pérez in the second Racing Point Force India.
Twelfth place was taken by future Sauber driver Antonio Giovinazzi who was in Charles Leclerc’s car for the session. The Italian driver finished 2.478s off P1 but 1500ths of a second ahead of Haas’ Romain Grosjean.
The final stand-in driver of the day was Lando Norris who took P15 in Fernando Alonso’s McLaren, behind Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson but ahead of McLaren team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne.
At the bottom of the order, Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly did not set a time. His car required an engine change, with Honda reverting to a pre-Russia spec which the manufacturer deem better for the conditions in Mexico City.
2018 Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 19 1:16.656
2 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 19 1:17.139 0.483
3 Carlos Sainz Renault 20 1:17.926 1.270
4 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 21 1:18.028 1.372
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 23 1:18.075 1.419
6 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 27 1:18.322 1.666
7 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 17 1:18.746 2.090
8 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 22 1:18.936 2.280
9 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 29 1:19.024 2.368
10 Nicholas Latifi Force India 23 1:19.078 2.422
11 Sergio Perez Force India 29 1:19.124 2.468
12 Antonion Giovinazzi Sauber 25 1:19.134 2.478
13 Romain Grosjean Haas 26 1:19.276 2.620
14 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 28 1:19.312 2.656
15 Lando Norris McLaren 23 1:19.646 2.990
16 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 29 1:19.716 3.060
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas 28 1:19.853 3.197
18 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 30 1:19.899 3.243
19 Lance Stroll Williams 26 1:20.142 3.486
20 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 2 -
Raikkonen redeems himself with a brilliant win after 5 years; Hamilton wait for title stretched
Kimi Raikkonen after winning the US GP ahead of Max Verstappen at Austin on Sunday. An FIA image Austin, 21 Oct 2018: A stunning opening move catapulted Kimi Räikkönen to his brilliant first win in five years as he carefully managed his drive to the flag ahead of Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, as Sebastian Vettel clawed his way back from a first lap spin to take fourth place in the United State Grand Prix, the 18th round of the Formula One World Championship at the Circuit of The Americas (COTA) on Sunday. Defending champion who was well-placed to seal the championship here, became a victim of not only his mistake but a strategy that ended up inferior and had to wait for at least the next GP at Mexico next Sunday. He is now 69 points ahead of title rival Sebastian Vettal of Ferrari with 75 points available in the last three GP of the 2018 season.
Starting from second on the grid Ferrari’s Räikkönen stole the lead from pole sitter Hamilton into Turn 1 at the start and thereafter balanced pace and race management over a one-stop strategy to hold a narrow lead over Verstappen and Hamilton on the final third of the race. Both attempted to pressurise the Finn but Räikkönen was faultless in the closing stages as he marched to his first victory since the 2013 Australian Grand Prix 113 races ago.
At the start, Räikkönen got the jump on Hamilton and stole the lead as the field made its way through Turn 1. Behind them Daniel Ricciardo held P4 behind Valtteri Bottas but later in the lap was attacked by fifth-on-the-grid Sebastian Vettel. The German got a run on the Red Bull driver into Turn 12 and took the position, but his exit was poor and Ricciardo got a shot at reclaiming fourth as they went into Turn 13. Vettel took a wide line, pushing Ricciardo to the outside of the asphalt. The Australian tried to remain inside the track limits but they banged wheels and Vettel was sent into a spin. The Ferrari driver dropped to P15, but Ricciardo was able to hold fourth place.
Further back, Verstappen was on a charge. After starting from P18 he was 14th by the end of the opening lap, and over the following eight laps rose to fifth place, just under seven seconds behind Red Bull team-mate Ricciardo.
That would become fourth on lap nine. As Ricciardo exited Turn 1 at the start of the lap, he suddenly slowed. The Australian pulled over at the side of the track and stopped, a suspected battery issue ending his race.
The stoppage, at the edge of the track, led to the Virtual Safety Car being deployed and Mercedes took the opportunity to pit Hamilton from P2 on lap 11. The Briton took on soft tyres and emerged just ahead of Verstappen. Hamilton then moved back into second place when Bottas let him past on lap 13.
Vettel, meanwhile, had clawed his way back into contention and by lap 15 had made his way to fifth place, 21.5s behind his race-leading team-mate and 9.0s behind Verstappen.
Ahead and armed with new soft tyres, Hamilton began to quickly close on Räikkönen and on lap 17 he was just 2.4s behind the Finn. However, over the next half dozen laps, Räikkönen defended brilliantly to keep Hamilton at bay, but more importantly he slowed Hamilton’s progress and allowed Vettel to close on the leading pack. When Räikkönen finally surrendered on lap 21 and dived for the pits to shed his starting ultrasofts, Vettel was 12s off new P1 man Hamilton, though he required a pit stop.
Verstappen was next into the pits, taking on soft tyres on lap 22. That put Vettel into second place, but the German was beginning to struggle on his starting supersofts. As such, Räikkönen quickly moved past his team-mate to regain second place and a lap later Verstappen swept past Vettel as the Ferrari man was called to the pits for new tyres. The German took on soft tyres in his stop and rejoined in fifth place. Hamilton now led ahead of Räikkönen, Verstappen, Bottas and Vettel.
Räikkönen’s race then switched to attack mode as he began to edge towards Hamilton and between lap 30 and 33 he turned a 16.3s deficit to the title leader into a 13.7s gap. Verstappen also began to close in on Räikkönen and on lap 35 he was just 3.9s behind the Finn.
Hamilton’s times continued to drop and at the end of lap 37 he dived towards the pits and took on another set of soft tyres. Räikkönen now led again, with Verstappen now in P2 ahead of Bottas. Hamilton rejoined in fourth place ahead of Vettel.
Hamilton was soon setting fastest laps and on lap 41 Bottas slowed and moved aside to allow the Briton to sweep past into third place. He was now just under nine seconds behind Verstappen, who was now just 2.3s behind Räikkönen.
At the front Räikkönen was now attempting to control the gaps, saving tyres and fuel. With five laps remaining, though, the gaps were tight. The Finn was just 1.1s ahead of Verstappen, but the Dutchman was having to keep a close eye on his mirrors, as Hamilton was now inside DRS range. Behind them Vettel was still fifth and could not find a way past Bottas. Hamilton now knew that if he passed Verstappen to take P2 then he would be champion.
He saw a chance to do that on the penultimate lap. Verstappen made a mistake and went wide into Turn 12. Hamilton pounced and the pair battled furiously through the following corners. Verstappen held firm and when Hamilton ran out of grip in Turn 18 and went wide, Verstappen was assured of second. Behind them, on the same lap, Vettel made his move on Bottas, passing the Finn under DRS as the lap started.
Räikkönen then duly took his first win in 113 races, ahead of Verstappen, hamilton and Vettel. Bottas finished fifth ahead of the Renaults of Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz. However, while eighth and ninth places were initially taken by Force India’s Esteban Ocon and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, both were later disqualified, Ocon for a fuel flow irregularity on the opening lap of the race and Magnussen for using more than the permitted 105kg of fuel across the duration of the race.
The disqualifications meant that Sergio Pérez in the second Force India was promoted to P8, Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley moved to P9 and the final points position was inherited by Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson.
Hamilton’s third place, allied to Vettel’s fourth, means that the title battle continues to the next round in Mexico, with Hamilton taking a 70-point lead to the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in a week’s time.
2018 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix – Race
1 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari –
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1.281
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2.342
4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 18.222
5 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 24.744
6 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:27.210
7 Carlos Sainz Renault 1:34.994
8 Esteban Ocon Force India 1:39.288
9 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:40.657
10 Sergio Perez Force India 1:41.080
11 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 1L
12 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1L
13 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1L
14 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 1L
15 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 1L
16 Lance Stroll Williams 2L
Charles Leclerc Sauber
Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing
France Romain Grosjean Haas
Spain Fernando Alonso McLaren -
The Esses are just incredible; it’s a little bit like Maggots and Becketts, says poleman Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton (centre), along with Sebastian Vettel (left) and Kimi Raikkonen at the press conference after qualifying on Saturday. An FIA image Austin, 20 Oct 2018: Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes won the pole position with the Ferraris behind him on Saturday. He was joined by dismayed title rival Sebastian Vettel in P2 and Kimi Raikkonen in P3 for the 18th round of the 21-round FIA Formula One (F1) World Championship here for the Press Conference.
TRACK INTERVIEWS (Conducted by Martin Brundle)
Q: Congratulations Lewis, another pole position. Take us through the lap. That was an important one wasn’t it?
Lewis HAMILTON: That was very important. How are you guys doing? You good? That was close. These guys have… I didn’t know how close it was going to be once we got to qualifying, but once we got to the last run I knew it was quite edgy between us and that it was going to require solid laps. The first one was decent, but not good enough, and the second one was just that little better and enabled me to pull that out. You know there have been some races where I’ve not actually done a better time and I’ve had to bail out of the second lap, so I was very, very adamant that today I was going to do a better second lap, so I’m very happy with that.
Q: Just spitting rain a little bit, but any troubles out on track?
LH: No, the track has been incredible. It started out very, very green and slippery in practice three and then once we got into qualifying it was just rubbering in and it was getting faster and faster every session. The wind direction: there is a beautiful headwind going into the Esses. The Esses are just incredible; it’s a little bit like Maggots and Becketts. And also, there’s such a big crowd here. We did a fan signing earlier and I’ve never seen the fans so hyped before, so it’s great, but big thank you to the team and everyone here.
Q: Just very briefly: the supersofts – you had to do an extra lap, so your start tyres, are they OK?
LH: We’ll see tomorrow. But the Ferraris are obviously really quick so… I just hope for better weather for everyone that’s in the grandstands watching and I hope that it’s an exciting race tomorrow.
Q: Thank you. Where is Sebastian? Sebastian, great lap, P2, through your Friday pain you’ll start P5 of course. Take us through your qualifying session?
Sebastian VETTEL: It was pretty close obviously. It’s always a bit of a shame when you miss out on just that little time. I think with six hundredths you can always debate you had them somewhere in you. But I was pretty happy with the laps I had. I think it was quite tricky to get everything together. Obviously, it’s been dry today and better for us, but the wind was quite tricky for us but it’s the same for everyone. Yeah, pretty happy. I think given the last couple of weeks that we had, pretty happy that we are back in range.
Q: Yeah, Ferrari are back on form aren’t they it seems; you’ve found your pace again?
SV: Yeah, it seems that we are, obviously not in the wet but in the dry it seems that we are better off and I think today has been surprisingly close. I don’t think we expected it to be that close, so that’s good.
Q: So, some work to do in the race from P5?
SV: Yeah, I’m used to it, so I know how to do it now.
Q: Kimi, happy 39th birthday during the week, still plenty of speed there isn’t there?
Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Yeah, a little bit too slow, but I can deal with it. No, it’s been a pretty positive day and for sure I think we got pretty close. It’s far from ideal but I feel good with the car. We’ll try tomorrow; it’s going to be a long race, and nobody really knows how the tyre will survive, because of yesterday’s rain, so it will be interesting.
Q: And of course you will start on the ultrasofts, unlike people around you?
KR: Yeah, not much to lose, so we’ll try to make a good start and go from there and see what we can do. I think it should be OK.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Lewis, your third pole position here at COTA – but an extremely tight battle with all three of you covered by less than a tenth of a second. Just how intense was that fight out there for you today?
LH: Clearly very intense. Naturally, going into qualifying, really wasn’t sure what to expect – because basically, obviously, we were driving in the wet yesterday. And today, in practice, the Ferraris looked like they’d made some improvements, obviously. They’ve brought an upgrade of some sort and looks like they may have taken it off. But otherwise, anyways, we were very, very close. So, I knew it was going to take perfection and very, very neat laps to outpace them. I think James had told me, our strategist had told us it was very, very close between us all so give it everything. And I think Q1 and Q2 was fairly straightforward for us – but then once we got to Q3 it was just really about maximising, making sure on the track at the right time and not leaving a millisecond on the track. The first lap was good but obviously quite close between us all. I knew, being that I was less than a tenth, I think it was, ahead, I knew that the next lap, these guys would improve also. So, there was no room for error. And considering there’s been some qualifying Q3s in the past races where I’ve had to bail out of the second one because it wasn’t good enough, so I was very, very strict with myself today. I was like ‘today, you have to make sure you pull through on that second lap’, which I’m so grateful I did. Nonetheless, the team have done a really great job this weekend. I think the approach for us has been very sturdy and we’ve not been getting ahead of ourselves. We knew that this weekend it was going to be close and that we have to do the same due diligence and same work effort and workload as before, and yeah, this a great result. I’m so happy. It was a different feeling today, coming in. I don’t know why. I don’t know if I slept longer or not. I was in a different headspace going into qualifying, which is weird but it was a good one.
Q: Sebastian, Lewis is talking about how fine the margins were today. Do you feel that gap was out there anywhere, or can you not pinpoint where the gap is between the two of you?
SV: I think if it’s less than a tenth, you always think probably there was a little bit left but I was pretty happy with the laps I had, to be honest, and I think overall it’s been a positive surprise, I guess for both of us, to see how competitive we’ve been today, given how far we’ve been behind the last events. So, I think there’s probably more positives – but yeah, if you’re that close, you want to be ahead, not behind.
Q: Kimi, similar question to Sebastian really, with the gaps so close. Were you happy with your run, or do you feel you left anything out there?
KR: I think if you do a few more tries then for sure that amount you can improve. It’s just a very small difference somewhere, and you could be suddenly that much quicker – but this is what we got today. I think the last run was pretty good but the previous had very little grip, so then I was surprised how much on the last run I had, so obviously, when you have a bit more consistent grip it’s easier to know how much you can actually push – but yeah, it was OK.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: Question for Sebastian. You talked about it being a positive surprise after the last few races. Why do you think you’ve been able to make that step? Is it an understanding of what happened before? Do you think maybe the cooler conditions helped? And is there in any way an element of frustration to be so close to pole and obviously know that you’ve got the three-place penalty applied?
SV: Well, I can’t change that now. Obviously, it is what it is. We went back with our car quite a long way, and it seems to work better that way.
Q: Lewis, congratulations. You used the word ‘perfection’ there. I’m interesting to know from your perspective whether that was the perfect lap? I don’t think you were purple in [sector] one but I wonder if that was a function of perfectly using the tyres for the lap?
LH: No, it wasn’t a perfect lap. You know I never talk about perfect laps. Naturally, I think that’s what we’re all striving to achieve but it’s just… there’s so many parameters out there. You get out there and there’s different gusts of wind every time you hit a corner. Tyre temperature differences. You know. A different heartbeat on the different bumps. There’s so many different variables and you’re really just on your tippy-toes the whole way, trying to catch it and grab it and utilise the grip. But anyway, for me, no, I think the first section, for some reason they’re particularly quick there. I think some of that was probably in Turn One, mostly. They generally have a car that’s better in corners like that. But then the rest of the lap was good. There was no mistakes. The first lap was quite good – but there was a little bit of time loss I think maybe, in the exit of… in a couple of corners. Turn 11, Turn 12. Maybe 13 and a little bit in 20 – but that second one, I was obviously able to capitalise and make sure I didn’t drop the ball. So, I mean, it was a good lap but for me the highest one I have still is Singapore. But, I tell you, this track is incredible this year. It’s taken another step for us. That first section, we’re flat-out through Turn Two – which is easy – then Three, Four, Five, all the way into Six, and you’re pretty much flat all the way into Six and halfway through Six. So the G-Force that you’re pulling through there is incredible. And then you don’t really have much of a lift, or much of a lift for Seven. And then you’re braking down, and because there’s a headwind coming from Turn 11, which hits you dead on into Eight, the cars hooked-up through there and it’s really fantastic to drive. So I really enjoyed today’s lap.
Q: Looked like in Q2 with the Supersoft tyres, Ferrari had the upper hand. Lewis, are you concerned by that and Sebastian and Kimi, do you see your biggest chance in that?
LH: I’m not really sure where all the time was. They were obviously very quick. I don’t think it was as big as that. What did Kimi have? It was just Sebastian, wasn’t it, so it was about four tenths? Well, I just think it shows… I mean this weekend, we’re pretty much on a par performance-wise, I think. As you can see in qualifying, that was the max for all of us and as Kimi said, we could go around and do some improvements, more improvements everywhere but we’re pretty much dicing around the same kind of performance which, as Seb said, they’ve gone back on some of their potential updates and the car is better in the sweet spot and for us, we’ve not brought updates here so we’re on max downforce level here. I think that’s how it is for us all. I think that’s great to see us so close and still I’m hopeful for the future to have more teams, more qualifyings like that, that are closer, but with more cars involved, that’s got to be the ultimate goal for Formula One.
Q: Sebastian, do you think you’ve got an advantage on the supersoft tyre?
SV: No, I think he probably had a bad lap, I don’t know.
LH: Me? No, it was a good lap. I don’t really do bad laps too often.
SV: Yeah, so if that’s the case, I will take it and we are half a second faster tomorrow on the supersofts. Thank you.
Q: And Kimi, you’ll be starting on the ultrasoft. Do you think the supersoft holds an advantage or are you confident?
KR: I have what I have and I’m happy about it so we will see how it works out tomorrow. It’s a bit impossible to say.
Q: Lewis, when Max had his problem, did you then have to change the way you used any kerbs at all, did it affect the way you were thinking in terms of kerb strike after Verstappen’s problem? You were told on the radio that he’d hit a kerb…
LH: The team were a little bit more nervous about it. I hadn’t hit the kerb where he had his… Max likes to use a lot of the track as you know from history here so… but there are those big sausage kerbs at the back which… yeah, I don’t know how he damaged the car there but I wasn’t going over that area. I think there was another corner out of the exit of the last corner where there are those bumps also which I might have just clipped the edge of them but it wasn’t really a problem but no, naturally the team were just alerting me to an issue that someone else has had so you can avoid it. But it didn’t really come into my driver thoughts because I wasn’t driving on those areas anyway.
Q: Sebastian, were you told of Max’s problem and did that affect anything, the way you attacked the lap?
SV: Not really, but I saw it on TV and then… yeah, of course, you take action, you don’t want to damage the car so I tried not to go there too much.
Ends
