Race with me to the other side of the fold to find out whether Sebastian Vettel continued his winning ways on Sunday deep in the heart of Texas…
Vettel takes 8th consecutive win, sets record for single-season streak at COTA
Photo via AP
Red Bull’s Sebatian Vettel took his eighth victory in a row in Sunday’s race at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, breaking a tie with Alberto Ascari and Michael Schumacher for most consecutive wins in a single season. The German wunderkind also notched his first victory in the USA, adding to the impressive array of Grand Prix pelts he has claimed with his Red Bull chassis. Red Bull’s ace controlled the race from the outset after fending off a first corner challenge by Lotus’ Romain Grosjean, who had gotten by Vettel’s teammate Mark Webber after the Aussie struggled with traction launching from 2nd on the dirty side of the track. As is his wont, the 4-time champion stretched out to an insurmountable lead lap after lap, running in front of the field in clean air, so that he banked more time than his rivals’ pit lane deltas (time in the pits) as they cycled through their stops for new tires. This was particularly effective when utilizing a one-stop strategy, the choice of all the top 10 finishers. Vettel also dominated on a restart after a first lap crash by Force India’s Adrian Sutil brought out the Safety Car for 3 laps, which further saved his tires.
Grosjean, the young flying Frenchman, continued his breakout second half of the season by making his first lap pass stick, fending off Webber and finishing 2nd. With teammate Kimi Raikkonen missing this and the next race due to back surgery and leaving the team entirely next year for Ferrari, it seems clear that Grosjean has earned the right to be considered Lotus’ number one. Raikkonen’s stand-in, fellow Finn Heikki Kovalainen, could not keep his magical weekend going come race day. After starting from 8th, the rust from over a year’s layoff seemed to show and he tumbled out of the points, finishing 14th. Despite Webber’s poor start from second, which dropped him to fourth, the Red Bull number two was able to re-pass Lewis Hamilton early in the race and finish a strong 3rd. This was Webber’s second-to-last race in Formula 1.
Mercedes’ Hamilton was dogged again by tire degradation issues and had to drive more conservatively than is his nature in order to make his rubber hold up for a one-stopper. Still, after some tense moments, he settled down for a solid 4th. Teammate Nico Rosberg, who had an awful qualifying and started 14th on the grid, was able to salvage valuable constructors points for Mercedes by working his way up to 9th. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso came home 5th, working hard to keep a very hungry Nico Hulkenberg behind him to the bitter end. It was still a good 6th place finish for the German Sauber driver after a couple of bad luck races had balked his second half momentum.
McLaren had a decent race, with a highly motivated Sergio Perez placing 7th in front of what could be considered a home crowd filled with many fellow Mexicans, as well providing a defiant response to the slap in the face of the news that the team was dropping him for next year. Teammate Jensen Button had an effective drive after a poor qualifying and 3-grid spot penalty forced him to start from 15th. He outdueled Torro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo late in the race for the last point and 10th place.
Perhaps the drive of the U.S. Grand Prix was performed by young Williams pilot, Valtteri Botas. After Qualifying 9th, the Finnish rookie was able to better that starting position with a wonderfully aggressive drive to come home an impressive 8th in a chassis that has been nowhere all season, earning his first-ever Driver’s points and giving the team hope for next year.
Top 10 finishers here:
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 56 | 1:39:17.148 | 1 | 25 |
| 2 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 56 | +6.2 secs | 3 | 18 |
| 3 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 56 | +8.3 secs | 2 | 15 |
| 4 | 10 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 56 | +27.3 secs | 5 | 12 |
| 5 | 3 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 56 | +29.5 secs | 6 | 10 |
| 6 | 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber-Ferrari | 56 | +30.4 secs | 4 | 8 |
| 7 | 6 | Sergio Perez | McLaren-Mercedes | 56 | +46.6 secs | 7 | 6 |
| 8 | 17 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Renault | 56 | +54.5 secs | 9 | 4 |
| 9 | 9 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 56 | +59.1 secs | 12 | 2 |
| 10 | 5 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 56 | +77.2 secs | 15 | 1 |
Full USGP results here at Formula1.com.
Notes: In addition to the 8 wins in a row, Vettel also has an astounding 12 wins in the 18 rounds of the Championship so far.
Hey, we called him that first, Autoweek!
The Baby Faced Killer (we christened him that months before the Autoweek cover, by the way) can tie Michael Schumacher for most wins in a season at Interlagos next week in Brazil, the final race of the 2013 season, a year that Vettel & Red Bull simply don’t want to end.