United States Grand Prix 2012

There was also the unmistakable big-sky, sunny-plus-winning Texas atmosphere all around, and actual Pirelli-branded Texas hats on the heads of four farmous drivers standing on the podium at the end, each with at least one championship under his belt. But here we’re getting ahead of ourselves, carried away by our enthusiasm.

Everyone watching the grid before the start knew that only two drivers still had a mathematical chance to win the 2012 World Championship, Vettel and Alonso; and that Vettel, ten points ahead already, could clinch the title in this penultimate race of the season. Worse for Ferraristas, the German prodigy was on pole, sitting abreast of Lewis Hamilton’s chromed McLaren. One row behind, Red Bull wingman Webber was right astern of his leader and abreast of the Iceman, Kimi Räikkönen, in his gilded black Lotus. And Alonso? Well, he was occupying a lowly seventh spot, with Schumacher (!) and Hulkenberg ahead of him.

The normally speedy Spaniard had actually qualified ninth, but Grosjean, his Lotus carrying a five grid-spot penalty due to an actual gearbox change, had been automatically retrograded to eighth. Felipe Massa had qualified fifth. Team opportunity? In the post-qualifying hours, the Ferrari management announced they had broken the seal of the Brazilian’s otherwise healthy gearbox, thus “activating” FIA rules giving their driver also a five grid-spot penalty, back to eleventh; which allowed Alonso to jump forward by another spot on the grid, most importantly on the left – read clean – side of the track. Controversial, certainly, and it already is being much discussed in forums, but in the world of F1, all is fair in love and war.

In terms of tire strategy, everyone had opted for the one-stop option. Most started on the white-ringed medium compound and planning to change around lap 20 to the harder silver-ringed tires. There had also been much talk about the first corner, coming at the end of the start/finish straight after a short but steep uphill, leading to a 45 degree blind turn (“petit Eau Rouge”). Was there going to be another “flying-cars smash-up” as at Spa (at the “La Source” hairpin) in August?

After the national anthem was proudly and solemnly sung under bright blue skies, the much-anticipated race was ready to start. A soft breeze maintained air temperature at a perfect 73 degrees.

When the lights turned green, Vettel pulled away from pole as expected, while Webber managed to pass Hamilton inside the corner, and Alonso emerged from it in the fourth position, three ahead of his grid spot. The “Battle of Champions” was on. Surprisingly, everybody else made it through Turn 1 without contact, even Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado.

By lap 4, Hamilton, in rare form, had re-passed Webber. As the winner of the last U.S. Grand Prix (Indianapolis, 2007), and after many McLaren-caused disappointments this season, the Brit with the yellow helmet – now topped with stars and stripes – was on the charge. Vettel had not been able to accumulate his usual long ribbon of asphalt separation; he was less than two seconds ahead. There was Hamilton’s opportunity. Webber, just behind him, seemed manageable and Alonso – well, he would have to see.

As the two leaders went on furiously exchanging successive fastest laps, Hulkenberg and Räikkönen battled to pass Schumacher, who at first gave a good fight back. Grosjean climbed his way up to 6th place but spun widely on lap 7, instantly retrograding by four spots. Magnificently his teammate Räikkönen showed his unaltered great talent on lap 13 by completing a superb, daring pass on Hulkenberg in the esses, on the outside and without any DRS magic, grabbing fifth place. That was a gem. Behind this group, Massa, who had started 11th, and Button, 12th, were slowly moving up the ranks. Then, the pit stop window began to open. Schumacher was first in, switching to hard tires on lap 15.

Two laps later, drama crackled on the Red Bull pit lane-to-Webber radio: the KERS had failed inside the unlucky Aussie’s racer. It soon turned worse. Before he could even finish the lap, Webber’s Red Bull coasted slowly to a sorrowful stop in a gravel pit. Now Alonso was third, a podium position; but which step? The packed crowd became visibly excited. It featured a significant Mexican contingent, and though unfortunately Perez never shined in Austin, finishing 11th, a Spaniard in a Ferrari would do. The Rodriguez brothers drove gloriously for the Scuderia, remember?

Now came the full scramble of the pit stops. Most happened between laps 21 and 26, starting with Hamilton and Alonso. All the key contenders were stationary in the pit lane for less than three seconds except two, whose pit crews eerily both had a problem with their car’s right rear wheel and both took 6.4 seconds for the same job. Alonso and Räikkönen were going to have to further stretch their talent to keep the championship going to the final race.

By lap 32, the pit stop scramble was nearly all cleared up, with Vettel still firmly in the lead but closely trailed by a tenaciously aggressive Hamilton only 2.1 seconds behind. Almost thirty seconds further back we then had Button (still on his original tires), Alonso, Räikkönen, Massa, and Grosjean. Could the McLaren beat the Red Bull? Would Vettel suffer the same fate as his teammate? Could Alonso pull off a miracle? What role could Kimi play? Tensions were running high all across the perfectly drawn course of the splendid new circuit. Only the crystalline blue sky stood perfectly calm.

Between laps 32 and 34, Hamilton and Vettel continued to exchange fastest laps, but the Brit by a slightly bigger margin than the German. By lap 35, the McLaren was less than one second behind the gearbox of the Red Bull, meaning within DRS range. And all spectators, whether sitting around the track or watching a digital screen in China, had already seen plenty of 210 mph “DRS passes” on the long near-straight between Turns 11 and 12, the latter being an abrupt left-hand corner. Everybody also knew Vettel is no lemming. The suspense tightened.

Button offered a quick distraction when he finally pitted on lap 36, allowing Alonso to regain his well-deserved third position. Brit number two rejoined in sixth. So now the three drivers that could still turn the championship were aligned in front, with Hamilton in the role of the Joker between the two would-be Kings. With 20 laps to go, it was still anyone’s race, even though Alonso was 30 seconds astern of Hamilton and did not have the speed needed to close the gap. How would it end?

The view from the upper TV camera on Hamilton’s car gave us a clue. The many drop shots over his yellow helmet kept displaying the stars and stripes – not the Union Jack – on the helmet’s crest. Hamilton badly wanted to win the first Grand Prix of the Americas, just as he had won the last one in 2007, and thus leave McLaren for Mercedes-Benz next year on a tremendous high.

Indeed, despite Vettel’s passionate defense, after a few unsuccessful “DRS passes,” on lap 42 the Brit with the diamond earring finally managed to throttle up and outbrake a winning one. Vettel quickly claimed to his crew that he had been unfairly slowed down by Karthikeyan, a man he had weeks earlier called “stupid,” just before the corner. All agreed that the pass had been fair and square on all counts. And there went eight championship points and another Vetellian radio utterance: “I hate that DRS.”

And so the ending was sealed, unlike the World Driver’s Championship. Hamilton finished first in a state of great elation, followed by Vettel less than a second behind, then Alonso 39 seconds later. The Championship point difference between the latter two had now grown by 3 points in favor of the German, to 13, but Brazil, the season’s final race, would be the king maker, this coming Sunday. Alonso will be dancing for rain, while Vettel will try, in a giant heft, to slide a vast patch of pure blue Texas sky down the map of the Americas all the way to Rio de Janeiro. As if the hemisphere was an iPad. He wished!

Behind this podium trio, Massa finished a wonderful and manly fourth, followed by Button, then Räikkönen, Grosjean, Hulkenberg and finally the two Williams drivers, with Senna ahead of Maldonado in the point-paying positions. These were all well earned. Simultaneously, Red Bull clinched the World Manufacturers Championship for the third year in a row, this time ahead of Ferrari. The energy drink team’s celebration was muted as all their mental powers have to remain focused on the biggest of all prizes by far: the Driver’s Championship in Rio this Sunday. Ayrton Senna is smiling somewhere.

In Stuttgart, no one is smiling. Rosberg finished 13th and Schumacher a derisive 16th, after starting 5th on the grid. The “Silver Arrow” team is now fifth in the world Championship, behind Lotus-Renault. Dr. Zetz, chairman of Daimler AG, has a hot potato on his hand and the shareholders are watching closely. Only the bright glint of Hamilton’s Austin performance can offer a ray of light through the long tunnel ahead.

At this point, you think the Texas show was complete? Not by a mile! Texans always have to have a spectacular grand finale. So the podium ceremony featured a double first in Formula 1 history: the already mentioned local “Cowboy” hats on the three driver’s heads – prompting British journo Andrew Davies to recommend this becoming a tradition, with bowler hats for the British Grand Prix podium, Mountie hats for Canada, turbans for India, etc. We’ll see; what would they wear in Japan?

Last but not least, American racing legend and 1978 F1 World champion Mario Andretti was also on the podium, microphone in hand. He looked truly grand and soon conducted an interview of the three drivers, broadcast on the public system to the entire field – and worldwide TV. This was spontaneous, masterful, charming and great showmanship. The big champagne bottles overflowed with Texas-sized bubbles. The vast, colorful crowd went wild, one last time.

If Ayrton Senna was smiling, so was Bernie Ecclestone, and so should investors in the New Jersey Grand Prix, along with the throngs of long-deprived American F1 fans. The Grand Prix in Austin was indeed a complete success. Bernie quickly declared: “It has been much better than I expected, particularly when you think that 12 months ago, there wasn’t a race.” From El Supremo, that’s a giant compliment. And for Leo Hendery and his financing challenge towards the F1 Grand Prix in New Jersey, a powerful boost. If Texas could turn near-defeat into victory in the past 12 months, so can the Greater New York people in the next 12. Only then will Formula 1 have truly made it in America. Ask Frank Sinatra.

We’ll cover the grand finale in Brazil next week for you, as we have been doing at VeloceToday for the past 11 years.

Race Results

1	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	1h35m55.269s
2	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	+ 0.6s
3	ALONSO	Ferrari	+ 39.2s
4	MASSA	Ferrari	+ 46.0s
5	BUTTON	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 56.4s
6	RÄIKKÖNEN	Lotus-Renault	+ 64.4s
7	GROSJEAN	Lotus-Ferrari	+ 70.3s
8	HULKENBERG	Force India-Mercedes	+ 73.7s
9	MALDONADO	Williams-Renault	+ 74.5s
10	SENNA	Williams-Renault	+ 75.1s
11	PEREZ	Sauber-Ferrari	+ 84.3s
12	RICCIARDO	STR-Ferrari	+ 84.8s
13	ROSBERG	Mercedes	+ 85.5s
14	KOBAYASHI	Sauber-Ferrari	+ 1 lap
15	DI RESTA	Force India-Mercedes	+ 1 lap
16	SCHUMACHER	Mercedes	+ 1 lap
17	PETROV	Caterham-Renault	+ 1 lap
18	KOVALAINEN	Caterham-Renault	+ 1 lap
19	GLOCK	Marussia-Cosworth	+ 1 lap
20	PIC	Marussia-Cosworth	+ 2 laps
21	DE LA ROSA	HRT-Cosworth	+ 2 laps
22	KARTHIKEYAN	HRT-Cosworth	+ 2 laps
23	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	+ 40 laps, alternator
24	VERGNE	STR-Ferrari	+ 42 laps, suspension
Fastest Lap	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	1m39.347s

Note: Grosjean dropped five grid places for unscheduled gearbox change. Massa dropped five after Ferrari broke FIA gearbox seal.

Driver’s Championship Standings

1	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	273 Points
2	ALONSO	Ferrari	260 Points
3	RÄIKKÖNEN	Lotus-Renault	206 Points
4	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	190 Points
5	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	167 Points
6	BUTTON	McLaren-Mercedes	163 Points
7	MASSA	Ferrari	107 Points
8	GROSJEAN	Lotus-Renault	96 Points
9	ROSBERG	Mercedes	93 Points
10	PEREZ	Sauber-Ferrari	66 Points
11	KOBAYASHI	Sauber-Ferrari	58 Points
12	HULKENBERG	Force India-Mercedes	53 Points
13	DI RESTA	Force India-Mercedes	46 Points
14	MALDONADO	Williams-Renault	45 Points
15	SCHUMACHER	Mercedes	43 Points
16	SENNA	Williams-Renault	31 Points
17	VERGNE	STR-Ferrari	12 Points
18	RICCIARDO	STR-Ferrari	10 Points

Constructor’s Championship Standings

1	RBR-RENAULT	440 Points
2	FERRARI	367 Points
3	McLAREN-MERCEDES	353 Points
4	LOTUS-RENAULT	302 Points
5	MERCEDES	136 Points
6	SAUBER-FERRARI	124 Points
7	FORCE INDIA-MERCEDES	99 Points
8	WILLIAMS-RENAULT	76 Points
9	STR-FERRARI	22 Points