Rainy Texas welcomed the Formula 1 circus for round 18. The US soil has been a Mercedes territory so far, and this year was expected to be no exception. The first segment of the qualifying proved dramatic for Red Bull ace Verstappen, who suffered a technical failure after hitting the kerb in Turn 15. He had been able to make a banker lap, and he easily made it into the second segment. However, there was nothing the team could do about the broken rear suspension, so Verstappen was unable to set a lap time in Q2. Once again the top teams' tyre strategy was interesting in Q2. Mercedes sent their drivers out on the red-walled super-softs, which was also Ricciardo's choice. Ferrari, on the other hand, sent Kimi out on the softest compound, whilst Sebastian opted for the middle compound. Sebastian's tyre choice came down to the 3-place grid penalty, which the German had been handed for not slowing sufficiently under the red flags in FP1. Q2 seemed very promising for the Red Team, as Kimi went fastest, edging his teammate by two tenths only, despite the varying tyre strategy. Hamilton was surprisingly half a second off Kimi's pace.
Q3 saw an epic battle for pole position. The Red Team definitely didn't make it easy for the Silver Arrows. Championship leader Hamilton took provisional pole, but by 88 thousandths of a second only! Sebastian was second, extremely hungry to challenge his title rival for pole. Bottas was third and Kimi fourth. The last minutes of the final segment were absolutely hair-raising. Kimi was absolutely on flames; the Iceman got every sector perfectly together, making it on the top! However, Kimi's joy lasted only for a fleeting moment, as Hamilton went fastest, robbing Kimi of the pole position. Sebastian, too showed top form on his second flyer. Unfortunately he didn't quite make it, as the German ended up six hundredths of a second shy of Hamilton's pace! Mercedes and Ferrari were very evenly matched in terms of performance, as the top three drivers were separated by seven hundredths of a second only. Bottas in fourth was three tenths down on his teammate, and Ricciardo in fifth was already massive 1.2s off the ultimate pace. However, due to Sebastian's penalty, the German was dropped down to P5, which meant a front row grid slot for his teammate.
The start was the absolute highlight of the US GP. Kimi was the only top five driver to start to the race on the purple-marked ultra-soft compound, whilst his rivals were on the super-softs. Kimi's start was utterly amazing, and the Iceman took control right away. He determinedly made his way into the inside of Hamilton, going into Turn 1, and squeezed it past the Briton. What a staggering moment it was! It was pure joy to see Kimi take the lead!
Behind the lead the opening lap was everything but problem-free. Sebastian was having an intense battle of his own for P4 with Red Bull's Ricciardo. Sebastian was in a difficult situation, as on one hand, he needed to be aggressive, to keep his championship hopes alive; on the other hand, he needed to be patient, not to do anything stupid... But Sebastian was stubborn to get past his ex-teammate. He went into the outside, but his move led into contact between the two. Sebastian span, and in a heartbeat, he dropped down to P14! It was a moment of despair, as Sebastian had once again made the race extremely challenging for himself... Williams' Stroll and McLaren's Alonso had a crash of their own in the midfield, so did Sauber's Leclerc and Haas' Grosjean.
Red Bull's Verstappen, on the other hand, had had the most amazing start to the race. The Dutchman had started to the race from P18, but by lap 7 he had made his way up to P5 already. It seems, that the further back on the grid the flying Dutchman starts to the race, the better he performs. The race proved very different for teammate Ricciardo, who once again was the victim of Red Bull's reliability issues. Ricciardo lost all power on lap 9, and his RB14 came to a premature halt. Virtual safety car was deployed due to the Australian's retirement.
Mercedes made a strategic call to take Hamilton in during the virtual safety car. The Briton switched to the yellow-walled hardest compound and was absolutely flying around the Circuit of the Americas on his fresh tyres. It was actually frightening, how rapidly Hamilton closed the gap to Kimi, who stayed out. On lap 19 Hamilton was already at the very tail of the Iceman's SF71-H, lurking for a chance to overtake. But even though Hamilton benefitted from the use of the DRS, Kimi defended his position with a big heart and ice cool attitude. Two laps later Kimi pitted also for a fresh set of soft tyres and re-joined the track in P5, 19 seconds off Hamilton.
Verstappen was the driver, who stood out of the crowd in terms of the tyre strategy. All other top drivers had opted for soft Pirellis, but Verstappen switched to the red-marked middle compound. Red Bull's pit stop strategy proved well-planned, as the Dutchman managed to jump Bottas, benefitting from the undercut. After the first pit stops, Hamilton was leading the race, with Kimi second, Verstappen third and Bottas fourth. Sebastian was fifth. Against the odds Hamilton, who had 10 laps more on his tyres than Kimi, started to struggle especially with his rear tyres, which were quite badly blistered. Hamilton had no choice but to pit for a fresh set of softs on lap 37! The second pit stop dropped the Briton down to P4. I was so utterly happy for Kimi! I knew, that having taken the lead, he was determined to take the win!
The last 15 laps were such an epic thriller. Hamilton was absolutely storming on his fresh tyres; at some point the Briton was two seconds per lap faster than Kimi! With seven laps to go, the top three drivers -Kimi, Verstappen and Hamilton- were within 2.5 seconds! I was actually happy, that Verstappen was behind Kimi, as I was convinced, that he wouldn't let Hamilton past by any means. The closing laps felt like an eternity... Although Verstappen made it within DRS distance at some point, Kimi defended his lead absolutely flawlessly. Hamilton made a move on Verstappen three laps before the chequered flag, but ended up going wide. Sebastian and Bottas had an intense battle of their own for P4. The Finn was struggling with his out-worn tyres, and Sebastian smelled his opportunity. He squeezed it past the Finn, moving fourth. It was a great recovery from Sebastian after the first-lap mistake.
But Grande Kimi won the US GP! It was the Iceman's first win since the 2013 Australian GP! Kimi showed the whole world, that 39 years old is not too old for Formula 1! It was a moment of pure pleasure to see Kimi on the top step of the podium and hear the Finnish national anthem! Verstappen finished the runner-up, and Hamilton was left third. This meant, that Hamilton didn't secure his fifth world championship, at least not yet. Sebastian finished fourth and Bottas fifth. Renault's Hulkenberg was "the best of the rest" by finishing 6th.
The F1 circus stays in America, and the battle will be on in Mexico already this week! I definitely want to see more red victories at the end of the season! Go Kimi! Go Sebastian! Forza Ferrari!
With passion for racing red,
Iina Huhmarniemi
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