US Grand Prix 2018
Ferrari certainly know how to spoil a party…even just for a brief period of time.
What could have been a title-clinching win for Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton at the US Grand Prix 2018 burst like a bubble as the Scuderia—behind surprise winner Kimi Raikkonen—took the crown at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin.
Raikkonen, who has worked behind the shadow of teammate Sebastian Vettel over the last four years, hoarded the spotlight this time after denying Hamilton the victory and making the Brit driver wait for his fifth world championship.
Mercedes would rue their failure to close out the season in a tournament that Hamilton dominated in the past four seasons. However, they have no one to blame but themselves after their tyre strategy backfired late in the race.
Highlights of the game
Two-Stop vs. One-Stop makes the difference
Tyre strategy was the story of the game for Mercedes and Ferrari. To put it simply, Mercedes opted for a two-stop strategy while Ferrari chose to pit just once—and that made the difference in what was a close race up front.
Hamilton started from pole position and was expected to dominate in the circuit where he has won four consecutive titles since 2014. Nonetheless, Raikkonen had other plans and showed what he got, overtaking the British star right off the first turn to take the lead.
Raikkonen and Hamilton remained neck and neck against each other, but Mercedes and their ace driver seemed to have positioned themselves well when they decided to pit Hamilton on Lap 11 under a virtual safety car condition.
Hamilton saved at least 10 seconds with the move, and it didn’t take long before he cut Raikkonen’s lead. The Mercedes star was less than a second behind the Finn driver on Lap 19, and so when Raikkonen changed his tyres two laps later, Hamilton found himself leading the race again.
While Mercedes’ strategy appeared to pay huge dividends, it became clear that they needed to pit Hamilton again.
Hamilton was ahead of Raikkonen by 16 seconds midway through the race, but the 39-year-old veteran slowly cut the deficit as Hamilton’s pace continue to decrease, no thanks to the wear and tear on his tyres.
Hamilton was forced to change tyres again on Lap 37, and that was the opportunity Raikkonen was waiting for in order to take the lead. The 33-year-old Hamilton came out fourth, ahead of title rival Vettel and behind Raikkonen, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas.
Bottas allowed Hamilton to bypass him, setting up a tight race with 16 laps to go in the contest. However, Hamilton’s effort was not enough as he failed to overtake the two leaders and ended up third.
Vettel managed to move up to fourth after an error from Bottas on the penultimate lap. The German ace, though, never had a chance to win the tournament after dropping all the way down to 15th after a clash with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo in the opening frame.
Surprising disqualifications
The drama wasn’t all in the race, though. In a surprising turn of events, Force India’s Esteban Ocon and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen were both disqualified in the contest after some solid effort that landed them the eighth and ninth place, respectively.
According to the latest US Grand Prix 2018 news, the two were stripped off their positions and the points that go along with it after race officials discovered fuel use irregularities.
The official Formula 1 website reported that Ocon’s car ” had exceeded the fuel mass flow limit of 100kg/hr on the opening lap of the race.” Meanwhile, Magnussen’s car “was found to have used more than the maximum 105kg of fuel allowed during the race.”
Key statistics
The pre-race US Grand Prix 2018 odds at SBOBET put Raikkonen as the fifth likely winner, so his victory was undoubtedly surprising.
Nevertheless, it sure didn’t come easy for the so-called Iceman. Only 1.3 seconds separate Raikkonen from second-placed Verstappen. Moreover, Hamilton finished just 2.3 seconds behind the race leader, making for a tight battle in the closing stages.
It is now the second-closest race this year, only behind the Bahrain Grand Prix that saw Vettel finish ahead Bottas by less than one second.
With the results, Hamilton now leads Vettel by 70 points and needs just five points in the last three races to defend his world drivers’ championship title.
On the other hand, Ferrari were able to reduce Mercedes’ lead at the top of the constructor standings to just 66 points. The Silver Arrows were up 78 after the Japanese Grand Prix, but the first and fourth-place finish at Austin ensured the team they still have a fighting chance.
What’s next?
It’s the Mexican Grand Prix later this month, and Mercedes will have their fingers crossed in the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez after their relatively poor performance in the circuit last year.
Hamilton and Bottas finished third and fourth in the 2017 edition of the race as Vettel took the chequered flag. Fortunately for Mercedes, they only need Hamilton to finish at least seventh to end the title fight.
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