FRIDAY SATURDAY AND SUNDAY 2013 US GP RECAP Text : Joey Franco
Photo Courtesy Lotus F1 Team I D AY FR REPORT Friday November 15, 2013 The day started off very foggy, but the sunny skies were not far away. The fag delayed the first practice session by about 40 minutes. A total of 58,276 spectators turned out during the day.scuderia Ferrari s Fernando Alonso clocked the fastest time of 1:38.343 during practice session one. Compared to last year, the track conditions seemed better: for the first Grand Prix here, it was too new and there was a bit of oil on the track, while now there s a lot more grip, commented Alonso. Four-time, and reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel of Infiniti Red Bull Racing ruled the time sheets in session two, with a top time of 1:37.305. Heikki Kovalainen joins the Lotus F1 Team, replacing his compatriot Kimi Raikkonen who underwent back surgery. Kovalainen finished the second session with the fifth fastest time. It s been a pretty smooth landing, joining Lotus F1 Team, said the finn. We ve had no major issues on track today and we just need to keep chipping away to see how good we can get the car for tomorrow and Sunday, he added. 27
Photo Courtesy Pirelli S AT U R D AY REPORT Saturday November 16, 2013 The second day of the US Grand Prix kicked off with the third and final practice session which was dominated by both Red Bull vehicles. Vettel clocked a time of 1:36.733, while his teammate Mark Webber followed closely at 1:36.936.The practice session was an indication of things to come during the qualifying session as Vettel and Webber continued to dominate and captured a one-two spot on the grid.sebastian Vettel captured pole position with a time of 1:36.338 in Q3. It was a tricky session because the wind, I think, picked up quite a lot from this morning and yeah, it does influence the behaviour of the cars so, not that easy, especially around the high-speed corners, commented pole-sitter Vettel. I wasn t that happy with my first run in Q3 but I think I had a solid run at the end which I think was enough to put the car on pole, he added.webber ended Q3 with a time of 1:36.441. It s easy to unload the car a little bit in these conditions, so yeah, sometimes you re happy that you ve given your best and you re on the front row but today one slipped through the fingers, said Webber. Lotus driver Romain Grosjean captured the third spot on the grid. Grosjean stressed that it had not been an easy week for the team. We struggled a little bit yesterday and this morning. I think conditions are not so easy starting early in the morning. and I don t like to wake-up early as well so it doesn t make it easy. F1 Traveler Magazine 2013
SATURDAY QUOTES Paul Di Resta Force India Driver I m reasonably happy with today s result because this is a track that does not particularly suit my driving style. The wind picked up quite a bit before qualifying, which made the conditions tricky and I think we made the most of that. We out-qualified some quick cars today and in the end I was just a tenth away from making Q3. Xevi Pujolar, Chief Race Engineer - Williams The Circuit of the Americas is quite unique in terms of track layout, roughness and temperature which, mixed with the fact that the tyre compound choices are on the conservative side, makes getting the tyres working well the key to a good qualifying lap. We had better performance in FP1 and were working to bring this back in practice this morning. Paul Hembery Pirelli s motorsport director Our tyre choice here is on the conservative side, which means that getting the tyres up to the right temperature was important. That was not necessarily an easy task today as the track temperature actually fell slightly during the session, which is not the normal pattern we see in qualifying. With variable winds and temperatures throughout the afternoon, it wasn t a particularly easy session for anybody. 2012 FORMULA 1 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX 2. Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault 4.Nico Rosberg Sauber-Ferrari 6. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 8. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 10.Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 12.Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 14. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 16.Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Ferrari 1.Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 3. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 5.Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 7. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 9.Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 11.Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari 13.Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 15.Felipe Massa Ferrari 17 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 18. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 19. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 20. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 21.Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 22. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 29
S U N D AY REPORT Sunday November 17, 2013 An impressive crowd of 113,162 Formula 1 enthusiasts watched Sebastian Vettel make history at the Circuit of the American during the 2013 US Grand Prix. Vettel, the 26-year-old reigning World Champion, scored his eighth consecutive Grand Prix victory, surpassing Michael Schumacher s record of seven straight wins. The German chose a one-stop strategy, starting on the P Zero White medium tyre and then changing to the P Zero Orange hard on lap 27. It s incredible. I think it s one of those things that you never expect to one of those records that you never expect to be beaten so it s very difficult to find the right words, said an emotional Vettel following the race. When you realise that you ve done it, it makes you very proud in that moment and, yeah, I think it s very difficult for all of us to realise what it actually means, added the German World Champion. People look back and they talk about that time and about certain drivers and one day people might look back and talk about our time and what we ve done as a team. Lotus F1 driver Romain Grosjean claimed the second spot on the podium, while Vettel s teammate, Mark Webber, took third. NBC Sports live broadcast of the race drew 1.010 million viewers, up 47 percent versus last year on SPEED (688,000), according to final national data provided today by The Nielsen Company. The total attendance for COTA s second Formula 1 Grand Prix was 250,324, with 58,276 fans attending Friday s practice sessions and 78,886 turning out for Saturday s qualifying rounds. F1 Traveler Magazine 2013
2013 FORMULA 1 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid 1 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 56 1:39:17.148 1 2 8 Romain Grosjean Ferrari 56 +6.2 secs 3 3 2 Mark Webber Mercedes 56 +8.3 secs 2 4 10 Lewis Hamilton Red Bull Racing-Renault 56 +27.3 secs 5 5 3 Fernando Alonso Mercedes 56 +29.5 secs 6 6 11 Nico Hulkenberg STR-Ferrari 56 +30.4 secs 4 7 6 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 56 +46.6 secs 7 8 17 Valtteri Bottas Ferrari 56 +54.5 secs 9 9 9 Nico Rosberg Lotus-Renault 56 +59.1 secs 12 10 5 Jenson Button Force India-Mercedes 56 +77.2 secs 15 11 19 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren-Mercedes 56 +81.0 secs 10 12 4 Felipe Massa McLaren-Mercedes 56 +86.9 secs 13 13 12 Esteban Gutierrez Lotus-Renault 56 +91.7 secs 20 14 7 Heikki Kovalainen Williams-Renault 56 +95.0 secs 8 15 14 Paul di Resta STR-Ferrari 56 +96.8 secs 11 16 18 Jean-Eric Vergne Williams-Renault 56 +104.5 secs 14 17 16 Pastor Maldonado Marussia-Cosworth 55 +1 Lap 17 18 22 Jules Bianchi Caterham-Renault 55 +1 Lap 19 19 21 Giedo van der Garde Marussia-Cosworth 55 +1 Lap 18 20 20 Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 55 +1 Lap 22 21 23 Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 54 +2 Lap 21 ret 11 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 0 Accident 16 Note - Button penalised 3 grid places for passing under red flags in FP1. Pic penalised 5 grid places for unscheduled gearbox change. Gutierrez penalised 10 grid places for impeding in Q1. Vergne finished 12th, 20s added to race time for causing collision. 31