In a Formula 1 season that has seen some monotony at the front, a fan-favorite managed to take a well-deserved win at the 2018 United States Grand Prix.
The guiding hands behind Formula 1 have been mulling the idea of having another round of the Formula 1 calendar take place in the United States and after the 2018 United States Grand Prix from Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, and who could blame them?
The stage was set for another pass-filled race with Max Verstappen starting from 18th place in his #33 Aston Martin Red Bull Racing RB14 and Sebastian Vettel starting from fifth in his #5 Scuderia Ferrari SF71H after it was deemed that he did not properly obey a red flag in the first free practice session.
With the dust from the heated race weekend settled, we can now take a look at the winners and losers from the United States Grand Prix.
Winners
Kimi Raikkonen
This race victory for Kimi Raikkonen is special for other reasons besides the fact that he hasn’t won a Grand Prix since the 2013 season. He is currently driving for a team that have decided to move on from him, as Ferrari have opted to invest in the newest hotshot to enter the sport, Charles Leclerc, as opposed to sticking with the veteran Finn.
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Raikkonen didn’t win this for a championship bid or to help the team. He went out to drive to showcase his own personal ability and to show that in 2018, he still has the ability to challenge for and achieve a race win.
Kimi Raikkonen had not won a Formula 1 Grand Prix since the opening round of the 2013 season from Melbourne, Australia. To put into context just how long ago that is, Fernando Alonso still drove for Ferrari, Paul di Resta and Giedo van der Garde were driving in Formula 1 and not commentating for it, and Pastor Maldonado was teaching us to go for gaps…even if they never existed in the first place.
Max Verstappen
It seems like such a common occurrence now. For one reason another, Max Verstappen is forced to start from the back of the grid, and he battles his way up through the field in the most unlikely ways possible.
This happened again at the Circuit of the Americas after Verstappen was forced to start the race from 18th after running over one of the large curbs placed around the track to discourage drivers from exceeding track limits and then being penalized for an additional five positions as a result of a gearbox change.
Verstappen wasted little time working through the field, which included current championship leader Lewis Hamilton, on his way to an unlikely second place finish. It is worth recognizing that Hamilton was rightly playing it conservatively and had no intentions of wrecking out of the race, which would have allowed Sebastian Vettel to chip away at Hamilton’s now massive lead in the driver standings.
Losers
Sebastian Vettel
Coming into the United States Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel had a long list of variables that he needed to control in order to not be mathematically eliminated from 2018 championship contention. He did just about everything he could do to further hurt his championship aspirations before the race even began.
The woes for the Ferrari driver began in the first free practice session when Vettel failed to slow down to a level acceptable by the race directors, which resulted in a three-place demotion at the end of qualifying, meaning that even if he managed to qualify on the pole position, the highest position in which he could start the race was fourth place.
Vettel qualified in second place, which translated into a fifth place starting position. His decision-making did not improve come race time, as on the very first lap, he pushed Daniel Ricciardo wide while trying to make an early pass that he simply did not need to.
This resulted in Vettel spinning out, which meant that he had to work back through the field and play catch-up. He ended up losing ground to Lewis Hamilton in the driver standings by finishing in fourth, but he is still mathematically alive to win the 2018 championship
Haas
The battle for “best of the rest” in the mid-pack between Haas, Renault Sport and Racing Point Force India seems to be ebbing and flowing with each race. With the points as close as they are, a single race during which a team fails to score points can mean a significant loss to the other mid-pack teams.
During the United States Grand Prix, both Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen had the chance to fight for point-scoring results, but both failed to do so for different reasons. Grosjean. who qualified in eighth place, was in fighting shape until he collided with Charles Leclerc, which eventually forced both drivers to retire.
The sole bullet in the Haas gun was Magnussen, who never had the pace to challenge the strong Renault duo of Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz Jr. Magnussen fought desperately for his initial finish of ninth place, but this was revoked after the race due to a fuel infraction. This led to Haas scoring zero points in yet another race.
The 2018 Formula 1 season moves on to its next round at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, Mexico for the Mexican Grand Prix. Live race coverage is scheduled to begin at 3:10 p.m. ET on ABC on Sunday, October 28. Should we expect Lewis Hamilton to clinch the championship in Mexico, or will the battle continue on?