Vettel wins and Sutil crashes in tame US Grand Prix - Red Bull dominate, whilst attention is focused elsewhere
Published by Christine
We anticipated much but unfortunately the Circuit of the Americas didn’t deliver this time. Sebastian Vettel got his traditional good start and dashed away at the front, not quite achieving his epic lead from Abu Dhabi, but still a comfortable margin. Behind him, Mark Webber didn’t have a bad start but was still passed by Romain Grosjean and Lewis Hamilton. The Red Bull was able to get back ahead of the Mercedes, but could do nothing about the Lotus.
Heikki Kovalainen, in the other Lotus, had a difficult afternoon, coming in for a lengthy stop to change the front wing which ruined any chances of good strategy. The safety car helped those who were one-stopping, coming out in the early stages due to Adrian Sutil’s crash. The Force India driver came into contact with Pastor Maldonado, and spun off into the barriers. His was the only incident, and only retirement of the afternoon.
Nico Hülkenberg remained firmly in the top ten, chasing Fernando Alonso for fifth place to the chequered flag but happily settling for sixth. Valtteri Bottas also clung on to eighth place, picking up a much-needed four points - his first in Formula One.
