USA GP

After a race where Lewis Hamilton kept his head whilst others around him were losing theirs, it may have been too much to ask that he may do the same again for the second trans-Atlantic race. Unlike Montreal when the boy-wonder had a chance to practice the track on McLaren’s sophisticated simulator, the only experience he had of the Indy track is the same as you and me, on his Playstation. Amidst the chaos of the race in Canada one thing that stood in everyone’s mind was the terrifying accident of Robert Kubica , which left him with only a sprained ankle. It was therefore the turn of BMW Sauber’s reserve driver Sebastian Vettel to fill the Pole’s place. Like his predecessor he caused a storm early on in his career. In the third practice session of Saturday morning just before qualifying only the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton set a faster time than him. This all set up a fantastic qualifying session on Saturday afternoon. After losing big names like David Coulthard and Nico Rosberg in the opening session it was a contest between Fernando Alonso and Hamilton for the pole. Neither Ferrari was anywhere near the pace of the silver cars throughout the session and it was a straight fight between the Brit and the Spaniard. On the opening run Hamilton took the first scalp and ‘Nando’ was under pressure for his next shot. On the second fast run Fernando just didn’t appear to have the speed to beat Lewis and even resigned himself to second by flying over the dirty side of the road where he was to start the next day. To rub salt into the wound Lewis then went one and a half tenths of a second faster to secure pole. Vettel was to start seventh on the grid for his debut race.

It was all pretty close running at the front of the grid at the very start of the race. The only real casualty at the front was Kimi Raikkonen. He struggled into the first corner and was passed by both Nick Hiedfeld and Heikki Kovaleinen. However, further back all hell broke loose. Vettel showed his youth and inexperience into the first apex by out braking himself and running over the grass dropping from seventh down to eleventh. It wasn’t just youth running into difficulties at turn one, many of the elder statesmen were struggling to find their way through. There was a midfield melee into turn one resulting in the retirement of Ralf Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello and David Coulthard. The latter two drivers appear at this stage in the season to be fairly secure on their drives for next year. However, this is not the case for Ralf who now needs to pull himself together. The German has appeared to be on borrowed time over the last few years in F1 and is now finally being caught up with. A lacklustre 2007 means not only is his drive for next year in doubt but he may be ousted before the seasons end. There have been a few whispers around the F1 paddock that fellow German Timo Glock may take the seat. The ex-Jordan racer’s GP2 boss has said that Timo’s contract is fairly open and is free to take a better drive if the opportunity came up. Toyota test driver Franck Montagny is also chomping at the bit so it would seem it’s time for Ralf’s socks to be well and truly pulled up.
There were two spins early on in the race with the first coming from Renault driver, Giancarlo Fisichella. After starting tenth everyone assumed that the Italian was on a heavy one-stop strategy but it was ruined by a lack of judgement on lap three. He was followed by Takuma Sato on lap 14. In the opening stage of the race the Japanese driver had been under investigation by the marshals. He had supposedly overtaken the Honda of Jenson Button during the yellow flag period after the opening collision. However Sato’s nightmare didn’t end in the gravel trap. The marshals deemed him to be in breach of the rules and so for the next race in France Takuma will receive a ten-place grid penalty. Such a shame after the high of Montreal only a week before. A train formed very early on from the Toro Rosso of Vitantonio Liuzzi in tenth place to Anthony Davidson’s Super Aguri in 17th. Behind him Fisichella started his comeback with two stunning moves on Scott Speed and Adrian Sutil. Both moves were in the incredibly tricky midfield session showing how much talent the Italian still has let in him.

Nothing changed up front in the run up to the first stops and by lap 23 almost all of them had pitted. However, the on form Heikki Kovaleinen had obviously fuelled slightly heavier than those in front of him and up until lap 26 he held the lead of the race. True, it was only three laps but it was still the first time the Finn led a grand prix. Up until now the Renault driver had been struggling with pace but at this mid point in the season he seems to be improving. It’s good to see he’s finally starting to live up to the promise built up pre-season. However, once everyone had pitted it was as you were at the front of the field. In the second section of the race Alonso seemed to have the upper hand over Hamilton and was closing in on him fast. He even got close enough at one point to go wheel-to-wheel with Hamilton. However, the Brit held his nerve and first place into the first corner and would remain there until the chequered lag.
The rest of the race became more of a procession. There were numerous drivers closing in on others but nobody really formed any great attack. The BMW of Nick Hiedfeld struggled in seventh place when the hydraulics of his car gave way on lap 55. Then on the same lap(68) Liuzzi and Rosberg both retired from the race. Liuzzi was struggling down in 15th at the time of retirement, but Rosberg was running in a strong sixth at the time and vented his disappointment punching the air as he vacated the vehicle. However, this meant that for Sebastian Vettel who was running in a strong ninth position at the time was promoted into eighth and therefore into a points paying position. Thankfully for the young German he managed to hold onto the position and grabbed the final point to become the youngest ever driver to win a World Championship point. However, it was Lewis Hamilton who experienced the real American dream not only taking the win but the pole position as well. He kept Alonso behind him for the entire race and received a well earned victory. The McLaren’s were followed by Massa and Raikkonen in third and fourth respectively. Kovaleinen impressed in fifth and Mark Webber won his first points of the season in seventh place. Hamilton now leads Alonso by ten points which means unless Alonso wins and Hamilton comes ninth or lower in France Lewis will still be leading the championship by Silverstone. Wish I were going……