United States – Race: Vettel offers his donuts to the American people

The weather is sunny at the Austin circuit as the drivers take their places on the grid. First concern 15 minutes before the race with a KERS problem for Felipe Massa, who is certainly having a bad weekend on his home continent.

At the start, Romain Grosjean gains the upper hand on Mark Webber, while all the drivers on the dirty side are disadvantaged in getting off the line. Lewis Hamilton takes advantage to climb into third position, right behind the Frenchman. The safety car is quickly deployed during this first lap, as Adrian Sutil crashes violently into a wall, destroying his Force India in the process. The German driver made a mistake on the back straight after making contact with Pastor Maldonado. The Williams driver continues his race without any visible issues.

In the fifth lap, the race resumes its course! Sebastian Vettel immediately gains a few tenths of a second lead over Romain Grosjean, who also distances himself from Lewis Hamilton, as the Mercedes driver is already locking his tires. Meanwhile, Max Chilton is serving his drive-through penalty he received for obstructing Pastor Maldonado during the qualifying sessions.

Beautiful battle between Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber, but the Red Bull driver is stuck behind the Mercedes driver despite a good top speed, which benefits the two leading drivers. Pastor Maldonado, on the other hand, falls victim to his front wing and is shown a black and orange flag: Williams is therefore forced to bring him in to change his wing, which was touching the ground anyway.

On the twelfth lap, the top 4 drivers accelerate, and it shows in the lap times. Sebastian Vettel is the first driver to go under the 1:44 mark, while Mark Webber turns up the heat behind Lewis Hamilton. The Australian appears in the Englishman’s mirrors and manages to overtake using DRS by going around the outside. The overtaking maneuver is applauded in the Red Bull pit, as their future former driver sets his sights on Romain Grosjean. Just behind, Nico Hülkenberg is now accelerating to close in on Lewis Hamilton after his team informed him that he’s a direct competitor to the Englishman. Disappointment at Ferrari, however, as Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa struggle with the F138, which is not at ease on American soil.

On the eighteenth lap, Heikki Kovalainen makes his pit stop to put on hard tires. A battle begins for 10th place between Nico Rosberg and Daniel Ricciardo, the Mercedes are not having a great weekend unlike their rivals at Lotus.

The pit stops begin after the twentieth lap, and it’s Jenson Button and Felipe Massa who follow the Finn from Lotus. The Brazilian comes out just ahead of the Brit who had pitted a lap earlier. Esteban Gutierrez therefore gains positions, as the Mexican had pitted on the second lap to switch to hard tires. A bold choice, but justified by his start from 20th place.

On the twenty-fifth lap, Mark Webber is the fastest driver in the race, and starts gaining tenths of a second on his teammate and Romain Grosjean with each lap. Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso switch to hard tires which are much faster. Consequently, they are logically followed by Sebastian Vettel and Nico Hülkenberg. The second Red Bull driver also stops, while Romain Grosjean remains the sole leader in the race.

On the thirtieth lap, Romain Grosjean mirrors his strategy on that of Mark Webber, but the Australian comes back like a rocket: his Red Bull truly gives him wings. There’s also a great battle between Esteban Gutierrez and Sergio Perez, as the Sauber driver has to give way to his predecessor while struggling with his tires. Heikki Kovalainen makes a second pit stop to change his front wing: the Finn falls significantly in the rankings.

It’s another Finn who might score his first points this weekend, as Valtteri Bottas manages to overtake Esteban Gutierrez for eighth place.

On the thirty-seventh lap, Mark Webber lost time on the Frenchman after being close to overtaking him, but the Australian fell back to a three-second gap before clocking a much faster lap that was significantly ahead of the pack. Another driver making a second pit stop was Felipe Massa: the Brazilian driver is definitely struggling.

On the forty-fourth lap, Fernando Alonso finds his demon opponent: Nico Hülkenberg, but this time, the Spaniard manages to overtake the Sauber driver by crossing the trajectory. Intense battle between Daniel Ricciardo and Paul di Resta, the Scot is forced to go wide to avoid a collision. And the fight tightens again for second place, with Mark Webber clocking a very fast time of 1:40.710 against Romain Grosjean’s 1:41.469.

At the forty-ninth lap, Mark Webber is right on Romain Grosjean’s tailpipes and starts launching his attacks, trying to intimidate the Frenchman. Meanwhile, another Frenchman, Charles Pic, receives a drive-through penalty for ignoring blue flags as Lewis Hamilton passed.

On the fifty-third lap, Romain Grosjean sets the fastest lap ahead of Mark Webber, and the Frenchman is doing everything possible to secure a second place, which would be his best result of the season. The Australian cracks and makes a small mistake, giving the Lotus driver some breathing room. As usual, Sebastian Vettel sets an exceptional lap at the end of the race, clocking a 1:39.856, 1 second faster than the fastest lap set by Romain Grosjean just before.

Big battle for the tenth place between Jenson Button and Daniel Ricciardo, which ends in favor of the Englishman, placing the second McLaren in the points. Nico Hülkenberg, on the other hand, sets off in pursuit of Fernando Alonso, leading to a great duel between the two men. Hülkenberg attacks but Alonso crosses back and retains the advantage.

So it’s Sebastian Vettel who wins the United States Grand Prix! He claims his eighth consecutive victory, surpassing one of Michael Schumacher’s most impressive records and edging closer to Ascari. Behind him, Romain Grosjean is the best of the rest with his best result of the season, ahead of Mark Webber. Lewis Hamilton finishes just off the podium, 27 seconds behind the winner of the day, while Fernando Alonso maintains the advantage against Nico Hülkenberg. Valterri Bottas also scores his first points today, overtaking his teammate in the drivers’ championship.

The classification of the 2013 United States Grand Prix: