United States: The Race Seen from the Pits

McLaren

Lewis Hamilton – Winner

Jenson Button – 5th

Martin Whitmarsh, Team Principal: « The day was fantastic for Lewis [Hamilton] but also for McLaren and Formula 1 as a whole. Starting from the dirty side of the track, he got off to a very good start but was surprisingly overtaken by Mark Webber, who had better traction. Lewis quickly closed up on him and was able to overtake, regaining ground on Sebastian [Vettel]. Their battle was long and intense: two great drivers at the top of their game in cars never more than a few meters apart. So when Lewis made his overtake, he did it beautifully. We had to ensure that Sebastian didn’t catch him off guard and a few laps later, Lewis’s position was almost assured with a margin of a few seconds difference. Man of the match on his best day.

On Jenson [Button]’s side, he made a great comeback. Handicapped by an accelerator problem in qualifying yesterday, he had a poor start being jostled by several cars and losing a few places. But over the laps, he drove solidly, gradually climbing up to the 5th position. He brought his tires almost new under the checkered flag and, most importantly, earned 10 points for the constructors’ championship.

Lewis’s victory gives the team its 6th win this season and our 12th trophy in the United States. We are very happy to have won this race in Austin, especially since we had already won the last race in the USA in 2007 in Indianapolis.

I have already said that it was a great day for Lewis Hamilton, a great day for McLaren, and a great day for F1. But it’s also a superb day for motorsport in the United States. The circuit provided a fantastic Grand Prix and the city welcomed us wonderfully.

Next week, we will be in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and we must ensure we give Lewis and Jenson every chance to secure McLaren’s seventh victory in 2012 while looking forward to returning next year to Austin, in a wonderful city and on a magnificent circuit!

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Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel – 2nd

Mark Webber – Abandon [Alternator]

Christian Horner, Team Principal: « It’s incredible for the entire team to win a third consecutive world championship. The constructors’ title is what is used to measure us against our rivals, and for every team member, it’s how we judge our performance. The drivers’ title obviously has the prestige and the public follows it more, but the constructors’ title holds equal importance for us. So, having managed to secure a third consecutive title, which only three teams have achieved in the history of this sport, places us at the highest level, and having accomplished this in such a short time is a recognition for all team members. It’s the hard work, the long hours, and the commitment of each department. It’s a moment where every team member and everyone at Red Bull can be proud. »

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Ferrari

**Fernando Alonso** – 3rd

Felipe Massa – 4th

Stefano Domenicali, Team Principal: Given the situation after qualifying, the result can be considered positive. Sure, Fernando lost some points compared to the championship leader, but the important thing was to minimize the damage to reach the last race with everything to play for, which is now the case. First and foremost, I want to congratulate Felipe, not only for his excellent race performance but especially for how he accepted our decision to deliberately take a penalty to maximize our starting potential, especially for his teammate. It was a tough decision, but he accepted it with the same spirit he has always shown, in the sense that the team’s interests come before those of the individual. Not only have events shown it was the right decision, but also, we have further confirmation that Felipe is a team player, sincere and honest, who completely shares our values, and for that, I want to publicly thank him. Fernando did the maximum with what he had today, in other words, a car that was not capable of fighting for the victory. Once again, he produced an astonishing first lap that put him in contention for a podium position. Now, we are heading to Brazil, knowing everything is still possible. We approach it in a diametrically opposite situation to the one we were in when we arrived in Abu Dhabi two years ago! When you end up fighting for the title in the last race, you have already accomplished something important: this has happened to Ferrari many times before – with only three exceptions – since 1997, and no other team can boast such consistency at the top of Formula 1. Today, we congratulate Red Bull for their Constructors’ title. We will try to prevent them from achieving the double in a week at Interlagos!

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Lotus

Kimi Räikkönen – 6th

Romain Grosjean – 7th

Eric Boullier, Team Principal: Today was not as good as Abu Dhabi, obviously, but with both cars in the points, we are quite satisfied. The first part of the race made us believe that we could have been able to fight for a better result, but the race didn’t play out that way. We had a small problem during Kimi’s stop, and we lost time. Romain made a mistake behind Nico Hülkenberg and lost the opportunity to achieve a better result, but he drove a very solid race from there. In the end, the Red Bulls, McLaren, and Ferrari were faster and there was nothing to be done. It’s good to gain a few points, plus we know that we have better performances to come from the car and the possibility of achieving better results. We look forward to being in Brazil.

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Sahara Force India

Nico Hülkenberg – 8th

Paul di Resta – 15th

Vijay Mallya, Team Principal: Today’s race was a brilliant showcase for Formula 1 and the perfect way to kick off the sport’s return to the United States. We saw a great race and the track looked spectacular. Nico [Hülkenberg] is back in the points and drove very well again to finish eighth. In the latter part of the race, he was under heavy pressure from Senna and Maldonado but made no mistakes. The Williams are close competitors in the championship, so it was an important race to distinguish ourselves here. Paul looked promising in the early stages, but tire issues and an off-track excursion cost him dearly and ruled out any chance of points. As the season draws to a close, we will look to continue our points streak and hope to finish the season on a high next weekend in Sao Paulo.

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Williams

Pastor Maldonado – 9th

Bruno Senna – 10th

Mark Gillan, Chief Engineer in charge of track operations: « Our two drivers did not have the best start. While Pastor [Maldonado] managed to hold his position on the clean side of the track, he was pushed to the outside by Massa at turn 2. He picked up a lot of dust on his medium tires which took time to clean off. Both our drivers had very good races, but unfortunately, we weren’t able to get past Hülkenberg. However, both our cars are in the points and even though we would have liked more, it’s a good thing. We will now focus all our efforts on the last race of the season. »

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Sauber

Sergio Pérez – 11th

Kamui Kobayashi – 14th

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: « For our team, it has been a weekend with ups and downs, which is also reflected in this race. Sergio made a very good start and found himself 11th after the first lap, with a chance to fight for points, but later, he reported a brake issue and consequently lost positions. Kamui was never able to recover from his grid position. We haven’t given up the fight for fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship, but we will be under a lot of pressure at Interlagos. However, we take this as extra motivation. Congratulations to the people responsible for this circuit for building a great track and organizing a great event for the many fans who were present today. »

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Toro Rosso

Daniel Ricciardo – 12th

Jean-Eric Vergne – Retirement [Suspension]

Franz Tost, Team Principal: « First of all, congratulations to Red Bull Racing for clinching the constructors’ title this afternoon. This clears the way for a thrilling finale in the fight for the drivers’ title in a few days in Brazil. As for our race, Daniel put in a good performance, given that his qualifying was compromised by yellow flags, he started 18th on the grid and finished 12th in the end. It was very close in terms of pace between us, Sauber, Force India, and Williams. We decided to do a long stint on the mediums because the car was competitive on those tires. Daniel did everything he could to close the gap with those ahead when he was on the hard compound and managed to get closer to Pérez at the end, but there weren’t enough laps to pass him. With Jev [Jean-Eric Vergne], we had a suspension problem and told him to park his car. We still need to analyze the cause. We have an additional opportunity to score points this season because we’re heading to São Paulo for what is often an exciting and unpredictable race. »

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Mercedes

Nico Rosberg – 13th

Michael Schumacher – 16th

Ross Brawn, Team Principal: After a good qualifying, the first set of tires for Michael [Schumacher] did not work as expected today during the race. We then changed our strategy to make two pit stops. After this first refueling, his lap times returned to normal but it was too late to hope for a good result. Nico [Rosberg] started a bit further back but he was able to conserve his tires longer to make the one-stop strategy work. He had a good race, with respectable lap times. It’s a shame we couldn’t qualify better as we would have been in a good position tonight. It’s disappointing not to score any points, but we learned a lot about the car and the tires which will always be useful for later. Despite this result, it’s important to note that the American weekend was very good and it’s a pleasure to see so many enthusiasts here in Austin. We must thank the organizers for this great event!

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Caterham

Translate: Vitaly Petrov – 17th

Heikki Kovalainen – 18th

Caterham has not published the statements of the team’s officials.

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Marussia

Timo Glock – 19th

Charles Pic – 20th

John Booth, Team Director: « Although this is not the result we expected, we must be realistic and our pace was particularly good this weekend. Not having KERS is a real disadvantage here, and we couldn’t take advantage of our overtaking opportunities… Timo [Glock] drove as usual, putting maximum pressure on Heikki [Kovalainen], especially during the last third of the race, even attacking him at turn 12 until Kovalainen regained his position at turn 15. Charles [Pic] struggled during his stint on hard tires because, caught in traffic, he couldn’t bring his tires up to the optimal temperature window. In the end, he managed to achieve a pace closer to what we showed in qualifying. Now heading to Brazil where our goal will be to find a pace as good as we had in qualifying yesterday and maintain it during the race. I thank the whole team and everyone who played a role in making it a great event like we had this weekend in Austin. I look forward to coming back next season.

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HRT

Pedro de la Rosa – 21st

Narain Karthikeyan – 22nd

Luis Pérez-Sala, Team Director: « First of all, I want to thank each of the team members for their incredible professionalism and attitude during this Grand Prix. It has not been easy, but everyone did a fantastic job, and I am proud of this team and its members. After a few races with one car or the other unable to reach the finish, it was good to see Pedro and Narain finish. Moreover, this result with both our cars reaching the finish was particularly important for everyone’s morale and to face the last race of the season with confidence. »

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