2012 United States Grand Prix result

40 comments on “2012 United States Grand Prix result”

1. 

   Eggry (@eggry)
   18th November 2012, 20:59

   Great race from many drivers. Deserved victory for Hamilton. Vettel did well but Webber’s failure is worrying sign for Red Bull. Alonso did good job but it could be better considering Massa’s pace. Maybe their new updates(exclusive for Alonso for now) made step backward. It seems Ferrari is still struggling to evaluate updates.
   1. 

      Jeanrien (@jeanrien)
      19th November 2012, 16:17

      Clearly Massa was beter than Alonso on that one (as it was the case in India, second time Alonso climbed on the podium in the place of Massa) but Ferrari is limiting the damage thanks to the podium of Alonso …

      Great battle up front, at least Hamilton was there to avoid Vettel running away with victory, no-one else could have stop him (as shown by the 30+ seconds gap they had over Alonso)
2. 

   zicasso (@zicasso)
   18th November 2012, 21:00

   Well done kid!
3. 

   sumedhvidwans (@sumedhvidwans)
   18th November 2012, 21:12

   So, Alonso HAS to finish on the podium. Not too difficult considering that he has done it in every race since the summer break.
   And given that Alonso is likely to finish on the podium, Vettel HAS to finish the race in points. Well, like Alonso, he has either retired or finished on podium this season!

   So overall, I have a feeling that if Alonso is to win this, it will be decided via a retirement
   1. 

      Eggry (@eggry)
      18th November 2012, 21:30

      @sumedhvidwans of course. even If Alonso wins in Brazil, Vettel only have to manage P4. If Alonso is P2, Vettel P6, P3-P9, if Alonso fail to get on the podium, Vettel could retire and still win the title. I can’t imagine Vettel failed to finish higher than 5th. Surely the title will be decided by a retirement and Webber’s alternator failure is a quite meaningful.
4. 

   david d.m.
   18th November 2012, 21:16

   I hope the Americans realized that it doesn’t take 10 retirements, dozens of crashes and half of the race under yellow flags to make a race interesting, I think the race was very good for Austin and the people who went there, can’t wait for next week.
   1. 

      xbx-117 (@xbx-117)
      18th November 2012, 21:44

      Given that Abu Dhabi was rated the highest of the season so far, I think the whole world thinks that’s what it takes to make a race interesting. At least this year.
      1. 

         Mike (@mike)
         19th November 2012, 2:35

         Are you saying that an eventful race doesn’t make it interesting?
         1. 

            xbx-117 (@xbx-117)
            19th November 2012, 15:20

            Course not. I gave Abu Dhabi a 9. I’m just pointing out how a race with lots of incidents, long caution periods, and rather poor driving standards (all 3 are something NASCAR receives some pointless criticism for having) was rated the best of the year so far by this site. Everyone wants to see that stuff.

            I’m very pleased though that the drivers were able to offer a great race while being very clean and professional at the U.S. GP. Great to have all types of races in a year.
5. 

   Michael (@freelittlebirds)
   18th November 2012, 21:17

   Racing at its best – like the Speed commentators, most folks consider the Red Bull to be a better car than the McLaren. I think this race will become a classic because the entire race was essentially a duel between Vettel and Hamilton and Hamilton managed to come from P3 pass Webber then catch Vettel twice, pass him and then disappear in the slower car.
   1. 

      uan (@uan)
      18th November 2012, 21:36

      hard to argue that the Mclaren was the slower car (a tenth off in quali?) and clearly faster in race trim, especially on the harder tire. Building a gap of 1.4 seconds isn’t what I’d call disappearing. I think disappearing is what Hamilton and Vettel did on Alonso.
      1. 

         rez (@rez0)
         18th November 2012, 22:11

         Absolutely agreed on every point.

         Hamilton was a bit faster than Vettel in the race – it’s ridiculous to say his car was slower though. However both of them outclassed the rest of the field by a huge margin, no contest there.
         1. 

            brny666
            18th November 2012, 22:39

            +1
         2. 

            Michael (@freelittlebirds)
            18th November 2012, 22:46

            Vettel dominated the practice sessions and managed to beat Hamilton in the qualifying. Vettel pulled 3+ seconds away from Hamilton – hardly a slower car… In fact it was suggested that Vettel was toying with Hamilton as he could pull away any moment but waited to do so.

            Hamilton couldn’t pass him for 20 laps in the DRS while driving in dirty air and had to hang behind him. The RB8 was so ridiculously quick that it pulled 0.3-0.4 seconds in the 2 corners after the DRS zone.

            Vettel made a mistake and that’s how Lewis managed to close the gap. He also misjudged the corner when Lewis passed him and hit the kerb.

            This was a thrashing of Vettel by a slower car – it’s not 1 second slower but it was 0.1-0.2 seconds slower with Hamilton in it and possibly more if Vettel was driving it.

            No one knows the RB8’s limits since Hamilton can’t drive it to define them. We do however know the MP427’s limits.
            1. 

               brny666
               19th November 2012, 0:01

               You suggest that only Hamilton is able to drive a car on its limit which is a ridicules statement. I really don’t see why Vettel would toy with Hamilton if he could just pull a massive gap on him. Vettel did not make a mistake leading up to turn nine he was held up by an HRT even Lewis admitted that, and as far as thrashing goes in a slower car Hami overtook Webber so he was faster than one RedBull and pretty much caught up the other suggesting that on race pace the Macca was better as the RB if you don’t believe that look at the pace JB had in that car. In fact you bring up the turns after DRS zone, while Vettel was faster in the last sector Lewis was faster in the first two that’s how he managed to keep ahead of Lewis. The rest of your statement is just Lewis loving Vettel bashing mumbo jumbo.
            2. 

               Michael (@freelittlebirds)
               19th November 2012, 0:42

               @brny666 He let Hamilton chew up the tires to catch him (the limit chews up the tires), then Vettel pulled a 3 second gap.

               Did you NOT watch the race? JS commented on that strategy…

               The Macca was not as fast – if it were, Hamilton would have passed Vettel in a few laps. Hamilton had to push the McLaren to its absolute limits WITHOUT any errors (that’s the hard part) while Vettel made 2 errors (I think he locked a tire another time) for 3 errors.

               If the Macca was so fast, why didn’t Button catch Alonso? If Hamilton could build a 30+ second over Alonso, surely Button’s McLaren could have taken 3rd place, right?

               When has Vettel shown speed out of Red Bull???
            3. 

               uan (@uan)
               19th November 2012, 2:03

               When has Vettel shown speed out of Red Bull???

               In Formula 1? How about BMW? Torro Rosso? The question could be asked of Hamilton as well, since he’s only been in Mclaren, you know, the team that’s won 25% of all F1 races?

               Both Hamilton and Vettel, and as shown by Sky after the race, Hamilton caught Vettel through the esses because Narin held up Vettel. In fairness, that’s the luck of racing and Hamilton’s been caught out himself.

               But the one thing is that Mclaren is much much faster in a straight line, even without DRS. As for Button, he fell back to 16th place after the start whereas Alonso was 4th. This creates a whole different set of circumstances. Jenson needed to battle through mid field cars that Vettel, Alonso and Hamilton didn’t need to. And with that he finished 17 seconds behind Alonso.

               The Mclaren is as fast as the Redbull and it’s only been mechanical failures or else Hamilton would have had 2 other wins (Singapore and Abu Dhabi) and Hamilton also had a mechanical in Korea that compromised his race tremendously.
            4. 

               Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
               19th November 2012, 16:12

               @freelittlebirds – I think that was respective more of McLaren’s warm-up issues with the tyres: on race pace they were fairly equal, if not Hamilton was slightly faster.
6. 

   brny666
   18th November 2012, 21:19

   Absolute ace of a race, I only wish Karthikeyan pulled over earlier (others did it so it was possible) so that what seemed like Lewis’ inevitable overtake of Seb would have come a few laps later because I would have loved watching that battle a little longer.
   1. 

      sid90 (@sid90)
      19th November 2012, 0:53

      +1 Yeah it was reminiscent of China 2011 and Barcelona 2011.
7. 

   Dizzy
   18th November 2012, 21:26

   Really wish we didn’t have drs ruining the races.

   it was a good race for the most part but there were way too many boringly easy drs drive-by push of a button passes once again & that pass for the lead was a complete joke, has to be one of the least interesting passes for the lead i have ever seen.
   we had a nice scrap for the lead going on & then it gets ended with a boringly easy pass which really took away a lot of the excitement & just made the end very anti-climactic.
   A pass for the lead should be exciting, thrilling & something really special yet drs never does any of these things.

   drs has killed my enjoyment of so many races these past 2 years :(
   1. 

      Eggry (@eggry)
      18th November 2012, 21:37

      at least the US is not the case. You can’t say Hamilton passed Vettel easily and others struggle to overtake either.
      1. 

         Dizzy
         18th November 2012, 22:53

         You can’t say Hamilton passed Vettel easily

         but he did pass vettel easily, he was well past thanks to drs way before they got anywhere near the braking zone.

         it was another totally dull, boring, unexciting & stupidly easy push of a button highway drive-by pass.

         watching the in-car feed on sky on my ipad alongside the main coverage showed a ton of other easy drs drive-by’s, not all of which made the main tv broadcast feed.

         drs may produce passing, but it doesn’t produce good racing & certainly doesn’t generate exciting overtaking!

         honestly, i’ve given drs 2 years, i hate it to the point where if it allows passing to be just as easy in 2013 im done with f1 & i wont be watching again untill drs is gone!
   2. 

      lightsout (@lightsout)
      18th November 2012, 22:36

      The problem is that it is necessary – no way Hamilton would have got past Vettel otherwise. Even Button was having a lot of trouble getting past Kimi.

      Is it the perfect solution? No, I’d rather go for a push-to-pass which you can use at anytime (but have a limited number of) but it is what we’ve got.
      1. 

         Dizzy
         18th November 2012, 23:01

         The problem is that it is necessary –

         It isn’t necisary, we saw a lot of good racing well outside the drs zone so even without drs we still woudl have seen a lot of real overtaking & in my opinion without the easy drs moves the race would have been a lot better.

         no way Hamilton would have got past Vettel otherwise.

         so what? is there some sort of rule stating that hamilton deserved to get by vettel?

         also how do you know he would not have got by without drs? lewis was one of the best overtakers pre-drs, often pulling off great moves while others struggled so i think he could have done something even without the dumb racing system.
8. 

   Antonio Nartea (@tony031r)
   18th November 2012, 21:32

   Here’s where I should say something about Mercedes but I can’t be bothered anymore. Seriously.
   Other than that, I’d say this is the most “normal” classification this season. Everyone’s pretty much where they are expected to be. Except maybe for the Saubers being a bit down the order compared to Hulkenberg, Maldonado and co.
9. 

   Gigantor (@kbdavies)
   18th November 2012, 21:36

   This race really showed that the tyres have been a farce all season. Without the so called “ultra conservative” tyres that Pirelli brought to COTA, we would not have had the trading of lap times, the close racing, the fighting, and the ducking and diving we saw throughout the race. Rather, it would have been the same old “nursing” of tyres, and keeping to specified lap deltas. Though there was some tyre management going on, it did not alter the racing so much as it had done so many times earlier in the season. Great race!
   1. 

      KDesser (@)
      18th November 2012, 23:15

      This race really showed that the tyres have been a farce all season.

      Objection!
      The tires were ‘too conservative’ so focus got back to fuel & traffic managing etc. during the race.
      HAM used his max engine setting in the lap he was supposed to do and got by Vettel (with a little help from his friends).
      Thing is, and I stated this when all people were whining about how ‘F1 became too unpredictable’ after the first 6 races this year, if we had conservative tires like this at the start of the season, the field would be totally dominated by 1 team (if we’re very lucky 2) – This would not be at the end of the season, like this year, but already building at race 2 and we’d probably have our championships decided in August…
      The fact that HAM & VET had 40 secs on Alonso was quite shocking. And the gaps to all other cars too.

      The ducking & fighting we saw was mostly -imho- cause of the good layout of the circuit (wide entries).

      I hope Pirelli messes up the predictability again for a great deal next year.
      Then all of the fans and different ‘tastes’ will be surely served again :D
10. 

    woogle
    18th November 2012, 21:55

    make you thing that the slow masssa cr and for sypathy for the grid derop let hime use full package i honestly think massa could have won that
    1. 

       Antonio Rossi (@bnm123)
       18th November 2012, 22:05

       probably wouldnt have won but he has been quicker than alonso all weekend and had the race pace for a podium
11. 

    Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
    18th November 2012, 22:06

    I hope an alternator doesn’t decide the championship: a new alternator has been fitted to the Red Bull car and immediately one fails. I don’t understand how it can be so difficult to make a reliable alternator: Red Bull had no alternator failures last year so why shoudn’t that be possible this year?
    1. 

       Postreader
       18th November 2012, 22:36

       Car giveth, car taketh away… I don’t think it would be a tainted title if Alonso were to win the title with Vettel abandoning.
       1. 

          asingh1 (@asingh1)
          18th November 2012, 22:51

          I think it would – kind of like how Schumacher’s engine blowout in Suzuka ’06 meant the we were denied a real title decider in Brazil, where Schumacher would have only been two points clear of Alonso going into the race
          1. 

             puneeth Bharath (@puneethvb)
             19th November 2012, 5:15

             It is very unfair to Alonso to suggest that his 2006 title was tainted… He also had misfortunes of his own.. Remember Hungry 2006??? Alonso drove a great race to come from near the back of the grid to lead the race only to retire because of a loose wheel nut… and Monza 06 when he was penalized for blocking massa.. and in the race his engine blew out…
             1. 

                Adam Tate (@adam-tate)
                19th November 2012, 7:56

                He did not suggest Alonso’s 2006 title was tainted, merely that Brazil 2006 could have been that much more exciting if it weren’t for Schumacher’s engine failure whilst leading at Suzuka the race before.

                Given how well MSC drove that final race in Brazil, had he been just two points shy of Alonso at the drop of the green flag the two might well have been battling for victory or a podium at the bare minimum and given us one hell of a season finale.
    2. 

       Antonio Nartea (@tony031r)
       18th November 2012, 23:39

       @vettel1

       I hope an alternator doesn’t decide the championship

       I think Red Bull will do whatever it takes in order to ensure that doesn’t happen on Vettel’s car in Brazil. The stakes are too high to leave this in the hands of fate…to be honest.

       I don’t understand how it can be so difficult to make a reliable alternator

       I don’t think this is about how reliable the alternator per-se is as much as it might have to do with Red Bull’s engine setup taking the life out that particular piece. They only team that experienced this failure besides Red Bull is Lotus on Grosjean’s car in Valencia. Since then, RBR have had multiple issues with it while Lotus seem to have sorted them out. I doubt this is down to pure luck. It has to have something to do with the engine mappings…
       1. 

          Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
          19th November 2012, 16:21

          @tony031r – that was what I was thinking, that Red Bull’s engine maps perhaps have unusual torque amounts and hence put stress on whatever the criminal component is (or perhaps a cooling issue due to Newey’s very tightly packaged cars!). Red Bull used very exotic engine maps last year though however, so I don’t see how they can’t do the same they did last year (which is what they did in the races between Monza and USA – with no alternator failures). What I’m questioning is if they’ve made a reliable alternator before, why can’t they do it again?
          1. 

             Antonio Nartea (@tony031r)
             19th November 2012, 19:34

             @vettel1 – I’m guessing Magneti Marelli changed something with the 2012 spec of their alternators. A certain something that conflicts in a hard-to-understand way with the Renault engines and the way Red Bull set up those engines in particular.

             In order to make a reliable alternator the have to understand WHY the current one is failing and WHY it is failing mostly on the Red Bulls, something which Magneti Marelli might have failed to do and something that might relate to the complexity of the Newey-designed RB8.

             That’s all there is to it in my opinion.
12. 

    AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
    19th November 2012, 13:15

    Good result that keeps the championship alive just that little longer. Doen’t bother me so much but it shuts some people up complaining :P

    Mercedes had a nightmare with the tyres which is disappointing but even more disappointing is tht Sauber didn’t take advantage of that as much as they should have!
13. 

    ana heully (@ana1313)
    19th November 2012, 17:33

    I was really happy with how the race turned out. I just wish I could have been there to see it all happen! I was expecting there to be more wrecks just because the drivers had never raced on the track before. All in all, I think the track was built well, and I can’t wait to see how the racers do next season on this track. I found the article form Austin, Texas’s newspaper. I thought it summed up the race pretty well. http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local-govt-politics/on-f1s-big-day-an-austin-success/nS9WR/

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