What a start the US GP had! Kimi, who started from P2 on the ultra-soft Pirellis, took control right away. The Iceman challenged pole-setter Hamilton for the lead, going into Turn 1. Kimi went to the inside, and although Hamilton tried everything to block the ice cool Finn, Kimi squeezed it past the Briton, taking the lead. That was a moment of pure joy! Kimi had absolutely nailed it at the start!
On my yesterday's blog post I wrote, that Sebastian couldn't afford any first-lap mistakes in the US GP. Well, unfortunately my hopes weren't answered! Sebastian had a tight battle with Red Bull's Ricciardo for P4 after the start. Sebastian seemed to have an advantage in terms of pace, but again the German was lacking patience! Sebastian tried a move on his ex-teammate, going into the outside of Ricciardo, but their wheels touched and Sebastian span! Once again Sebastian had made the race extremely challenging for himself. He dropped down to P14 and had to start a recovery run...
The opening lap wasn't problem-free in the midfield, either. Sauber's Leclerc had a collision with Haas' Grosjean, and another crash involved Williams' Stroll and McLaren's Alonso. The Spaniard was the first driver to retire, and Stroll was handed a drive through penalty for causing the collision. Grosjean, too had to retire due to the incident with Leclerc.
Red Bull's Verstappen, on the other hand, had an amazing start to the race. The Dutchman had started from P18, but by lap 7 he had made his way up to P5 already! The further back on the grid Max starts, the better he seems to perform. He made overtaking look so easy. Max always delivers when it comes to putting up a staggering overtaking show. However, teammate Ricciardo was once again the victim of Red Bull's reliability issues. The Australian lost all power on lap 9, and his RB14 stopped on the track. A very frustrated Ricciardo got out of the car. So it was good-bye for P4 and valuable points! Virtual safety car was deployed, as Ricciardo's Red Bull had stopped dangerously on track.
Mercedes made a strategic call to take Hamilton in during the virtual safety car. The Briton switched to the yellow-marked hardest compound. Ferrari told Kimi on the team radio, that Hamilton was probably on a two-stop strategy. I didn't believe it, I have to admit. I was sure, that it was Hamilton's first and last pit stop in the race. Meanwhile, Sebastian had managed to make his way through the field, and had moved fifth already.
After his pit stop, Hamilton was absolutely flying around the track, decreasing the gap to Kimi extremely rapidly. Bottas was told on the team radio to give way for his teammate, and the Finn obeyed the team order. Kimi was a second per lap slower than Hamilton, who was storming on his fresh set of tyres. At this point I was seriously thinking, that Ferrari had made a wrong tactical call by not taking Kimi in during the virtual safety car. On lap 19 Hamilton was right at the Iceman's tail, benefitting from the use of the DRS. Turn after turn, Hamilton was patiently lurking for a chance to overtake the Iceman, but the ice cool Finn played it smart and defended his position with a big heart and ice cool attitude. Two laps later Kimi pitted for a fresh set of soft tyres. Kimi re-joined the track in P5, 19 seconds off Hamilton.
Verstappen, who had been utterly on flames, pitted for a different tyre strategy. The Dutch Red Bull ace opted for a fresh set of super-soft Pirellis. Bottas, who pitted a lap later for a similar tyre choice to his teammate, lost a position to Verstappen, when re-joining the track. On lap 25 we saw quite a rare team order from Ferrari, as the Red Team told Sebastian to give way for Kimi, who was much faster on the fresh set of tyres. Hamilton was now leading the race, Kimi was second and Sebastian third. Verstappen was fourth and Bottas fifth.
Sebastian pitted on lap 26 for the hardest rubber, and re-joined the track in P5. Kimi had banged excellent lap times, and the gap to Hamilton was now 17 seconds. Hamilton had 10 laps more on his tyres, and the championship leader started to struggle with his tyres. Kimi's lap times were much more competitive than the Briton's, and on lap 36 the gap between these two was only some 10 seconds. In no time Hamilton was in serious trouble especially with his rear tyres, which were badly blistered. Hamilton had no choice but to pit for a fresh set of softs on lap 37. Kimi took the lead, as Hamilton re-joined the track in P4. The teams had missed the long runs on Friday due to the rainy conditions, so tyre degradation must have come as a surprise for Mercedes. I was so happy for Kimi! I knew, that having taken the lead, Kimi was determined to take the win!
Hamilton was absolutely storming on his fresh tyres. His lap times were two seconds faster than Kimi's! Would Kimi's worn softs last till the end? The last 15 laps were such a thriller! I was kind of glad, that I was watching the race at hospital; at least the nurses would be close, if I got a heart attack! Once again Bottas let his teammate past, and Hamilton kept up his superior pace. With seven laps to go, the top three drivers were within 2.5 seconds! Kimi was leading the race, with Verstappen right at his tail. Hamilton, on the other hand, was lurking right behind Verstappen. I wanted Kimi to win the race -I wanted it so badly! I was happy, that Verstappen was behind Kimi, because I knew, that the Dutchman wouldn't let Hamilton to get past. The closing laps seemed to take an eternity... Verstappen was allowed to use DRS against Kimi at some point, but Kimi defended his position absolutely flawlessly. Hamilton made a move on Verstappen three laps before the chequered flag, but ended up going wide.
Sebastian and Bottas had an intense battle of their own for P4. The Finn struggled with his out-worn tyres, and Sebastian squeezed it past Bottas on the second last lap. It was certainly a convincing recovery from Sebastian after his first-lap mistake. But Kimi won the US GP! This was the first win for the Iceman since the 2013 Australian GP! The Iceman showed the world, that as 39 years old he is not too old for Formula 1! I was so so happy for Kimi. It was a dream come true to see him on the top step of the podium and hear the national anthem of Finland. Verstappen finished the runner-up, and Hamilton was left third. This meant, that Hamilton didn't clinch the world championship, at least not yet. Sebastian finished fourth and Bottas fifth. Renault's Hulkenberg was the "best of the rest", finishing 6th. Force India's Ocon and Haas' Magnussen, who had finished 7th and 8th, were excluded from the results due to a fuel infringement, so Renault's Sainz was promoted 7th. Force India's Perez, Toro Rosso's Hartley and Sauber's Ericsson completed the top ten.
The F1 circus stays in America, and round 19 will take place in Mexico already this week. Hopefully Kimi will keep up his amazing momentum! I want to see more red victories at the end of the season!
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