Seeing as he was challenging for his third title at this race, it’s actually quite startling to realise that Vettel was only competing in his 100th GP.
Yes, we’ve become that used to the pointy finger and innate winningness of Das Sebulator, it’s easy to forget he’s still only 25 years old.
With the championship in his grasp (and Red Bull set to bag the Constructors crown to boot), the first visit to the new US GP circuit in Texas seemed quite likely to deliver Seb his third title with a race to spare.
The circuit was great, the weather fantastic, enthusiastic fans packed the stands and a nutter in a helicopter seemed to be intent on skimming the tops of the cars like a deranged seagull, all in the name of getting a good camera angle.
Unfortunately for Button, his screen time was somewhat limited as he dropped out in Q2 on Saturday, whilst Grosjean’s excellent P4 was diminished by a five place drop for a gearbox change.
Whilst Seb bagged pole, Hamilton was next up with Webber third, and Massa did a fantastic job to bag sixth, with championship contender Alonso only eighth, and on the dirty side of the grid at a new circuit with low grip levels.
Or so it seemed. Massa again got dealt the rubbish hand by Ferrari, who fiddled around with his gearbox enough that he got a 5 place penalty, thus promoting Fernando a place, and putting him on the clean side. So poor was the team’s attempt to disguise what they did, the FIA listed the penalty as “Ferrari broke the gearbox seal”. If Felipe ever looks unhappy, it’s probably the really bad taste in his mouth.
At the race start, Webber scurried past Hamilton (in a rare didn’t-bog-down-off-the-line moment) and Alonso used his extra grip to power up to 4th.
Schumi was busy yet again going backwards, but didn’t give up without an old-school aggressive defence against Grosjean, although Romain managed to sneak past the veteran German and Raikonen at the same time, in a rare display of not having a massive accident.
Lewis was off-track on lap three trying to get his place back from Mark, and scrabbled past a lap later on what was rapidly turning into a fine afternoon in the McLaren.
Grosjean’s display of talent was neatly cancelled out by a spin on lap 7, and as he struggled for grip on dirty tyres, 6th rapidly became 12th.
Ten laps in, and Lewis was starting to close on Vettel, who had once again got away brilliantly from pole. Kimi made yet another dazzling pass a few laps later, this time clearing Hulkywulkyberg for 5th, the Force India driving having a great afternoon at the sharp end.
Lewis snuck into DRS range of Seb on lap 15, but was unable to do anything with it, and had dropped back to nearly 3 seconds adrift just a couple of laps later.
Webber’s mechanical luck ran out for the first time in ages, as another Red Bull alternator failure saw him park the car on lap 17.
Pit stops commenced on lap 20, and Fernando had a slow one as a wheel failed to come off in a timely manner, but Vettel was back out in front, although challenged enthusiastically by Raikkonen, who hadn’t come in yet, the Finn benefiting from a different tyre choice for his first stint.
Button was also flying on his old tyres, and passed Alonso on lap 23, but new tyres were rapidly becoming essential, as Kimi discovered when Lewis’s set came on song and he darted past on the following lap.
Kimi’s stop gave him the chance to pass Alonso, but a slow one meant he was unable to benefit. At least his pit visit allowed the dejected Massa to run in third for a while.
At half distance, Hamilton was putting in fastest laps, and he was again heading into DRS range of Vettel, which he achieved on lap 34.
Jenson’s massively extended first stint ended on lap 36, and he rejoined – just – behind Grosjean in 7th. Seb, meanwhile, was busy pulling away yet again from Hamilton. Button capitalised on his fresh tyres to pass Grosjean for 6th, whilst a momentary trip onto the Astroturf cost Kimi a place to Massa, who moved up into 4th on lap 40.
Lewis finally managed to slither past Vettel on lap 42, whilst his team-mate continued his rise through the field, moving into 5th past Raikkonen as the laps dwindled down.
Maldonado and Senna set nerves jangling at Williams as they fought for position and the last couple of points-paying places, with Pastor grabbing 9th in the dying stages of the race.
Seb, unsurprisingly, hadn’t given up on the win, but despite fastest laps was unable to get into the DRS window of Hamilton, who breezed home for an impressive win that even his rival applauded in-car after they’d crossed the line.
The lone Red Bull in 2nd was sufficient to bag the team their 3rd, consecutive, title, but Alonso’s 3rd place (albeit 39 seconds behind) means the race for the title gets decided in Brazil.
13 point gap. Final race of the season. Unpredictable weather. Youngest ever triple back-to-back World Champion? Or third title for arguably the best driver in F1?
Epic Sunday ahead!
(Am I still listening to Mike Oldfield? Why yes. Tonight it's 2006's "The Platinum Collection".)
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