The 2013 United States Grand Prix was record breaking. Sebastian Vettel became the first driver to ever win eight consecutive races in one season at the Circuit of the Americas after finishing 6.1 seconds ahead of Romain Grosjean.
(c) Octane Photographic
Mark Webber finished his penultimate F1 race in third place and well clear of Hamilton and Alonso behind. Here's some driver reaction from the 18th round of the season.
"It’s the day after, normally on the Monday, when you feel what you have
achieved. It’s a great feeling, you have a grin on your face and it’s
nice. On Sunday things happen fast and you don’t always realise what has
been achieved until later. It’s down to team effort today. Everyone is
willing to push; this morning the guys were working hard as we had some
concerns about reliability on the car, so they were flat out trying to
fix the problem and the car ran okay all race, so a big thanks to them.
"I’m not sure what we have done since the summer break in order that we
have been winning races, but whatever it was it has worked. When you are
a sports man, not every day is supposed to be a good day and you have
ups and downs. Certainly you feel the points when you are low, they hurt
more than when you are on a high, of course you enjoy those times, but I
kept saying that there’s no guarantee for the next race or the one
after that or after that! You never know what is coming next, so you
have to enjoy today and look forward to tomorrow."
Hamilton happy with fourth place:
(c) Octane Photographic
"That felt good out there this afternoon and I'm really happy with fourth
place. It was so nice to have a race where I could fight for position
and make progress. The car felt much better today than recently so the
change in chassis has definitely made a difference and a big thanks to
my guys in the garage for their efforts there. I had a great start today
and that was crucial to my race. "We had to give up third place to Mark
fairly easily to make sure our tyre management and strategy worked as it
was more important for the team to finish ahead of Ferrari. There was
no way I was letting Fernando past at the end; I was ready for him to
make his move and had a couple of tenths ready to pull out if he did!
We've had a few difficult races on my side of the garage and I'm so
proud of the team for all the hard work they have put in. We're all
determined to maintain our second place at the final race in Brazil next
weekend."
Top five results "very positive" - Alonso
"Finishing in the top five today is
a very positive result when you consider how difficult this weekend has been
and the fact I had to start from the dirty side of
the track. We were well aware it would be very difficult to maintain position and
in fact I lost it to Perez. In the first part of the race, we weren’t quick and we decided to save the
tyres and then attack round the
pit stop.
We were more competitive on the Hards, we
passed Perez and set off to get Hulkenberg, but even if our situation
compared to Mercedes has improved, we were unable to beat them. I am very proud of this second place in the Drivers’
Championship, it’s a small reward for me, the same
as being first of the "mortals" behind Red Bull. My
back is okay, as I did a
good warm-up before the race and it didn’t bother me.
I feel more tired from all the tension of the race, but now I have three days
to rest and arrive in Brazil feeling a hundred percent. We really must improve there, because our goal
is still to finish second in the
Constructor’s Championship."
Taming one Red Bull a "great feeling" - Grosjean:
(c) Octane Photographic
"That was a really tough race. I had to have probably one of my best
ever drives to keep Mark [Webber] behind and it’s a great feeling to
have tamed at least one of the Bulls in Texas as they clearly had the
fastest package today. We knew a good start would be the key, so making
up one place in the first corner was really important and the car was
just fantastic from there onwards. The whole team here and back at
Enstone are doing an amazing job.
"Every day I see them working hard
together to keep us at the front and when you look at the gap to the
next nearest challenger, it’s clear that we’re the second best team
after Red Bull right now. I think this place must bring me luck; this
time last year I found out my wife was pregnant and now I’ve equalled my
best finish in Formula 1, so I can’t wait to come back again and see
what happens next year!"
Perez expected more than seventh:
"To be honest, I was expecting to achieve a little bit more than seventh today. "On the opening lap, I managed to push past Fernando [Alonso], and the car initially felt pretty strong. After that, however, between about lap 10 and lap 15, the tyre degradation started to kick in, and we struggled relative to the others around us. They seemed to be coping with the [tyre] deg[radation] a little bit better than we were.
"But, more importantly, I want to say a big ‘thank you’ to all my Mexican and American fans for the support they’ve shown me all weekend. "They came here to watch me perform, and, while I would love with all my heart to have given them a better result than seventh, it was still amazing to have their support throughout what has been a difficult but very special weekend."
Sutil blames Maldonado for first lap exit:
(c) Octane Photographic
"It feels like I ran out of luck this weekend. Up until Saturday morning I was looking competitive and was happy with the car, but all of that promise disappeared with the problems we had in qualifying. In the race I made a good start, gained a few positions and was racing ahead of Maldonado on the back straight.
"For some reason he hit my left rear wheel and I immediately lost control of the car and crashed into the barriers. I don’t really understand why he was so close to me because the track is so wide there. I stayed on my line and there was a lot of space to the right and the left. So it was an early finish and a very disappointing day."
"Solid" result for Hulkenberg in the USA:
"A very solid result yet again. If I’m not mistaken, since Monza that
would have been the eighth points finish in a row if it wasn’t for the
brake disc failure in India and the drive through in Abu Dhabi. That’s a
pretty impressive statistic. It was an interesting race. I didn’t have
to fight that much, only at the end with Fernando (Alonso), which was
good fun. "Unfortunately in the crucial part of the race, about ten to 15
laps before the end, we didn’t quite have the pace of Fernando, so he
was able to overtake me. During the last lap going into turn one I
passed him, but then I just missed the apex and he was able to get me
back at the exit. But we finished just a couple of seconds behind our
competitors. I think it’s been a good weekend with a gain of a good
eight points."
Ricciardo frustrated after losing 10th:
(c) Getty Images
"It was a tough end to the day, really tough. It looked as though we were going to hang on to the flag to
get the point for tenth place, but then in the last five laps, I lost pretty much all the grip I had and I saw
the guys closing in on me.
"I tried to hold them off but I didn’t have enough left in the tyres to do it. It’s
frustrating to get that close but I put up the best fight I could and there was nothing more I could have
done today. It was very difficult to overtake in the early stages when the cars were full of fuel and it
wasn’t easy to stay with the car in front through the fast corners, so we had to be patient."
Bottas ecstatic with first points finish:
"I'm very happy to get my first points in Formula One today. The whole
weekend has been good from setting up the car in practice through to the
strategy and pitstops in the race. We managed the tyres well today and I
had good feedback from my engineers on them throughout. "We did have a
bit of pressure from Rosberg at the end but I was able to keep pushing
and hold the position. I want to say a big thanks to everyone in the
team and at the factory as they have all been working so hard and really
deserve this result."
Bianchi happy to finish as lead backmarker after "tough" race:
(c) Octane Photographic
"It’s fair to say that today was the toughest race of the season for me. With just the one pitstop, switching from the Medium to the Hard tyre, it was a really long race with so much of my focus being given to looking after the tyres. Anyway, the start was good - enough to put me ahead of van der Garde - and then I’m really happy with the race I drove as we were easily able to keep both Caterhams behind. "I have to say a big thanks to the whole Team as there has been a great deal of work not only to help us resolve the problems of the weekend, but also to bring new parts to the car and make them work to good effect at this late stage of the season. A really good race for us today and we go into the final race in Brazil next week able to feel more confident."
Pic disappointed after struggling with car balance:
"Off the line I passed Chilton and was right behind Giedo and Bianchi at the end of the first lap. However, the car balance today was the same as it’s been all weekend, just not quite there, which meant I couldn’t push at all. I was keeping up with my teammate for the whole race, up to the drive-through in the last couple of laps, but we just didn’t have the pace today to put in the normal sort of race performance we’ve seen for most of the season. "We have the chance to bounce straight back in Brazil, and we’ll work hard over the next few days to understand what we need to do to find a setup that allows us to get the most out of the package. I had my highest finish of the season in Brazil last year so we’ll aim to sort out the setup issue and be there to take advantage of anything that comes our way."
Varied track conditions "remarkable" - Pirelli:
(c) Octane Photographic
"The variation in temperature we saw over the course of the weekend was
quite remarkable, meaning that the drivers encountered different track
conditions in every session. With such a wide spread of asphalt
temperatures, you would ideally need more than just the two compounds
stipulated in the regulations, but these were highly unusual
circumstances and that was obviously not an option! "As a result, the
teams did not really have a proper read on the wear and degradation
rates heading into the race. Nonetheless, most drivers chose a one-stop
strategy as we expected, helped by the safety car period at the
beginning of the grand prix, which then led to a race with less strategy
and fewer variables than we have been accustomed to recently."
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