Jack Leslie F1: 2015 United States Grand Prix In Pictures

The Circuit of the Americas is one of the most popular tracks on the calendar, with a challenging mix of corners, dramatic undulations and long straights.

It produced a spectacular 2015 United States Grand Prix, despite tricky conditions. Here is the race weekend in pictures.

All of the images featured in this piece are courtesy of Octane Photographic. See more of their work here.

Friday

Rain prior to FP1 meant wet tyres were used initially, before drivers switched to the intermediate Pirelli rubber.

Alexander Rossi got his second taste of driving around COTA, having previously sampled the track in 2013 in FP1 with Caterham.

The conditions were extremely treacherous, with numerous spins and off-track excursions - including this error for Felipe Massa.

Nico Rosberg was quick from the get go in the rain and ended FP1 fastest for Mercedes.

The rain intensified significantly in time for FP2 and the session ended up being cancelled.

Saturday

The terrible weather continued into Saturday but FP3 took place, with the wet tyres being the only option.

Hamilton was quickest in final practice, ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Nico Hulkenberg. It was a busy session as there was the possibility that it could decide the grid.

The rain kept on falling at COTA and this caused numerous delays to qualifying as the FIA waited for a gap in the weather.

Conditions failed to improve and the FIA announced at 4:00pm local time that qualifying would be postponed to Sunday morning.

Sunday

Despite the wet conditions continuing into Sunday morning, qualifying still took place.

Rossi was one of five drivers to be eliminated from Q1. Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr were 16th and 17th, ahead of Rossi, Will Stevens and Carlos Sainz Jr, who crashed at the esses.

Q2 took place but conditions continued to get worse. Fernando Alonso, Valtteri Bottas, Romain Grosjean, Jenson Button and Pastor Maldonado finished in the drop-zone.

Q3 was cancelled due to the weather and the grid was decided by the Q2 result. Rosberg took pole from Hamilton, Daniel Ricciardo, Daniil Kvyat, Vettel, Sergio Perez, Hulkenberg, Kimi Raikkonen, Massa and Max Verstappen.

The weather improved enough for the intermediates to be used for the start.

Hamilton had a strong start and moved into first place with an aggressive move at Turn 1, while behind there was plenty of movement in the midfield.

Rosberg was forced off track and dropped to fourth place, behind the Red Bull duo.

There was chaos behind, with Massa and Alonso colliding, sparking numerous contact.

Hamilton held off Kvyat and Ricciardo, with Rosberg waiting in the wings, but the Red Bull drivers were quicker on the intermediates.

There were plenty of great battles in the midfield as quicker cars made their way up the order.

The Red Bull duo were quick in the first stint but started to drop back when the field changed to dry tyres.

Button and McLaren put on a slightly more improved showing at COTA, enjoying some great battles.

Rosberg had the advantage in the second stint but a mistake caused him to fall behind Hamilton in the final stages.

Vettel fought his way up the order after starting in 13th place. He was on an unusual strategy and it helped him move up to third.

Sainz Jr started last but did well to rise through the field, finishing sixth for Toro Rosso. However, a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane meant he fell to seventh.

Alonso was running well within the top 10 but a loss of power late on caused him to drop to 11th by the chequered flag.

Nasr stopped five times in total, including a trip to the pits on lap two after colliding with his team-mate, but finished ninth.

Kvyat was still within the points but he crashed at the penultimate corner after running wide onto the damp artificial grass.

Verstappen was one of the stars of the race after racing to fourth place, equalling his best result.

Hamilton stormed to win number 10 of 2015 and secured his third drivers' title.

Rosberg just held off Vettel for second and the German was clearly disappointed afterwards.

There were celebrations in the pit lane after the podium ceremony, as the Mercedes team posed for a picture.

26 October 2015

2015 United States Grand Prix In Pictures

No comments:

Facebook