Advertisement

US Grand Prix: A masterclass in making the right mistake


After last year’s flooded US Grand Prix, it was a relief to see sunburn return as the biggest weather-related challenge in Texas.

But sunburn wasn’t to blame for the red faces among teams and drivers. There was a little bit of anger and frustration, and some cracking bloopers … not all of them accidental.

And Lewis Hamilton became only the third man in history to win 50 F1 races.

More on Lewis later but, first, those bloopers…


Marx Brothers? Nah, the Max Brothers



Max Verstappen was driving the wheels off his Red Bull when he was told to make sure he didn’t destroy his tyres, on lap 20.

Never one to shy away from a bit of backchat with his race engineer, he replied: ‘I’m not here to finish fourth.’

You could almost hear the gods of fate chortling as they lined up some payback for young Mr Gobby.

And so it came to pass that, just seven laps later, Verstappen arrived in the pits to find no tyres, no mechanics, the wheel guns still lying on the ground in their holsters. Oopsie.

Somehow, Max had mistaken an instruction to ‘push’ as an instruction to ‘box’…

Suddenly, it looked like the Marx Brothers were running the Red Bull pit operation, as bemused mechanics leapt from seats and grabbed tyres, while Max himself was forced to watch the chaos unfolding as he slowed just outside his pit box to allow everyone to get in place (which they did pretty quickly, to be fair).

He’d thrown away a podium finish and he knew it, rejoining in seventh place.

Still, he got a get-out-of-jail free card (of sorts) three laps later when his gearbox gave up the ghost and he was forced to park his car at the side of the track.

But the gods of fate hadn’t finished with Verstappen, oh no.

He coaxed his stricken Red Bull past several ideal stopping points (apparently at the team’s bidding) and then had to abandon it (pictured) in a location that was deemed dangerous enough to trigger a Virtual Safety Car.

Both Mercedes pitted under the VSC, saving them around ten seconds over drivers who’d pitted while the race was going at full speed.

And who suffered most? Step forward Verstappen’s team-mate, Daniel Ricciardo (top), who’d already stopped for fresh rubber and was looking like he could snatch a second-place finish.

But that wasn’t to be…


Red Bull gives you ****s



Because he pitted under the VSC, Rosberg rejoined the race ahead of Ricciardo, much to the Aussie’s chagrin.

He was on the radio quickly, complaining: ‘They got a free stop basically. That’s bull****.’

Never a man to lose focus, he turned his attention back to Rosberg, several seconds up the track, and said something that sounded like : ‘I’d love to catch that mo**.’

Someone must have told him his comments had gone public because, later in the race, Ricciardo appeared to acknowledge that there are better ways to refer to the championship leader when he said: ‘Love that guy, one of my best mates…’

Ricciardo still managed to finish third, prompting more bad language on the podium when he proffered a Red Bull ‘shoey’ to Scottish actor Gerard Butler (pictured), whose reaction was an uneasy ‘****’.

Got to love Ricciardo, still putting the F in F1.


We are Ferrari, we can screw this up better than Red Bull



Another race weekend, another round of face-palming from Ferrari fans.

After one of those morale-sapping qualifying sessions in which both their cars were bettered by Red Bull, Ferrari were at least looking at a fourth and fifth-place finish.

Well, until lap 39. With Vettel complaining that he had lost downforce, Kimi Raikkonen pitted (pictured) and was sent on his way … with a rear wheel not properly attached.

It transpired a wheelgun had still been doing its nut-tightening thing as Kimi got the signal to get going.

Raikkonen – don’t forget, he’s Ferrari’s consistent driver – had already been put on a less-than-optimal tyre strategy by Ferrari, before the pit fiasco ruined his race completely.

To rub even more salt in his wounds, Race Director Charlie Whiting has warned he will hand out grid penalties for unsafe releases – so Ferrari’s problems here could wreck his chances at the next race too.

It’s a fair bet that there’s already been more nut tightening at Ferrari. Ouch.


That was no mistake, that was an overtake




At some circuits this year, drivers have been penalised for ‘failing to obey track limits’ – cheating, in other words.

But enforcement of track limits is patchy at best and there was none of it in Texas.

Indeed, instead of punishing drivers for failing to stick to the actual circuit, the Circuit Of The Americas had huge red strips of extra road beyond the rumble strips and white lines that mark the legal track limits.

It’s a curious sport when drivers are punished for changing a broken gearbox but not punished for deliberately taking an illegal racing line.

It was a bit of a free-for-all, to be honest. Still, it presented an opportunity and no one grabbed that opportunity with more vigour than Fernando Alonso (pictured).

He snatched a rare – nay, remarkable – fifth place for McLaren, using every inch of the bits of track that he wasn’t really supposed to use to help him overtake.

He also used a bit of dodgem driving to muscle his way past Felipe Massa, leaving the Williams driver with a puncture after a wheel-on-wheel bump that looked distinctly deliberate.

But it was good to see Alonso back battling for proper points… and to hear him ‘yee-ha’ after he passed Carlos Sainz (finishing his braking waaaaaay off the track, natch). More please.


Don’t forget the winner



Was Germany really Lewis Hamilton’s last F1 victory? Yes, it’s been a bit of a wait for the reigning champion, who finally recorded his 50th win in the sport.

Make no mistake, that No.50 is significant – only Michael Schumacher (91) and Alain Prost (51) have previously reached that landmark.

It was a drama-free weekend for Hamilton (pictured), who qualified well and, crucially, started at least competently, before going on to control the race from the front.

He knows he can win all the remaining races this season and still not be champion and so, while he was smiley enough, there was also a distinct air of resignation about him.

Still, better to be winning and frustrated like Hamilton than doing what Ferrari did to get something from the weekend – Vettel pitted two laps from the end for fresh tyres, so he could nail one of those fastest laps that he likes.


Was that a woman on the podium?



Yes, it was. And not just the cheerleader types in short skirts and long boots.

Mercedes sent Partner Services Director Victoria Vowles (pictured) up to collect the Constructors’ trophy… when’s the last time you saw a woman doing that?

Honestly, it’s simply rubbish that this is something that’s still worth noting as being unusual – I know as many female F1 fans as male, and the last team boss I interviewed was Claire Williams… the F1 world is not a male-only world.

But if it hadn’t been for Vowles, the only ‘F1’ women we’d have seen on camera would be some TV reporters, a couple of stars flown in for the day, and those Texan cheerleaders.

Oh, and Taylor Swift, whose presence on Saturday evening sold more than a few extra tickets.

At the beginning of this year, the ‘Dare To Be Different’ campaign was launched to get more girls into motorsport.

Well, F1 describes itself as the pinnacle of motorsport but, as for daring to be different?

As Daniel Ricciardo might say, bull***.