Formula 1 US Grand Prix 2018 Highlights
Circuit of The Americas,
otherwise known as COTA for short, held an absolute thriller in the heart of
Texas.
Formula 1 came to COTA and Austin with the expectation that Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes would claim his fifth world championship title there, thus tying him with the F1 greats of Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher. However, this did not happen, because of a strategy problem with Mercedes.
The festivities started down in Miami with the Formula 1 Festival. Which was basically a large party in Miami to get the fans excited for the Miami Gran Prix in the 2019 Formula 1 season. Red Bull Racing and Renault F1 team were there to thrill fans. Two-time F1 World Champion Emerson Fittipaldi drove his championship winning McLaren M23 along the streets of Miami. The festival even had many other F1 cars and exotics driving around Miami.
The race weekend was brilliant and full of action; there was rain during Free Practice 1 & 2, there was an epic qualifying session that saw Lewis Hamilton beat Sebastian Vettel by 7 hundredths of a second to claim pole (Vettel was given a 5-place grid penalty), and Max Verstappen was sent to the rear for changing a gearbox/transmission.
The race was action packed from the moment the lights went out. Hamilton blocked/forced Kimi Raikkonen (who started second) to the inside of turn 1, resulting in Raikkonen taking the lead. Fernando Alonso was taken out by another car which caused three to retire. Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo touch and Vettel spins, leaving Vettel in a bad spot. Verstappen would go on to cut up the field passing everything in his way, on his way to finish second. Ricciardo then would suffer a power-unit failure and would retire, causing a Virtual Safety Car. Hamilton pits under the VSC, he was told to do whatever Kimi didn't do. All of this in only 12 laps of racing.
Hamilton starts to gain on Raikkonen and will soon catch him. Kimi pits and comes out just behind Vettel, giving Hamilton the lead. Many other drivers pit and come out quite well. Vettel and Verstappen continue their charges through the field. Hamilton puts some distance between him and second place Kimi. Hamilton has to slow up and save his tires.
On lap 38, Hamilton pits and loses the lead to Raikkonen. Bottas and Hamilton switch places, allowing Hamilton to now go and try to catch Verstappen in second. Lewis is then in a heated battle with Max, Lewis is unable to pass Max although he attempts to do so many times. Vettel finally passes Bottas, which effectively end Hamilton's hopes of claiming the title in Austin.
Sources:
Sky Sports F1 coverage - skysports.com/f1, ESPN2 - espn.com/f1, Formula 1 - formula1.com, & Liberty Media - libertymedia.com/companies/formula1