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Kimi Raikkonen is in his last races with the Ferrari Formula 1 team before heading to Sauber, but he reminded everyone not to count him for Sunday. In an unpredictable American Grand Prix style and at the edge of your seat, Raikkonen won his first F1 race since 2013, while Lewis Hamilton's fifth title was postponed for at least a week.
Hamilton, untouchable at the Texas Circuit of the Americas, in Austin for five years over the past seven years, struggled to run a pass for second place in the final laps. Red Bull rider Max Verstappen came back in second place, while his teammate was absent just after the start of the race, after a failure.
Different strategies at the pits, the first three within two seconds of each other when they clicked on the last few laps, to the suspense of how the calculations would evolve in the future. Hamilton's hope of getting his title three races earlier, the US Grand Prix was a pleasant surprise in a series of races that tends to look at the predictable side – even though the cars have come full circle laps in the last lap, the thing was not finished before the end.
And that's exactly what racing should be.
The preparation for the US Grand Prix was straightforward and the race itself seemed just as simple: Hamilton had to score eight points more than vice-champion Vettel to claim the title, and Circuit of the Americas was his favorite. personal purpose. Playground. Most would have predicted a casual player Sunday at a championship for Hamilton with his pole position, but that was far from it.
Raikkonen showed how it was done right from the start Sunday, diving inside Hamilton from the third starting position. As usual, Raikkonen took the lead and Hamilton, the pole-sitter, finished second.
Raikkonen took off, firmly holding Hamilton and teammate Mercedes, Valtteri Bottas, while Verstappen climbed from 15th to 4th in the first 10 laps. While Verstappen was dicing, his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo made contact with Vettel, who spun and dropped to the 15th. Ricciardo quickly managed to solve what Red Bull called "an alleged battery problem" on Twitter.
Ricciardo gave up the runway in one of cowboy-patterned cowboy costumes that Red Bull had released for the weekend, resembling a video clip of a sad country song on a long-lost lover who was last seen on a race track.
The peloton moved shortly after a virtual safety car came out and Hamilton made a pit stop. He fell in third place behind Raikkonen and Bottas but ahead of Verstappen, adopting a different pit strategy than the other contenders.
With cooler tires and a championship to win, Mercedes radioed Bottas after the race became green: "Lewis is three seconds behind, do not block it." Bottas stopped shortly thereafter to order Hamilton to let Hamilton pass. and get closer to a place in Raikkonen while Vettel went back to fifth place.
Hamilton greatly reduced Raikkonen's lead after taking second place, about a second on the 19th lap, and followed his red Ferrari while Verstappen kept off the person standing between Hamilton and his title – Vettel -.
Raikkonen aggressively resisted Hamilton for several laps after catching the Ferrari, before giving way to lap 22 of the tour. The peloton escaped after pit stops. Hamilton took 17 seconds ahead of Raikkonen. Verstappen and Bottas followed, with Vettel in fifth position.
The pit stops were again close at the end of the race, and that's when things went really well. Just as the top three were glued together, it was hard not to be stuck in the race.
Raikkonen took the lead from lap 38 and stayed there. With 10 laps to go, he had a 1.9 second lead over Verstappen. Hamilton was 2.4 seconds behind Verstappen, while Bottas and Vettel were in fourth place.
The magic numbers were at stake from that moment: To win his fifth career title, Hamilton was to finish second and he needed Vettel to stay fifth. None of these things happened.
Verstappen moved closer to Raikkonen. Hamilton closed on Verstappen. In the 50th lap of 56, they were both just two seconds away, sneaking around corners like a row of connected cars. It took Hamilton up to the 53rd lap to catch up with Verstappen, harassing him in turns until it was time for him to make the move. Hamilton has tried his luck many times, and it even seemed that he had shut the door at one point – but Verstappen has been fiercely defended and Hamilton has escaped debris offline, forcing him to throw himself into the red-white-blue runoff zone.
All the real-time calculations and possibilities predictions passed by the window, as it was obvious that this title fight would go to the Mexican Grand Prix next weekend.
Hamilton rejoined the peloton, still in third position, and almost like a magic mirror, Bottas' almost identical Mercedes car ran away while she was fighting Vettel. This gave Vettel the fourth position and he stayed there.
Raikkonen crossed the finish line first, followed by Verstappen, Hamilton, Vettel and Bottas. He got out of the race car after his first win since 2013 for a TV interview, and one of the first questions was about his winless series: his fans were definitely happy, said the interviewer, but not as happy as he could be.
"Who knows," Raikkonen said, in the typical Raikkonen way. "Maybe happier."
But he must be inflated, said the interviewer.
"Obviously, I'm a lot happier than finishing second," Raikkonen said.
Meanwhile, Hamilton, who finished third, answered questions about not landing the 2018 championship title at the post-race press conference – the title that will remain undecided until at least To next week in Mexico.
"For me, it does not matter if you win the championship, as long as you win it," said Hamilton.
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