Today's 75th Formula One victory for the Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrows sealed the fourth consecutive Constructors' Championship for the team. Lewis raced to his 62nd career victory today - his fifth at the Circuit of The Americas and ninth of the 2017 season. Valtteri finished today's United States Grand Prix in P5. Lewis (331 points) leads the Drivers' Championship by 66 points from Sebastian Vettel (265 points), with Valtteri (244 points) a further 21 points behind in P3 and with 75 points remaining to be scored in the 2017 season. Mercedes-Benz Petronas Motorsport (575 points) lead Ferrari (428 points) by 147 points in the Constructors' Championship - an unassailable lead with three races remaining in the 2017 season.
Toto Wolff: The first words today go to our team - in the factories in Brackley and Brixworth, as well as the fantastic support we receive from Mercedes-Benz in Stuttgart. I am so proud of what has been achieved: winning across a rule change, something has never been done before in the sport, and doing it because every team member has dug deeper to find performance, been even more diligent on reliability and this has come together in the most special way. We had the quickest car out there in the race today - Lewis did a faultless job, picking off Sebastian and then managing his one-stop strategy to perfection. Valtteri had a tougher time: running in dirty air meant he couldn't convert his good pace into what would have been a deserved podium finish. But overall, we must be satisfied that we have got half of the job done today; one title down and one more still to win. Our target must to be to keep our foot on the gas and win each of the next three races.
James Allison: You can't argue with any race where you overtake on track for the lead and then romp off to the win. It was a brilliant drive by Lewis and a very welcome tonic to some of the narrative that had built in recent weeks suggesting that the momentum of the development race had shifted towards our competitors. This car, team and our drivers showed themselves today to be worthy, worthy winners of the Constructors' title. For a long time, we looked to be on course for a comfortable podium with Valtteri, too. He enjoyed a strong first stint and looked set to take second place from Sebastian for a significant portion of the race. However, in the second stint we were not able to make the tyres last well enough to help the one-stop strategy pay off. Nevertheless, he still scored the points we needed to secure the title at the first time of asking, and he will certainly enjoy even stronger races in the future.
Christian Horner, Team Principal: "A tremendously exciting race today particularly for Max who made incredible progress from 16th on the grid to be fighting for a podium in the last couple of laps. He made some great passing manoeuvres and on the last lap managed to make a pass on Kimi, which was then penalised with a five second penalty. This is particularly galling looking at the amount of cars that had been off track, not just in the race but all weekend without any sanction or punishment. Nonetheless a great performance and another competitive afternoon for us. Obviously we were very disappointed to lose Daniel early on in the race with an engine issue, after putting on a fighting few laps behind Valtteri. He would have been on the podium again without that issue today so we take comfort from the fact we had a competitive car and are just sorry for Max and the fans that they didn't get the podium they deserved today. Our congratulations are with Mercedes; a fourth consecutive World Championship is a tremendous achievement and they have deserved the title again this year."
Maurizio Arrivabene: Today's race was closely fought from the start to the final lap. Sebastian made a great start to go into the lead and Kimi kept the race alive, with both men pulling off several passing moves. The team, both here at the track and back in Maranello, did a good job in coming back from the difficulties encountered in free practice on Friday. The most important thing is that we never gave up and getting both cars to the podium, even if it was not the ideal result, was achieved by fighting right to the end. We did that thanks to a car that, yet again proved to be competitive. Just as we did today, we will continue to fight to the very last corner of the final race.
Sahara Force India scored 12 points in today's United States Grand Prix as Esteban Ocon raced to sixth place ahead of Sergio Perez in eighth.
Robert Fernley: "It's been another competitive weekend with both cars showing strong pace and racing well this afternoon. The one-stop strategies for both cars paid off and we've scored 12 points to consolidate our fourth place in the championship. Managing the pace and looking after the tyres was critical today and both drivers did what was asked of them. They attacked in the early stages and defended well after their stops. Esteban's battle with Sainz was very intense and it was fabulous to see Esteban hold him off - especially considering Esteban's has not been well this weekend.a Similarly, Sergio's defence against Massa in the final few laps demonstrated Sergio's fantastic race craft. Today's result is the ideal way to prepare for next week's Mexican race, which is a hugely important event for everybody in the team."
Felipe Massa finished ninth with Lance Stroll 11th in the United States Grand Prix. Felipe and Lance both started on the supersoft tyre. On lap one, Felipe gained a place to go P9 with Lance initially dropping to P17 before climbing back up to P15. Felipe ran as high as sixth before making his one-stop onto the ultrasoft tyre on lap 29, re-joining in P12 before overtaking both Haas cars to claim P10. In the final stages he made a move on Kyvat to take P9. Lance made his first pitstop to switch to the soft tyres on lap 10. Lance made his second and final stop on lap 36 to switch to the ultrasoft tyre, re-joining in P15. Felipe moves up to 10th in the Drivers' Championship, ahead of Lance in 12th. The team remains fifth in the Constructors' Championship with 68 points.
Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer: I think it was a great race for everyone concerned and especially for the fans. It's a fantastic event that's been put on today which included some new initiatives. Ultimately, we're happy to get ninth and 11th but it's a bit frustrating as I know we could have done better. We ran a contrary strategy to most of the other runners with both cars fitting supersoft tyres to start, with a plan to move on to the ultrasoft tyres for the final stint. In Felipe's case, that worked okay and he drove to plan, making up places in the first stint on the faster tyre. Ultimately, we would have made more places but the DRS of Kvyat and Perez in combination caused too much of a delay. On Lance's side, he had two tough first stints but when we converted to a two-stop, he made up good places at the end to finish a very worthy 11th.
Reliability issues have plagued the McLaren Honda team all weekend, the result of which was a disappointing race day at the United States Grand Prix that finished outside the points.
This morning the team identified an issue with Stoffel's MGU-H, but without sufficient time to change that element before the pit lane opened, the decision was made to change entire power unit. This inflicted a further 25-place grid penalty on his starting position in addition to the original five-place drop for changing the ICE on Friday morning.
Starting from the back, Stoffel made a great start, gaining three places on the first lap, and began to make good progress through the field. He put up an impressive fight on a track that he'd never raced on before, overtaking [Marcus] Ericsson, [Kevin] Magnussen, [Romain] Grosjean and [Lance] Stroll (who later re-passed him on the final lap). Despite a valiant effort, he finished in 12th position just outside the points and with little reward for the difficulties faced here since Friday.
Although Fernando didn't incur any penalties before the race started, he too wasn't exempt from reliability issues. Like Stoffel, he made a strong start, protecting the gap to the cars around him and showing solid pace up to and through the first round of pit stops. Unfortunately, on lap 24 while running in eighth place (a net seventh as [Felipe] Massa hadn't pitted), he lost power - later diagnosed as an MGU-H problem - and was forced to retire the car.
Eric Boullier: "Today was another race where we witnessed the talent of both our drivers but came home bitterly disappointed and with little to show for it.
"Fernando started brilliantly and was maintaining pace with the pack around him through the first stint and initial round of pit stops. He had the capability to secure seventh or even sixth place and score valuable points for the team, but was denied due to an MGU-H issue which has compounded the problems we've faced all weekend, albeit on the other car. It would seem that despite huge potential, luck hasn't been on Fernando's side in the USA this year, which has been heart-breaking for all of us.
"Stoffel was the unfortunate recipient of 25 further grid drops to add to his existing five-place penalty, owing to an MGU-H problem found this morning which required a full PU change in order to get him out on track in time for the race. This dropped him to the back of the grid at the start, rendering any hopes of points almost impossible. Still, Stoffel drove impressively well here - his first time racing at COTA - with no less than four bold overtaking manoeuvres that went unseen on our TV screens.
"It's a huge shame that these issues robbed us of a strong result at one of the few tracks left this season where we were hopeful of a more positive outcome. The problem encountered on Fernando's car means that Mexico will be another tough race for us, but we'll keep on fighting."
Yusuke Hasegawa: "Today was an incredibly frustrating day for everybody in the team. We came to the United States Grand Prix with high hopes of being able to score some much-needed points, and unfortunately reliability issues across both cars cost us a top-ten finish.
"This morning we detected an issue with Stoffel's MGU-H and made the decision to switch his power unit. This meant he started the race from the back of grid, giving him a tough task for the afternoon. Despite this, Stoffel drove an excellent race today. He overtook cars on track and maintained a good pace throughout. It was unfortunate he couldn't quite score a point to reward his efforts.
"Fernando started today from eighth on the grid and was up into seventh at the start. He maintained his position and kept his rivals behind him, until his race came to a premature end because of an MGU-H issue.
"It's very disappointing that we faced more issues with our PU - particularly because the reliability has been relatively stable in recent races. We will immediately investigate the issue with the Sakura team and work towards a countermeasure for Mexico next weekend."
Jody Egginton (Head of Vehicle Performance): "Today's race was one of mixed emotions: on the positive side, we have scored a point with Daniil and Brendon has had a solid debut Grand Prix. On the flip side, unfortunately both Williams and Renault have taken points off us in the Constructors Championship. In terms of the race itself, the strategies for both cars panned out pretty much as predicted. We expected some traffic for Brendon and, as such, we were ready to move stop laps to get him into free air if possible. However, after doing this to avoid a time loss with Ericsson, we were a little bit more restricted in what we could do to jump Stroll, so we were not able to do so. Once this said, Brendon should be pleased with his race, as he has performed consistently and delivered on everything we asked of him and for sure he picked up further useful experience and understanding of our car... well done to him! Daniil's race was spent in a close battle with Massa, Sainz and both Force Indias. He was running 9th until the last laps, when Massa, on fresher tyres, closed the gap. He then pushed his PU once in the DRS zone and made the pass, which unfortunately we were not able to react to due, in part, to a potential battery issue, which meant we were limited with energy deployment. The midfield fight remains tight. It's all still to play for and we will continue to do all we can to take the fight to the other midfield teams in the remaining races in order to fulfil our season targets."
Haas F1 Team drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen finished 14th and 16th, respectively, in the United States Grand Prix Sunday at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas.
The duo put forth a tenacious drive in the team's home race, with the outcome not indicative of the effort.
Grosjean started 12th and ran as high as ninth from laps 15 to 16. Magnussen started 17th and also worked his way up the leaderboard, earning his best running position of 11th from laps 30 to 31.
Both drivers went into the race with a one-stop strategy, although Magnussen's came much earlier than planned. He suffered a left-front tire puncture on the opening lap after contact with the Sauber of Pascal Wehrlein. Forced to pit, Magnussen changed from the Pirelli P Zero Red supersoft tires he started the race with to Yellow softs. With only one lap on the supersofts, Magnussen would try to make his softs last the remaining 55 laps.
Grosjean made his scheduled stop on lap 16, swapping his Purple ultrasofts for a set of Yellow softs.
Their timely stops combined with the attrition of others allowed Grosjean and Magnussen to gain positions. Grosjean cracked the top-10 on lap 15 and Magnussen rallied from 20th after his early pit stop.
The strategy that allowed both drivers to gain so much track position meant they had to squeeze all the performance from their tires. And with 17 laps remaining, it was clear the well was nearly dry.
Williams driver Felipe Massa caught Grosjean on lap 39 and passed him for 10th. Magnussen, meanwhile, had fallen to 13th.
Seven laps later and with the leaders bearing down on him, Magnussen was spun by the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson in turn 12. The incident dropped Magnussen to 16th and with no one left to overtake him, he pitted for a new set of supersofts that would take him to the checkered flag.
While the finish was still a little ways off, the tires on Grosjean's car were finished. He fell to 14th in the waning laps as he nursed his Haas VF-17 to the race's conclusion.
Seventeen rounds into the 20-race Formula One schedule, Haas F1 Team is eighth in the constructors standings with 43 points, five points behind seventh-place Renault and 10 points behind sixth-place Toro Rosso. A 20-point cushion over ninth-place McLaren remains. Grosjean is 13th in the championship standings with 28 points and Magnussen is 14th with 15 points.
Only three races are left in the 2017 FIA Formula One World Championship, with the next event being the Mexican Grand Prix Oct. 27-29 at Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
Guenther Steiner: "Obviously, a tough weekend for the whole team. We were just not fast enough. We had every issue you can have. I think it went over the whole weekend, but today we had hoped to get something back and we didn't. We regroup, try to get better and get back to where we were a few races ago."
Renault Sport Formula Team claimed back seventh place in the Constructors' Championship after a superb debut for Carlos Sainz in today's United States Grand Prix. Carlos finished seventh and was pushing hard to equal the team's season-best finishing position of sixth. Nico Hulkenberg wasn't so fortunate despite making a strong start as he was forced to retire when his car experienced an oil pressure drop early in the race.
Nico started the race from P19 on new Ultrasoft (pink for this event) Pirelli tyres and retired on lap 3. Carlos started the race from P7 on a set of Ultrasoft tyres pitting on lap 19 for a new set of Softs (yellow).
Cyril Abiteboul, Managing Director: "It was a mixed weekend for the team. On one hand, Carlos made a fanfare debut with an error-free weekend. He arrived extremely motivated and well prepared in a team that was equally ready. We've done a remarkable job together since the announcement of his arrival at the Japanese Grand Prix. He drove an aggressive but intelligent race. Despite losing a few positions at the start, he was able to bounce back with brilliant driving skills. On the other hand, reliability cost us dearly again with the penalties and retirement of Nico's car due to an engine issue that is still under investigation. At first glance, his engine isn't damaged. Nico would have been able to get the car into the points. We apologize to Nico, who is just as frustrated as we are. This weekend demonstrates we have everything we need to fight for points and to climb back in the Constructors' Championship."
The Sauber F1 Team finished the United States Grand Prix in P15 (Marcus Ericsson). Pascal Wehrlein had to retire from the race on lap six, after the floor of his Sauber C36-Ferrari was damaged in a collision with Kevin Magnussen at turn 12 on the first lap. The F1 teams are now packing up and travelling to Mexico City for the next Grand Prix.
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal: "In comparison to other race weekends, it is positive that we were closer to the competition today. Marcus put in a good performance with a decent pace. It was unfortunate for Pascal that he had to retire the car because of the damaged floor. The next race weekend is just around the corner, as we will be back on track at the Mexican Grand Prix."
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the United States Grand Prix on a one-stop strategy, while Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel used a two-stop strategy and kept the championship battle alive after finishing second.
Despite higher degradation than yesterday and warm track temperatures close to 40 degrees, most drivers finished the race with a one-stop ultrasoft-soft strategy.
However, some drivers chose alternative strategies: notably Vettel, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who started from 16th on the grid with the supersoft tyre. The Dutchman also stopped twice, switching to the soft compound and then the supersoft, to finally claim a podium place on the final lap, before losing it due to a penalty.
While two stops were predicted as theoretically the quickest strategy, we also said that a one-stopper could be interesting. Hamilton made his sole stop on lap 19 (after Vettel's first stop), adopting the same tyre choice, and emerged effectively in the lead of the race, having started from pole.
Mario Isola: "With quite warm track and air temperatures during the race, this was another set of parameters for the drivers to get used to after an inconsistent weekend in terms of track conditions. Nonetheless, the one-stop strategy came into play with the soft tyre, even though there wasn't a lot of running on this compound in free practice.
"Strategy was crucial to this grand prix, with the teams having to react to changing circumstances and read the track as well as rivals' tactics as they saw them, adapting their strategies appropriately. This was exemplified by Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel, who were both extremely quick in the closing stages of the race after a bold call on final pit stops. Finally, on behalf of all of us, congratulations to Mercedes for another constructors' title."
