Formula One was in North America for the United States Grand Prix this weekend, which will be the first half of the final back-to-back weekend of the 2016 season. The American fans at the Circuit of the Americas were entertained with a concert by Taylor Swift and some great racing.
Mercedes started the weekend strong, as they topped the first free practice session on Friday morning. Lewis Hamilton led the way. The session was relatively uneventful. Sebastian Vettel’s wing mirror was damaged by debris, forcing him to use one hand to hold the damaged mirror while cruising back to the pits. Haas had some poor luck at the first ever home Grand Prix, as both cars lost power in the session. Nico Rosberg took the lead of the second session in the day, as his teammate finished third on the time charts. Daniel Ricciardo was second. There was only a brief red flag for debris and a couple of spins in the session.
The final free practice session was red flagged early on, as Pascal Wehrlein spun his Manor into the gravel. Lewis Hamilton suffered from some brake issues and Sebastian Vettel’s running was hindered by a reported transmission issue. Carlos Sainz also had some issues, as he suffered from two punctures throughout the session. At the end of the morning, the Red Bull drivers were able to take the top two positions of the time charts. Mercedes returned to their top positions at the end of qualifying, as Red Bull and Ferrari locked out their own rows of the grid. McLaren had some issues during qualifying when they were bumped by the Sauber and then stuck behind traffic for most of the session.
At the start of the race, Hamilton was able to maintain the lead, while his teammate lost second position to Daniel Ricciardo. Nico Hülkenberg and Sebastian Vettel made contact in the first corner, sending Vettel into Valtteri Bottas. Vettel was able to continue, while Bottas suffered a puncture and Hülkenberg retired. Sergio Pérez was spun later in the first lap when Daniil Kvyat attempted to overtake the Force India. Both drivers continued in the race. Kvyat was later penalized for the incident. Vettel and Verstappen were left to battle for position, but Vettel was unable to get by. Räikkönen and Ricciardo were the first drivers to pit for fresh tyres, as Verstappen followed on the next lap. The Mercedes drivers also pitted on lap 10, with Rosberg getting the first service and Hamilton pitting the following lap. After almost locking up his tyres and sliding into the gravel, Haas was forced to retire Esteban Gutiérrez. Disaster struck for Red Bull half way through the race, as Verstappen made an accidental pit stop when the team wasn’t ready for him. He lost several seconds within the pits as the team scrambled to get the tyres changed. However, that wouldn’t the only pain for the team, as Verstappen suffered a mechanical failure only a few laps later. Räikkönen joined the pain, as he parked the car at the pit exit after his final pit stop when the team failed to secure one of his rear tyres. Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso made minor contact near the end of the race while battling for sixth position in an incident that would be investigated by the stewards after the race. Rosberg was working to close the gap to his teammate near the end of the race, but Hamilton still got the race victory for a Mercedes 1-2 finish.
The teams will remain in North America to end the final back-to-back race weekend of the 2016 Formula One season. The teams will head to the south of the American border for the Mexican Grand Prix on the weekend of October 30.
