Jean-Eric Vergne forced into retirement with suspension issues

Jean-Eric Vergne became the first retirement of the United States Grand Prix after the Frenchman’s suspension broke on Lap 14. This ended what had up until that point been a strong race for the Toro Rosso driver, who despite loosing several positions at the start looked competitive throughout the early stages of the race.

This incident was the second time throughout the weekend that Jean-Eric Vergne had damaged his suspension, after striking the kerbs during the third and final practice session on Saturday forced the Frenchman to stop at practically the exact same location on the track. Despite this unfortunate retirement, Jean-Eric Vergne has remained upbeat after enjoying racing around the new Circuit of the Americas.

“I got a really good start and I had about a tenth of a second to decide whether to go to the left or the right going into the first corner.” Explained Jean-Eric Vergne, “Everyone seemed to be going right, so I went left aiming for the inside of the hairpin, as I was much quicker. But it didn’t pay off, because I lost many positions and got stuck behind other cars and therefore could not warm up my tyres properly. Despite this, I was able to fight and make up some positions. Unfortunately, the suspension broke and the team told me to park the car rather than risk bringing it back. A shame, as this new circuit is fun to race on.”

Although Jean-Eric Vergne was unfortunately forced into retirement in the early stages of the race, team-mate Daniel Ricciardo enjoyed an exceedingly competitive race. The Australian driver progressed as high as 5th at one stage, before he carried out his one and only pit stop. The 23-year-old produced many overtaking maneuvers throughout the race, despite being unable to score any valuable points for himself and Toro Rosso.

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