Vettel takes eighth straight victory

Sebastian Vettel took a commanding win at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas to win the US Grand Prix for the first time and break Michael Schumacher’s nine-year old record for most consecutive wins in a season into the bargain.

Starting from pole, Vettel cruised to victory at COTA, only being headed for two laps following his sole pit stop for the harder of the two tyre compounds on offer on lap 28.

After team-mate Mark Webber and brief leader Romain Grosjean then visited pit lane for their stops, Vettel resumed at the front and controlled proceedings until the end.

After landing his eighth win of the season, which sent him past Schumacher’s 2004 mark, Vettel admitted the achievement was difficult to put into words.

“It’s impossible to know what to say,” he said. “The car was fantastic. It was a bit tight at the start; Romain had a good start [and] initially I didn’t know whether it would be enough. It’s tough judgement up the hill and then I just tried to focus on myself. We had incredible pace again in the car and could control the gaps. Eight in a row, I don’t know what to say.”

Behind Vettel the battle for second place was a nip and tuck affair between Grosjean and Webber.

The Australian had started alongside team-mate Vettel on the front row, but got away badly from the dirty side of the track and was passed by Grosjean and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton as the field swept through the first turn.

Webber eventually seized third place from Hamilton on lap 13 with a pass at Turn 12 under DRS and set off after Grosjean.

And that was the shape of the Red Bull driver’s race until the flag. He hassled and harried, pushed and probed but no matter what he tried Grosjean remained resolute, defending well and using his KERS judiciously as Webber tried to maximise the twin DRS zones in place at COTA.

“A good race,” said a delighted Grosjean after scoring his sixth podium finish of the season and his best result since the Canadian Grand Prix of 2012. “I got a good start, I could pass Mark and almost got Sebastian. The car was working very well today. I’m very proud to represent Lotus and my guys that are working in Enstone. It’s a fantastic team.”

For Webber it was a bittersweet seventh podium finish of the season, the Australian admitting that losing out on pole cost him in the race.

“Pole position was very important yesterday, I knew it would cost me a better result today, so a little bit disappointed not to qualify better.” he said. “We knew it was not going to be the easiest to get into turn one from there. We had a good launch, a good start, but then obviously we all wanted to be on the outside. I got a little bit boxed in and then I had to pass Lewis.

“After that it was not easy to pass Romain,” he added. “He drove very well. He was very clean on the exit of eight, nine.”

Behind, the top three Hamilton’s fourth-place finish ahead of Fernando Alonso, coupled with Nico Rosberg’s ninth place gives Mercedes a slightly bigger advantage over Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship. The Silver Arrows now lead the Prancing Horse by 15 points ahead of the final round in Brazil. Grosjean’s second place leaves Lotus on 315 points, 18 behind Ferrari.

Nico Hulkenberg put in another good performance for Sauber to take sixth place. His eight points leave the Swiss team in seventh place in the teams’ battle, 21 ahead of Toro Rosso.

Sergio Perez finished seventh for McLaren and behind him Valtteri Bottas took his first career points with an excellent driver to eight place for Williams, especially in light of team-mate Pastor Maldonado’s 17th-place finish.

With Rosberg ninth for Mercedes, Jenson Button claimed the final points position, despite a race long battle with poor handling due to front wing damage on his McLaren.