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ESPN staff
ESPN rounds up all the reaction from up and down the Austin paddock following the 2018 U.S. Grand Prix.
Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton (3rd): »It was actually a really fun race, to be close with Kimi and have a bit of a battle with him and Max. It was quite cool that it was Ferrari, Red Bull and us battling for positions and it must have been exciting to watch. Naturally, I’m a bit disappointed in our performance, to have started first but finished third, but I’m still grateful that I managed to finish up ahead of Seb. When you don’t have Friday practice you don’t get to work on the set-up and get the optimum out of the car. Everyone was in the same boat, but I think ultimately Ferrari came closer to us with the changes they made. In the race, we were lacking pace on the straights, but I gave it everything I was still pushing like crazy and that’s what racing is all about. I had one little chance at the end, but I had to give Max a lot of space because it’s better to finish third than get taken out by someone who’s not fighting for the championship, so I didn’t want to take that risk. We were going for the win today, but it wasn’t meant to be.We’re going to Mexico next; it’s such a beautiful place, but I haven’t always had the best results there, so I definitely want to win that race. »
Valtteri Bottas (5th): « We knew going into the race that it was going to be a difficult afternoon. The Ferrari looked very quick yesterday and there were a lot of question marks because of the limited running in the dry, so making predictions on the set-up and the tyres was very tricky. We didn’t quite have the pace that we were hoping for, especially on the Soft tyres. We had planned for a one-stop race and that’s what we did, but in hindsight the second stint was just a little bit too long. My tyres started to go three or four laps before the Sebastian overtook me and they were just completely gone in the end, that’s why he managed to build such a big gap in only a few laps. But we couldn’t work the two-stop work with Lewis either, so overall we were just lacking pace today. We will now do our usual work of analysing and understanding why we weren’t quicker today, so we can come back stronger and hopefully win in Mexico. There’s only three more races left in the season and the fight is far from over, so we will give it everything to get the best results possible. »
Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel (4th): « I am really, really happy for Kimi and his result today, but I am not happy with my race and I am disappointed for letting the team down today. I had a contact with Ricciardo on lap one, I am not sure he saw me when I was getting closer to him. I wanted to put him under pressure for the next corner, I wasn’t thinking about passing in that point at any rate, but I had nowhere to go, we touched wheels and I span around. I think this has been an important race for us as a team and it’s nice to see that we had a good pace during the race, even though there are still many things we need to learn and to understand. It has not been an easy time for me lately and bad results are part of the game, but I believe it’s always possible to overcome issues. »
Kimi Raikkonen (1st): « Obviously it’s a great feeling to win this race. It’s nice to prove to all the people that we can still win; that’s the reason we are here for, try to win races and Championships. It was an exciting race, not only for us but also for all those who were watching. We had a very solid weekend, I felt confident and I’m glad about that especially because lately we’ve had rough weekends for the team. I’m glad we had a fight and it’s nice to see that we still have the speed to go for it and fight has hard as we can. This weekend we found the car that we expected to have. The start was a key moment; In the first part of the race we had the speed, I tried to take care of tyres and save fuel. Then the Mercedes stopped and came back on fresher tyres: at that time, my target was to keep them behind before we, too, stopped for tyres. If Hamilton had passed us before our stop, it would have been a different story. We are still in the fight for both championships and this is a good thing. We’re off to Mexico now, where we’ll try do the best we can and hopefully we can get a great result for both teams. We’ll keep fighting until the end. »
Red Bull
Daniel Ricciardo (DNF): « It’s incredibly frustrating to retire so early in the race and I just don’t seem to have any luck at the moment. Everything just switched off and it seemed pretty much identical to the issue I had in Bahrain at the beginning of the year. I couldn’t even communicate with anyone on the radio so it looks like a battery failure. Now, seeing how the race played out makes it even harder to take as it could have been pretty interesting and it was a great afternoon for Max. There’s not much more to say about it to be honest. A lot of times this year there have been things out of my control but I can only keep trying. The biggest shame is that I only have a handful of races left with Red Bull and I want to have more highs than we’ve had. I want to be able to celebrate with the Team at least one more time and be on the podium to enjoy that feeling, but we’re running out of races which is pretty tough to take at the moment. »
Max Verstappen (2nd): « It is safe to say today went a lot better than expected. I managed to stay out of trouble on the first lap while progressing up the field as the pace of my car was really strong. This was crucial as it allowed me to settle into my own rhythm and catch the cars ahead. I didn’t think the Soft compound was the best out there, once I pitted I felt more comfortable and able to control the Supersofts. The undercut on Valtteri was ideal and probably the key to achieving the podium, a great call from the team. In fact, our entire strategy was spot on and once we stopped we were able to manage the Supersofts all the way to the end. The last 10 laps were pretty exciting, especially being the only car on the softer compound fighting at the front. I was trying to get close to Kimi but at the same time keeping an eye on Lewis in my mirror, it was close but we managed to hang on to second. Lewis had a go but we both gave each other plenty of room and thankfully he ran a bit wide and onto a dirty part of the track. I think I started to run out of traction towards the end so attacking Kimi was not on the table. The team have certainly earnt a little celebration tonight before we head to Mexico, where we will try to do even better. »
Force India
Esteban Ocon (DSQ): « It was a tough race this afternoon after a difficult first lap. I lost a few positions at the start because the cars behind me took some big risks. I decided to let them go because the risks were too big in my opinion. After that it was difficult to fight back because the cars we were racing [the Renaults] had already gotten ahead. After the pit stop, I had Kevin [Magnussen] behind me for the rest of the race. He was quick and it wasn’t easy keeping him behind. I’m pleased we still picked up some decent points, but we definitely need to review our weekend and see where we can improve for the races to come. »
Sergio Perez (8th): « I made a good start, managed to stay out of trouble and benefited from the chaos around me. We tried to extend the first stint but perhaps we stopped a bit too late. Our pit-stop wasn’t the best and I ended up in a lot of traffic, which caused me to lose out to Magnussen. I was able to overtake him in Turn 1 as he was leaving the pits, but he passed me on the back straight. I followed him for the rest of the race and although I got close, I ran out of laps to make a move. I don’t think we would have been able to challenge the Renaults today, but I’m disappointed we lost out to Magnussen. »
Williams
Lance Stroll (14th): « It was a terrible day. I had contact with Alonso on the first lap in turn five. I saw a gap and went for it, but I don’t think he really saw me and turned in. After that my race was finished as I got the drive through and that was that. I haven’t seen the footage, but I think it was a racing incident. I am just disappointed about the result. »
Sergey Sirotkin (13th): « It was a tough race. I had a very good start and gained quite a lot of places. I got some damage on the rear-side of the floor in one of the incidents with a McLaren through the first-lap, but everything was ok whilst we were in dirty air and there was a lot of inconsistency in the things happening around the track. I had good pace considering the damage and I could keep up with the cars ahead and everything looked good. After the pitstop it just didn’t work. When everyone got into their rhythm and got into their pace we just didn’t have the performance to compete and keep the people behind. The damage on the floor that I had was probably painful for us in clean air when everyone could use their performance a bit more. I was just basically trying to get to the end without losing too many places which was not the best feeling either. I don’t think we could have done much better. »
Renault
Nico Hulkenberg (6th): « Today saw the best team result since I’ve been with Renault so I’m happy for that, it was a very good job from everyone involved with the team. We demonstrated that the race pace of our car is very decent and we’re still very competitive. It also illustrated how important it is to have a strong qualifying position and a clean first lap. Everything is still possible for us and we took a great bunch of points. It was a very satisfying feeling today, but we have three races left so we need to keep the good work coming. »
Carlos Sainz (7th): « In general I’m happy with how we finished the weekend. It was a very good result for the team, which is exactly what was needed. To finish sixth and seventh here gives us strong points so congratulations for a fantastic team effort. On my side, I did a great start and arrived in the first corner ahead of the three cars previously in front. I did run wide behind the Ferrari but re-joined the track safely, letting Esteban by. I then overtook him cleanly round the outside in turn six, so I still can’t understand the penalty. After that, it was all about tyre management and fuel saving. I’m happy for the seventh position and happy to see the great efforts from the whole team paid off today. »
Toro Rosso
Brendon Hartley (9th): « Really happy with my performance and race today which was rewarded with two points. I was aggressive when I needed to be and did a good job with tyres, the team gave me good info from the pits and the mechanics did a good pit stop – a team effort! From last on the grid to P9 was the max we could do today, and I’m happy with the aggression I showed and how the race went. Even if the points haven’t come, I have been very strong in all the last races and am very motivated and optimistic for the rest of the season and beyond. »
Pierre Gasly (12th): « It was a long and difficult Sunday. Starting from P19 we knew it would be a difficult race. We took some debris after the chaotic first lap and that damaged the floor a bit, after that I was just trying to do everything I could from inside the car, but there was a massive loss of grip for the rest of the race. We decided for a two stop strategy but there wasn’t much we could do today. The pace over one lap in Qualifying was really good so there’s positives to take away from the weekend. It’s just a shame we couldn’t fight properly this time, but I’m really hoping we can carry the pace into Mexico and have a clean Qualifying there to get a good result for the team. »
Haas
Romain Grosjean (DNF): More to follow
Kevin Magnussen (DSQ): More to follow
Guenther Steiner: More to follow
McLaren
Fernando Alonso (DNF): « My race today lasted only a few hundred meters. There was a lot of action in Turn Four, which was a surprise, because it’s not normal to overtake into that high-speed section. Three cars were trying to overtake each other and a couple of guys around me were very optimistic, misjudging their position and manoeuvres a bit, and the result was that some cars ended up in the wall and one of those was mine. It’s always the same story, it just keeps happening. At the start, people are trying to bump everyone else, the same as when you have a rental car! No one does it on purpose, but today they played bowling with my car again, like they did in Spa. It’s a shame. We came out here early to prepare for this race and it only lasted a couple of corners. »
Stoffel Vandoorne (11th): « In the end today’s result wasn’t too bad, especially under the circumstances. We made a reasonable start with all the carnage that happened around us – we got touched left, right and centre on the first lap which wasn’t ideal. We finished 13th, after deciding to go for a two-stop strategy, and pitted under the Virtual Safety Car. A few of the cars around us did a one-stop – it’s hard to say which was best, but we were quick when it mattered, and we beat a couple of cars again. In the end, I think it was the maximum possible for us today. »
Sauber
Marcus Ericsson (19th): « The qualifying outcome is disappointing, because I was quite happy with my lap. The car felt good, and the driving did as well, so we will spend some time investigating what happened and how to improve for tomorrow. Overall, we have been quite strong this weekend in the limited time we have spent on track due to the difficult weather conditions yesterday. The lack of running will spice things up, as all teams are in a bit of an unknown in terms of the preparation ahead of the race. I still look towards tomorrow feeling optimistic and we will see what we can do. »
Charles Leclerc (9th): « I am satisfied with the way the day went. Finishing in Q3 is always great, and I am convinced that we extracted the maximum of our potential – especially in Q2 and Q3 today. We planned to drive only one fast lap in Q3 to gain advantage of the track evolution, however, it started to rain a bit which probably put us on the back foot. Nevertheless, it was a great qualifying and I look forward to the race. »
Pirelli
Mario Isola, head of car racing: « Congratulations to Kimi Raikkonen for a brilliant win, after controlling one of the most tightly-fought grands prix of recent years, where tyre strategy played an important role. There were four different strategies in the top four, with the race also influenced by Lewis Hamilton’s early stop under the virtual safety car, as his team opted to take the opposite approach to Raikkonen, who stayed out. This put Hamilton on a very different strategy to those around him, which culminated in an extremely exciting finish. With limited dry running on Friday, the teams didn’t have the full picture on tyre wear and degradation, which undoubtedly contributed to the excitement and unpredictability today. Despite this handicap, all three compounds performed strongly and very consistently. »
http://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/25048424/united-states-grand-prix-said-race
