Kimi Raikkonen came from second on the grid to win at the Circuit of the Americas, while Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes strategy left him behind and the title race stretched on.
Kimi Raikkonen took victory in Austin on 21 October 2018 after starting second on the grid. The win ended a record 114-race winless streak and gave Ferrari its first American victory since 2006, the final win of his Formula One career.
The 2018 United States Grand Prix was the eighteenth round of the Formula One season, held at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, on 21 October 2018. Kimi Raikkonen won from second on the grid, ending a record 114-race wait for a victory. It was Ferrari's first win in the United States since 2006, and it also cut into the title lead that Lewis Hamilton had built up over the previous four races.
What was at stake for Hamilton and Vettel?
Hamilton arrived in Austin with a 67-point lead over Sebastian Vettel after winning the previous four races. A win was not necessary for him to take the title, but he needed to outscore Vettel by at least eight points. Valtteri Bottas was third in the standings, 57 points behind Vettel, and Mercedes held a 78-point lead over Ferrari in the constructors' table.
Hamilton also held the record for the most Formula One wins at the circuit, after winning five of the six races held there. He was aiming to become only the second driver to win a Grand Prix five years running, a feat achieved by Ayrton Senna at Monaco between 1989 and 1993. Hamilton and Vettel were the only drivers on the grid who had previously won the United States Grand Prix.
A record 114-race wait ended in Austin, while Lewis Hamilton's title chase carried on to Mexico.
What was new about the circuit in 2018?
The Circuit of the Americas was one of five tracks on the 2018 calendar to run anticlockwise. Its surface was mainly smooth, with two DRS zones, and the organisers had installed new kerbs at turns 16 and 17 along with new bumps at turn one. Pirelli brought its soft, supersoft and ultrasoft tyres, the same range as the previous year.
Several drivers were making their first appearance at the track. Charles Leclerc, Sergey Sirotkin and Pierre Gasly had never driven there before, and Lando Norris and Sean Gelael took part in the first practice session in place of Stoffel Vandoorne and Brendon Hartley. Nicholas Latifi was due to drive for Force India in the same session, but that plan was cancelled before it began.
How did the three practice sessions go?
The first session began in the rain at 16:00 local time, and Hamilton set the fastest time, more than a second ahead of his team-mate Bottas. Ferrari used the session to test a floor upgrade, and the struggle that followed left Vettel and Raikkonen fifth and sixth behind the two Red Bulls. Leclerc ended up in the gravel, which brought a brief red flag. Vettel received a three-place grid drop for not slowing enough under those flags.
The second session was delayed by 45 minutes because of heavy rain. Most drivers completed only a handful of laps, and five drivers, including Carlos Sainz, Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas, did not set a time. Hamilton was quickest again, more than a second ahead of Gasly in second. Ferrari were fastest in the third session, which was dry and took place the next day, with Vettel leading Raikkonen and Hamilton by only seventy-three thousandths of a second.
How did qualifying settle the grid?
Qualifying began at 16:00 local time on 20 October and had three sessions of 18, 15 and 12 minutes, with five drivers eliminated in each of the first two. Both McLarens were knocked out in the first session for the third consecutive race, alongside the two Williams drivers and Marcus Ericsson. Verstappen was third at one stage but had to stop early after hitting a kerb, which damaged his suspension.
Just twelve of the fifteen eligible cars ran in the second session. Gasly and Hartley had fitted new power units and therefore faced grid penalties that would send them to the back regardless of their qualifying positions. Verstappen did not take part in the session because of his suspension damage, and Sainz missed the third session by two-thousandths of a second.
| Qualifying order | Driver | Note |
|---|---|---|
| First | Lewis Hamilton | Pole, narrowly ahead of Vettel and Raikkonen |
| Second | Sebastian Vettel | Dropped to fifth after a three-place penalty |
| Third | Kimi Raikkonen | Won the race from second on the grid |
| Fourth | Valtteri Bottas | Three-tenths behind Raikkonen |
| Fifth | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull, qualified fifth |
| Sixth | Esteban Ocon | Force India, qualified sixth |
| Seventh | Nico Hulkenberg | Joint-best qualifying result of the season |
In the final session Hamilton took pole, narrowly ahead of Vettel and Raikkonen. Six-hundredths of a second separated the top three, and Bottas qualified fourth, three-tenths behind Raikkonen. Romain Grosjean, Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez completed the top ten. Because grid penalties are applied after qualifying, the final order differed from the qualifying classification. Vettel moved from second to fifth, Verstappen was given a five-place penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change, and Hartley took a 40-place penalty.
How did the race start?
The race began at 13:10 local time and ran for 56 laps. Hamilton started from pole but was overtaken before the first corner by Raikkonen, who was on softer tyres. The first lap was chaotic, with several collisions. Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso came together, and Alonso's car was too badly damaged to continue. Stroll received a five-second drive-through for triggering the crash.
Further up the field, Grosjean braked late while challenging Ocon, locked up and drove into Leclerc. Grosjean retired and later received a penalty point and a three-place grid drop for the next race. Vettel was spun by Ricciardo while fighting for fourth and dropped to fifteenth, which improved Hamilton's chances of securing the title later in the race.
Raikkonen kept Hamilton behind him over the opening lap, which was his first place gain on lap one since the 2016 Abu Dhabi race. Ricciardo retired with a power unit failure, which brought out a virtual safety car.
Why did Mercedes lose the race?
Hamilton blamed the early first stop for Mercedes' problems. Hamilton stopped under the safety car on lap 11 to swap tyres with less time lost, while Raikkonen was told to stay out. That gave Raikkonen the lead, which he kept until he entered the pits on lap 21, handing Hamilton the front. Hamilton later admitted that once the early stop had been made, the team knew it would be running a two-stop strategy.
Max Verstappen, who had started 18th, made his way forward and undercut Bottas for third with a stop on lap 23. Bottas pitted a lap later. Vettel, who had recovered from his spin, pitted on lap 27 and emerged fifth behind Hamilton, Raikkonen, Verstappen and Bottas. Leclerc retired on lap 31 with the damage from his earlier clash with Grosjean.
How did the closing laps unfold?
Hamilton was forced to make a second stop on lap 38 because of tyre wear, which dropped him from the lead to fourth, ahead of Vettel. He overtook Bottas soon after, but he could not find a way past Verstappen, who defended aggressively. By lap 54 Hamilton was alongside Verstappen, but he ran wide at turn 18 with just over a lap left.
On the penultimate lap Vettel took fourth from Bottas when the Mercedes driver ran wide at turn 12. Raikkonen crossed the line first, having executed a one-stop strategy, while Hamilton could not complete the move and crossed the line behind Verstappen, who took second. Vettel and Bottas ended fourth and fifth, with the two Renaults of Hulkenberg and Sainz more than a minute back. Ocon, Magnussen and Perez completed the top ten.
What did Raikkonen say about the win?
Raikkonen ended a run of 114 races without a win, which had started after the 2013 Australian Grand Prix and included 14 second places. On his cooldown lap he thanked his engineers over the radio, expressing relief at the long wait. In the post-race press conference he was typically understated, saying the win did not change his life and that it had not been a big deal to him, though he was pleased to improve his record in a second stint with Ferrari.
The win was also the final victory of Raikkonen's Formula One career. Ferrari had not won in the United States since 2006, and the result was their first win in the country since then.
Why was Hamilton frustrated after the race?
Hamilton said he was surprised and frustrated by Mercedes' performance. He said the team had made it hard for itself, and that he did not fully understand the race strategy. He pointed to the early first stop as the root of his problems and praised Raikkonen's drive. Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team principal, was also sceptical about the strategy and said the team had to rethink whether it could have done something better.
What did the result mean for the title race?
Vettel was disappointed with his race and apologised to the team for letting it down. He said he had the speed to win but did not blame Ricciardo for the first-lap collision, which the stewards later judged a racing incident. Sky Sports commentator Martin Brundle was critical of Vettel's performance and said he had lost the knack of wheel-to-wheel combat.
Vettel's recovery to fifth meant that Hamilton outscored him by only three points, which fell short of the eight he needed to clinch the title. The fight therefore continued to the Mexican Grand Prix, where Hamilton eventually secured his fifth championship with a fourth-place finish.
Why were Ocon and Magnussen disqualified?
Two hours after the race ended, Ocon and Magnussen were disqualified for fuel-related breaches of the technical regulations. Ocon's car had exceeded the maximum fuel flow rate on the first lap, while Magnussen had used more than the 105 kg fuel limit for the race. Their disqualifications moved everyone who had finished below them up two places.
Sergio Perez was reclassified eighth, while Brendon Hartley and Marcus Ericsson moved into ninth and tenth, the latter two gaining points they had not earned on track.
