Hamilton Wins at Indianapolis
Lewis Hamilton heads the McLaren domination at the Brickyard.
The two silver Mercedes - McLaren cars dominated the United States Grand Prix when the world's best drivers visited the iconic American circuit.
Lewis Hamilton’s dream run in North America continues with another pole position leading to an all the way Grand Prix victory.
“It just keeps getting better and better – what an amazing week this has been. I can’t believe that I have won and am so incredibly grateful to the team who have worked to hard to continue the development which has seen us taking one-two here today,” said Hamilton.
Ferrari and Michael Schumacher dominated this event in recent years, however, this time the two McLarens were fastest in qualifying and led from the start. The biggest danger to the two leaders seemed to be each other as they competed fiercely on the track.
There was a little bit of anxiety among the team on the pit wall as their two cars duelled into turn one for the race lead.
“Lewis and Fernando raced from beginning to end. During the middle stint Fernando pushed hard and caught Lewis and this of course created some positive but tense moments on the pitwall. We were obviously happy to let them race but had to be mindful of the fact that our competition was not threatening our one-two finish,” said McLaren’s Ron Dennis.
“A thrilling race between Lewis and Fernando. I guess we need some good nerves this year,” said Norbert Haug, the man from Mercedes.
In the driver’s seat things were a bit calmer and under control according to the Spaniard.
“The start is always risky. I remember Canada going off on the grass and losing one position, so obviously it was with my team-mate, so you try to overtake but what you don’t want is to finish the race in the first corner. Eight points are better than nothing,” said Alonso.
Many drivers commented on the difficulty in following close to the car in front due to the loss of aerodynamic down force.
“I tried to pass Nick on the way into turn 4, but couldn’t make it stick, and then the tyres started graining because I was sliding around in the slipstream,” said Renault’s Heikki Kovalainen.
While the McLaren teammates battled each other towards the end of the race, Kimi Raikkonen recovered from positions lost at the start to pressure his teammate, Felipe Massa, in a battle for the final podium spot. Raikkonen said he never had a clear opportunity to pass and a degree of team sanity prevailed, as both drivers have to use the engines again in France.
BMW-Sauber’s substitute driver, Sebastian Vettel, managed to stay out of trouble and bring the car home in one piece to score a point in his first Grand Prix, while team mate Nick Heidfeld ended up watching the race from the infield after a mechanical failure.
The Brickyard can be tough on gearboxes and engines due to the dual nature of the circuit. The front straight is long and fast with engine spending a long time at full throttle while the infield is incredibly tight and slow requiring a lot gear changes down to second and third gears in six or seven speed gearbox.
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