“I’ve never spun in the race before, not that I remember at least,” said a bemused Lewis Hamilton after his United States Grand Prix ended when he pirouetted into the turn 19 gravel trap on his second lap.
“If I have, it can only be once, maybe, before, in all these years.”
Hamilton seldom fails to remind journalists that his recollection of past races is not up to much. So how well has his memory served him this time? Has he really only spun out of F1 races on two occasions?
Remarkably, that is pretty much the case. Inevitably there is a degree of interpretation required with this kind of thing, but Hamilton is pretty much on the money.
Prior to last weekend, Hamilton had only spun out of a race by himself once. This was on the final lap of the 2009 Italian Grand Prix, as he pushed to attack Jenson Button for second place, and he spun into the barrier on the inside between the two Lesmo corners.
There have been many other occasions when Hamilton has retired from a race by his own hand, usually involving collisions with rivals, but this is the only one which might accurately be described as a “spin”. He retired from the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix in a gravel trap, but that was more of a grip-less slither. And he was remarkably fortunate his spin during the European Grand Prix that year did not result in a retirement, as he was recovered from the gravel trap by a crane.
Other occasions when Hamilton has retired from races in his 351-race career either involved collisions with other drivers or technical failures, some of which led to crashes, as when he retired from second place in the 2010 Spanish Grand Prix.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Hamilton’s retirement meant he failed to score points in a grand prix for the first time in 15 races. However he did pick up points in the sprint race. In another small upside, as Max Verstappen also did not win the grand prix, Hamilton’s success rate has moved back above his rival’s. Hamilton has now won 29.91% of his starts to Verstappen’s 29.90%, reversing the swap which occured five months ago.
He went off at the same spot his team mate George Russell crashed during qualifying. Russell had to start from the pit lane, but his 14-place climb to finish sixth (despite a five-second time penalty) is the most positions any driver has gained in a race this year. The next best is Lando Norris’ 11-place climb in Baku. The other double-digit climbers are Hamilton, also in Baku, and Liam Lawson on his impressive return to F1 last weekend.
Mercedes started the weekend looking like a potential threat for pole position, but faded from then on. Instead Ferrari emerged as the team to beat, despite failing to claim pole.
Charles Leclerc claimed the eighth victory of his grand prix career, putting him level with Daniel Ricciardo, whose F1 career appears to be over following his ousting from RB after the previous round (in which he did, we can now definitively say, become the fifth driver to set fastest lap in his final race). Leclerc is also now level on wins with Jacques Laffite and 1967 world champion Denny Hulme.
Ferrari scored their second one-two finish this year, albeit with their drivers in the opposite order to their first, in Australia seven months ago.
Lando Norris took pole position for a grand prix for the seventh time in his career, and also the seventh time this year overall including his sprint race pole in China. Once again, he failed to maintain his lead from pole on the first lap, which he has only achieved once in his career. His average position change on the first lap of the race remains the worst of any driver this year, aside from the departed Ricciardo.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
As was the case when Ricciardo took fastest lap in Singapore, it was again set by a driver who was not in a position to score the bonus point. Alpine put Esteban Ocon on a fresh set of tyres so he could take it away from Williams driver Franco Colapinto. He is the 11th different driver to set the fastest lap this year, one shy of the all-time record of 12, set in 2012.
After 152 starts, Ocon finally scored the first fastest lap of his career. This is the third-longest wait of any driver, beaten only by Button (155) and Jarno Trulli (203).
While Colapinto picked up the second points finish of his career with 10th place, his team mate Alexander Albon had little to celebrate in his 100th grand prix, finishing out of the points.
Finally, Verstappen won the sprint race, continuing his unbeaten run in the short format this year. Of the 16 sprint races held since the format’s introduction in 2021 he has now won 11, though afterwards he quipped his success was “probably because I don’t like it.”
Over to you
Have you spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the United States Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Miss nothing from RaceFans
Get a daily email with all our latest stories – and nothing else. No marketing, no ads. Sign up here:
2024 United States Grand Prix
Source link
[redirect url=’https://fastpowers.com/’ sec=’3′]