FORMULA 1 - 2012

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Alonso: I'm proud of this decision

Fernando Alonso has hailed Ferrari's decision to come clean about their controversial call to change Felipe Massa's gearbox at the United States GP.

While his title rival Sebastian Vettel claimed pole position on Saturday, Alonso could only manage a P9 during qualifying.

However, he was bumped up one place and onto the clean side of the track on race day after Ferrari cleverly decided to break the seal on Massa's gearbox, which automatically resulted in a five-place grid penalty.

The Spaniard made the most of the tactical move as he jumped into fourth place on the opening lap, and then managed to get ahead of Kimi Raikkonen during the pit stops to finish third behind winner Lewis Hamilton and Vettel.

Alonso admits he is "proud" that the team made it clear why they broke tinkered with Massa's gearbox.

"It was a choice decision from the team," he said.

"We [were going to] start sixth and eighth. We were worried to arrive ninth and 10th into the first corner. I'm proud of this decision, I'm proud of team for saying the truth [behind the decision]."

He added: "Felipe was fantastic all weekend. He was very fast in FP3. He was faster than me in Q1, Q2, Q3. We need this form from Felipe in Sao Paulo. Red Bull will be strong and we need our team to be united."

Hamilton's win coupled with Alonso's P3 mean the Championship will be decided at the season-ending Brazilian GP next week as Vettel has a 13-point lead over the Ferrari driver.

"With a normal race in dry conditions, I think Red Bull will be 1-2 and us sixth and seventh, but in a wet race, anything can happen," he said.

"We saw today [Mark] Webber retired. Sometimes it's the alternator, Kers, brakes or water. It always happens on that car. Maybe in Brazil those problems will change [to the other] car."

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Schumi: Worse than expected

Michael Schumacher billed qualifying as "better than expected" but it was all-change on Sunday as he admitted his US GP was "worse" than expected.

The seven-time World Champion started the Austin race from fifth on the grid but lap after lap was overtaken by faster drivers as his W03 ate through his tyres.

As a result Schumacher was one of just two drivers who came in for two pits stops, dropping well down the order.

After 56 laps the German had plummeted from fifth to 16th.

"I can't find any words other than ironic ones for the race today - there was a lot of action around me but unfortunately in the wrong direction," he said.

"To say that the race was a real struggle would be an understatement.

"I couldn't get any grip from my first set of tyres, and there must have been some kind of damage for them to perform so badly.

"We had to change our strategy to two stops which then compromised our race even further.

"All in all, it was much worse than expected today, especially considering that things did not look that bad yesterday and Friday."

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Hamilton: Win is something really special

After two retiring whilst leading, Lewis Hamilton revealed he had a few words of encouragement for his MP4-27 as he raced towards the win in the US GP.

Having retired at the last race in Abu Dhabi - and also in Singapore - while at the front of the pack, Hamilton was well aware of the consequences of McLaren's at times sketchy reliability.

So it was no wonder that while racing towards the victory at the Circuit of the Americas on Sunday afternoon, he had a little chat with his MP4-27.

"I rubbed the car and said 'Come on baby, we can make it'," he said. "To finish on a high is really special."

Hamilton had taken the lead in the United States GP, the penultimate grand prix of the season, when he overtook Sebastian Vettel on lap 42, making the most of backmarkers and DRS.

"To have a battle with Vettel was really special," said the McLaren driver.

"It was actually quite tricky. When I finally got close to him, I seemed to be catching him in the first sector, the backmarkers came into play, finally.

"How many times has it happened to me when I got caught out? It worked out and I knew that was going to be the lap.

"I turned the engine up to maximise the revs. I went for the inside, but he defended. I went to the outside and he closed the door a bit so I was very lucky."

The victory marked Hamilton's fourth of the season with the Brit revealing he "nearly lost his voice" as he was screaming for joy on his slow down lap.

"I was screaming the whole time. Not cool at all but I'm just so happy. To come back here, after such a long time, and win is something really special."

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Red Bull left frustrated by Karthikeyan

Narain Karthikeyan won't be getting any Christmas cards from Red Bull any time soon after he held up Sebastian Vettel during the United States GP.

Vettel started the penultimate race of 2012 on pole position and led for 42 laps before he was overtaken by eventual winner Lewis Hamilton.

Although Hamilton had been pressuring the Red Bull driver for the best part of 10 laps before he completed the pass, Vettel and his team principal Christian Horner believe backmarker Karthikeyan cost him valuable time as he didn't move out of the way immediately.

"The race unfortunately hinged on one backmarker that didn't use his mirrors," Horner told Sky Sports F1.

"That was the difference. It cost Sebastian vital time and it gave Lewis a clear and easy run under the DRS.

"But there was nothing between the two of them today, they were trading times all afternoon, and it was that one backmarker that cost us."

He added: "It's difficult. We're sitting here with a 13-point lead in the Drivers' Championship and we take that lead into Brazil and it's all about what happens in that race.

"But you have to look at that season as a whole and we've had ups and downs.

"Karthikeyan has helped us on occasion and not on others. You have to look at the season in its entirety rather than picking out individual single moments because each team up and down the pit lane I'm sure can do that."

Vettel, who has a 13-point lead over Fernando Alonso in the Championship with just the Brazilian GP still to come, was also upset with the HRT driver after the race.

"I wasn't too happy to send a nice big invitation to Lewis when I had to go through Karthikeyan," the German said.

"He was right behind in the DRS zone. He took that opportunity, fair enough, down the straight and he passed me. I tried to defend but I knew he would have so much more speed. I was obviously not too happy. Lewis had one chance and he took it after that I tried to stay with him but there wasn't much between us."

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Felipe Massa: For me it was like a victory

Felipe Massa may have done it for Fernando Alonso, however, he admits he "was not happy" about the decision to take a penalty ahead of the US GP.

In the build-up to the grand prix, Ferrari intentionally broke the seal on the Brazilian's gearbox earning him a five-place penalty.

It was done in order to put Alonso on the clean side of the grid as the title contender was set to start P8 with Massa P6. Instead they started seventh and 11th.

Massa, though, put that aside and put in an impressive showing to race to fourth place, finishing behind his team-mate.

"I think it was maybe the best race of the season," he told the BBC. "For me, it was like a victory."

As for the penalty, he said: "It's impossible to see a driver happy with giving away five positions just to help your team-mate or your team, but we know how important that is."

And the Brazilian, who is set to remain with Ferrari for next season, let the team know just what they have in him.

"We know it's not easy to find another driver who would do that," he added. "I think that's the most honest direction to take."

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Mark Webber: The car was 'a bit sore'

A disconsolate Mark Webber was left to lament Red Bull's latest alternator failure, which put him out of the United States GP.

Running in third place, Webber suddenly dropped two seconds a lap to the front-runners and reported a KERS issue with his RB8.

However, one lap was forced to park his Red Bull with a suspected alternator failure.

It was the Aussie's first mechanical failure in 59 races.

"It's a suspected alternator, we had very low battery power," he said.

"We lost KERS and sync on the gearbox, and ultimately stopped. I knew the car was a bit sore.

"We had a good start to the race and a good fight with Lewis in the first few laps.

"Then we had a lot of issues to manage, and stopped in the braking zone in Turn 12."

Webber's DNF was not the first caused by a Renault alternator for Red Bull this season as his team-mate Sebastian Vettel suffered failures at Valencia and Monza.

"It makes for some more nerves on other side with Seb," Webber conceded as he was forced to watch from the sidelines as his team-mate Vettel led the race.

"We put the best car on the track that we thought would get home, but there's a long way to the finish."

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Sebastian Vettel: Championship looking a bit better

Sebastian Vettel believes his chances of winning a third title after looking "a bit better" after he extended his advantage over Fernando Alonso to 13 points.

The Red Bull racer was leading Sunday's United States GP ahead of Lewis Hamilton when the Brit made the most of an tardy backmarker to close right up on Vettel. Hamilton used his DRS to slide by and into the lead on lap 42.

And although Vettel tried to fight back, the German had to settle for second place at the inaugural CoTA grand prix.

"It was incredible," Vettel told 1978 World Champion Mario Andretti during the podium interviews.

"I did my first race, five years ago, in the United States. It's nice to come back for my 100th GP.

"It's amazing the number of people we have had here all weekend."

Speaking about his battle with Hamilton, the 25-year-old said: "It was a tough race. He had one chance and he took it. It was a great race."

But while Vettel may have lost the race to Hamilton, he did extend his advantage over Alonso in the Championship fight as the gap is now 13 points with just Brazil remaining.

"Now we have another step to make in Brazil. In terms of the Championship, it's looking a bit better after today.

"I'm happy for the team, we won the Constructors' Championship, so thanks to all of you."

Vettel won't be sending any thank you cards to Narain Karthikeyan soon after the HRT driver held him up slightly during his battle with Hamilton.

"I wasn't too happy to send a nice big invitation to Lewis when I had to go through Karthikeyan," he said.

"He was right behind in the DRS zone. He took that opportunity, fair enough, down the straight and he passed me. I tried to defend but I knew he would have so much more speed. I was obviously not too happy. Lewis had one chance and he took it after that I tried to stay with him but there wasn't much between us."

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F1 members admitted to hospital in Austin

Several members of Formula One’s travelling entourage have been admitted to hospital in Austin, the Swiss newspaper Blick reports.

The report said that three members of the press from Portugal, Denmark and England respectively, and “some members” of the Red Bull team, are in hospital.

Rumours suggest that the Briton involved is the well-known photographer Keith Sutton, while the other two press-men are journalists Peter Nygaard and Luis Vasconcelos.

The newspaper claimed that they have contracted infectious diseases after being bitten by mosquitoes in India late last month.

During the Indian grand prix weekend 20 days ago, we reported that the swarms of mosquitoes in the Delhi area could be carrying the infectious and potentially life-threatening dengue fever.

Blick also mentioned malaria.

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Senna appears downbeat over his future In F1

Bruno Senna’s ‘bad mood’ in Austin may have given away the game when he was asked about his plans for the 2013 season.

It is believed that Williams plans to oust Brazilian Senna so that the British team’s young protege Valtteri Bottas can debut alongside Pastor Maldonado next year.

Reports had suggested that Senna’s sponsors were looking for an alternative team.

Brazil’s Totalrace, however, wondered if Senna’s prospects are looking particularly grim after he gave ‘monosyllabic’ answers ‘or just repeated the question’ when asked about 2013 in the Austin paddock.

“Any news on the future?” one reporter asked him.

“No,” Senna answered.

“Nothing has changed?” the journalist tried again. “Nothing has changed,” Senna repeated.

Totalrace explained: “All the other questions were answered in the same way.”

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Hamilton and Vettel told to modify their helmet liveries in Austin

Two of Formula One’s biggest stars have had to pull out the gaffer-tape in Austin to cover up their offending helmet liveries, during the United States Grand Prix weekend.

The always-controversial Lewis Hamilton’s US-themed helmet attracted the most attention for its H.A.M. slogan, which according to street slang means ‘Hard as a motherf***er’.

“In light of the FIA’s recent reminder to all drivers not to swear, stencilling the letters on the back of his helmet was a particularly provocative act on Hamilton’s part and one which no doubt irritated his team,” journalist Tom Cary wrote in the Telegraph.

A McLaren spokesman said the decision to cover up the logo was taken “by mutual consent”.

“We just stuck some red tape over it,” confirmed helmet manufacturer Arai’s Peter Burger to Auto Motor und Sport.

Pole sitter Sebastian Vettel also had to modify his special US-themed ‘wooden’ helmet livery in Austin, to remove the words ‘Gives you wings’ from the top.

Bernie Ecclestone forbids drivers or teams from advertising on the very top of the helmets, so as not to spoil the onboard camera view.

As a quick fix, Arai’s Burger covered the energy drink company’s slogan with black tape, but soon sourced some tape with a wood-style finish for qualifying and the race.

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Slippery track surface in Austin due to ‘sweating’ oil

The particularly slippery conditions experienced by drivers at the new Circuit of the Americas this weekend is caused by oil, not dust.

That is the claim of the authoritative German publication Auto Motor und Sport, which said Texas’ colder-than-expected temperatures and too-hard Pirelli tyres are also contributing to the problem.

But the biggest factor: “The brand new asphalt is sweating oil,” said the report.

“[Circuit designer] Hermann Tilke told Charlie Whiting that it is the same type of asphalt as in India and Korea,” added journalist Michael Schmidt.

Pedro de la Rosa does not agree: “The asphalt here is different,” said the HRT driver.

Fernando Alonso claims that the Austin track – “is very smooth and not at all porous” – and that it reminds him of Portimao in Portugal.

Schmidt said that the Spaniard is right.

Pedro De la Rosa confirmed: “You can see the oil shimmering when you look at the track in the morning.”

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Wurz helped Tilke design Circuit of the Americas layout

Former F1 driver Alex Wurz had a hand in the layout of the new Circuit of the Americas, which has lauded by drivers in action at the purpose built venue for the first time this weekend.

Wurz, now 38 and a sports car driver, contested 69 grands prix between 1997 and 2007, finishing on the podium three times.

The Austrian now works as a ‘driver coach’ at Williams, serving alongside friend and countryman Toto Wolff, a shareholder and director of the British team.

But Wurz also heads up his own company Firma Test and Technik International, a company he founded in 2006 with his father Franz, a former rallycross driver.

Wurz’s company reportedly worked alongside regular F1 circuit designer Hermann Tilke on the Austin layout, which features sections copied from famous F1 circuits including Silverstone, Suzuka, Hockenheim and Istanbul.

Kleine Zeitung newspaper said that Wurz advised on Tilke’s layout in the state-of-the-art McLaren simulator.

“There were a multitude of little things that were decided jointly,” he said. “First you have a layout, then you feed all the data into the simulator.

“In the McLaren simulator I’ve seen what needs to be changed, working with Hermann to make it more F1-compatible,” Wurz explained. “So that overtaking is possible.

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Karthikeyan sure he did nothing wrong in Vettel incident

Narain Karthikeyan insists that there was nothing more he could do to keep out of the way of Sebastian Vettel despite the Red Bull driver blaming him for losing the lead of the United States Grand Prix

Vettel said over the radio that "it's Karthikeyan's fault" after being passed by Lewis Hamilton, explaining in the post-race press conference that lapping the HRT allowed Hamilton to get close enough to attack.

Hamilton passed Vettel on the run to Turn 12 after the Red Bull driver had caught and then briefly become stuck behind the HRT in the sequence of corners from Turns 3-7.

It was clear before the race that traffic could be a problem in this part of the track and Karthikeyan drove in accordance with FIA race director Charlie Whiting's guidelines.

"I spoke to Charlie before the race because I knew a situation like this could come up," Karthikeyan said.

"It's impossible to get out of the way in that part of the track unless we drive off the circuit.

"Charlie said that it was absolutely fine not to move over from Turns 3 to 7 so I did not do anything wrong."

Karthikeyan added that as soon as he was through this section and reached Turn 8, he made space for Vettel.

"Once I was through there, I let him past and he overtook me at the exit of Turn 7 into 8," said Karthikeyan.

"You cannot go anywhere else and it's impossible to get out of the way before. You tell me where we can drive off the track?

"If he complains, it's too bad."

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Raikkonen now focused on keeping third in points

Kimi Raikkonen says he is determined to fight to keep third place in the Formula 1 world championship after what he labelled as an "OK day" at Austin.

The Lotus driver looked in contention for a podium finish early in the race after starting from fourth, but as the track got cooler he struggled for pace and eventually dropped to sixth position.

The Finn is now 16 points ahead of race winner Lewis Hamilton with just the Brazilian Grand Prix to go.

Raikkonen, who had won the previous race in Abu Dhabi, admitted it had not been an easy day for him.

"It was an OK day, but not a very easy one for us," he said. "I got a bad start and then I touched with a Force India at the second corner so I lost a few more places. After that the car was OK and I could get past some of the others.

"Unfortunately, when it got cloudy it got too cold so the tyres stopped working and that's where we saw Jenson [button] get past.

Basically, it was a race where we were just depending on the tyres to be in their window.

"I'm still third in the championship and we'll do everything we can to maintain this position until the end."

Team-mate Romain Grosjean also looked strong during parts of the race, but wound up seventh after spinning out while fighting for position with Force India's Nico Hulkenberg.

"Not a bad race but the spin on lap seven was frustrating," he said. "The start was good, the first lap was good and the pace was definitely there.

"I recovered pretty well from where I was to finish P7 and was fighting Kimi at the end which is a positive sign.

"I pushed as hard as I could, so I was happy to bring home some more points for the team."

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A tough race for Marussia at Circuit of The Americas

The return of the United States Grand Prix delivered on all its promise today at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas, where the Marussia F1 Team achieved another two-car finish in 19th and 20th positions, maintaining its current 10th place in the Constructors’ Championship.

After lining up ahead of the Caterham team, having outqualified both of their cars yesterday, all eyes were on Turn 1 as the race got underway.

For Timo Glock and Charles Pic it was a ‘bucking bronco’ of an opening lap.

Charles had contact on entry into the opening corner, which affected his whole race, while Timo had a tumultuous ride which nearly ‘unseated’ him twice and allowed Vitaly Petrov to sneak by in the process.

Despite slipping behind the KERS-advantaged competition, he kept pace with Heikki Kovalainen throughout the whole race, which yet again underpinned the positive strides the Team continues to make even at this late stage of the season.

Charles was unable to recover pace due to damage affecting the balance of his car.

Timo Glock: “Overall it was a strong race for us, even though we had been hoping for something more. The first lap was a bit all over the place; I lost the car twice.

Vitaly was able to overtake me because of that and at first it was a struggle to stay with him because of the KERS advantage. Then Heikki got past and it was the same story; struggling at first, but then closing back up to him.

I stayed with him from there and we decided to pit a little early to see if we could find a way past, but they pitted at the same time unfortunately.

Late in the race I was able to get past Heikki in Turn 12 but in Turn 15 he dived in again and retook position, pushing me off the track a bit.

Our race pace was very strong and this is just one of a few positives we take away from here, where we have made big steps again and of course we leave holding onto 10th place in the Constructors’ Championship.

Our big picture remains very positive for us and we look forward to continuing to push hard in Brazil next weekend.

Finally I have to say we have had a great week here in Austin and the race team’s efforts have matched those back at the factory in enabling us to keep improving at this late stage of the season.”

Charles Pic: “It was a tough race today, I have to say. I had some contact into Turn 1 and after that I suffered with understeer throughout the whole race. We know now that the front wing was damaged.

It was very difficult to keep the temperature in the tyre in the second stint, with all the blue flags, and we lost some time because of that.

It is a little disappointing after the progress we have made here; after yesterday’s qualifying performance we were looking good for a strong race.

However, towards the end at least, I was able to recover a little bit and found enough pace for our fastest lap time, so this was a positive way to bring the race to a conclusion.

We will focus on the final Grand Prix of the season in Brazil now, but we have enjoyed the United States Grand Prix experience and the positive steps we have taken here. Well done to the team.”

John Booth, Team Principal: “Although this was not necessarily the result we had hoped for today, ultimately we do have to be realistic in that, although our pace particularly towards the end of the race was good, the disadvantage that the lack of KERS brings meant that we were not in a position to make the most of our overtaking opportunities.

Timo drove a race worthy of his experience; he really piled the pressure on Kovalainan particularly during the last third of the race, overtaking him at one point in a good move in Turn 12, only to be pushed wide when Heikki tried to claim the position back in Turn 15.

Charles struggled a little on the Hard tyre, mainly because of the unfortunate position he was in with blue flags in his second stint.

However, once free at the end, he was able to demonstrate good pace.

Onto Brazil now, where we will aim to maintain the momentum with our qualifying pace. Hopefully with a little more race pace we can keep ourselves ahead of the competition next time.

On behalf of the whole team, our congratulations to everyone who played a part in producing such a superb event here this weekend.

We have received an exceptionally warm welcome from the Texans, the track has produced some fascinating racing and the on- and off-track organisation has been second to none. We are already looking forward to returning next season.”

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A Weekend with ups and downs for Sauber at U.S GP

After starting the race from 15th and 16th respectively, Sergio Pérez and Kamui Kobayashi took the chequered flag at the inaugural Grand Prix of the United States in Austin in 11th and 14th.

Both started on the medium compound tyres and only stopped once. After a fantastic start and strong early laps Sergio lost performance due to a brake problem.

Kamui pitted early, at the end of lap 13, to change to hard tyres and couldn’t find grip with either of the compounds.

Sergio Pérez (C31-Ferrari - Finished 11th): “My start worked really well and the first laps were good too. I had a good pace, and the car was really quick, but then around lap ten I had a problem with the brakes.

The pedal became very long and I had big difficulties before every corner. This cost a lot of time and so we didn’t manage to get any points here. Regardless of the result it was a great experience to race here in front of so many Mexicans.

The COTA is a great track and I hope we can have this Grand Prix on the calendar for many years. Now we will get ourselves together for the final attempt to improve to fifth place in the Constructors’ World Championship next week.“

Kamui Kobayashi (C31-Ferrari - Finished 14th): “For the entire weekend here I had warm up problems and didn’t get the tyres to work. We have to find out why this was.

The grip level only increased in the last laps of the race at the end of a very long stint with the hard tyres. This was crazy and I do hope very much we are stronger in Sao Paulo to finish the season on a high.“

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: “For our team it was a weekend with ups and downs, which was also reflected in the race. Sergio made a very good start and was 11th after lap one, with a chance to fight for points, but later he reported a brake problem and, as a result, lost positions.

Kamui was never able to recover from his grid position. We have not given up the fight for P5 in the constructors’ championship, but we will have a lot of pressure in Interlagos.

However, we are taking this as an extra motivation. Congratulations to the people responsible at the COTA for building a great track and organising a great event for the many fans who were present today.”

Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Head of Track Engineering: “This was a fairly difficult weekend for us. For some reason we were not able to exploit the potential which was there. Our main problem was to get the tyres to work, which was reflected in our qualifying performance.

With Kamui we opted for an early pit stop, but we didn’t benefit from that. Sergio had a very good first lap and therefore we went for a more standard strategy, but then he reported a long brake pedal.

We spotted a problem, but we were confident on the safety side, because the travel soon stabilised.

However, on the performance side we had to pay the price, particularly around the pit stop where we lost two positions to the Williams. We couldn’t regain these positions.”

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Sahara Force India's Hulkenberg score points again on US GP

Sahara Force India picked up four points in today’s United States Grand Prix as Nico Hulkenberg finished in eighth place. The result means the team has scored points in the last eight races. Paul Di Resta came home in P15.

Nico Hulkenberg (VJM05/03 - Finished 8th): “Another tough race but very satisfying to have so many good battles and score another four points. I think we squeezed the maximum from the car and should be pleased with what we achieved.

For the first few laps we looked very strong, but after lap ten the tyres started to fade away. When we switched to the hard tyres we were not so competitive so it was just a case of pushing hard to stay in the points.

The last few laps were not easy because I was getting massive pressure from the Williams pair, who were very quick through sector one.

They had the advantage of DRS and it was not easy to keep them behind me. There was quite a bit of fighting but I managed to stay ahead.”

Paul Di Resta (VJM05/04 - Finished 15th): “I made a good start and for the first few laps we were in quite a strong position and moving forward with good lap times.

Maybe we waited too long before pitting because I became vulnerable to Senna after my stop and was struggling on cold tyres with tyre warm-up. I couldn’t keep Senna behind me and then I had the same situation with Maldonado.

I was fighting a lot of oversteer in the car and made an error in turn 19, lost the rear, and spun. I was just trying a bit too hard to keep the cars behind me.

That gave me some flat spots on my tyres so I had to pit for a second time. From there it was difficult to fight back because it was a clear one-stop race.”

Dr Vijay Mallya, Team Principal & Managing Director: “Today’s race was a brilliant showcase for Formula One and the perfect way to kick off the sport’s return to America. We saw some great racing and the track looked spectacular.

Nico was back in the points again and drove very well to finish eighth. For the final part of the race he came under heavy pressure from Senna and Maldonado, but he didn’t make any mistakes and kept them at bay.

Williams are close competitors in the championship so it was important to outscore them here. Paul’s race looked promising in the early stages, but tyre issues and a spin cost him dearly and ruled out any chance of points.

With the season coming to a close we will look to continue our run of points-scoring finishes in Sao Paulo and hopefully end the season on a high note next weekend.”

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Mercedes disappoint with zero points scored at US GP

Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher finished the United States Grand Prix in 13th and 16th places respectively today.

Nico followed a one-stop prime/option strategy in the race today, stopping on lap 34.

Michael's race was converted from one to two stops when it became clear his first set of tyres were struggling. He stopped twice on laps 14 and 39, with a option/prime/prime strategy.

Nico Rosberg (F1 W03 - Finished 13rd): "It was a difficult weekend for us and unfortunately we weren't able to score any points today. However we have learned some important lessons for next year and that's what counts at the moment.

I hope we can be more successful next year here in Austin as I have enjoyed our visit. The track, the people and the city are absolutely fantastic.

So I look forward to coming back here in 2013 and we will work hard next weekend to finish the season on a positive note."

Michael Schumacher (F1 W03 - Finished 16th): "I can't find any words other than ironic ones for the race today - there was a lot of action around me but unfortunately in the wrong direction.

To say that the race was a real struggle would be an understatement. I couldn't get any grip from my first set of tyres, and there must have been some kind of damage for them to perform so badly.

We had to change our strategy to two stops which then compromised our race even further. All in all, it was much worse than expected today, especially considering that things did not look that bad yesterday and Friday.

Ross Brawn: "After a good qualifying result, Michael's first set of tyres performed very badly today and we decided to convert his strategy to a two-stop race.

Once we got onto another set, the lap times came back up to what we expected but having such a poor first stint made it very difficult for him.

Nico started a long way back and conserved his tyres well as we knew that we wanted to make a one-stop strategy work.

He actually had a pretty good race with respectable lap times, and if we had managed to qualify better, he would have been in a reasonable place.

Whilst it is disappointing not to score any points, we have learnt a lot about the car and tyres this weekend which will be useful for the future.

Despite our result, this has been a great weekend for Formula One in the United States, and it was very pleasing to see so many fans here for the first race in Austin. Our thanks for the organisers for putting on such a good show."

Norbert Haug: "Nico's speed was not too bad but from 17th on the grid, he could not improve further.

His one-stop strategy worked as planned which was not the case for Michael who, after a respectable place on the grid, did not have the speed in his car to defend his position after the start of the race.

The team brought him in early and switched to a two-stop strategy. Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton and Vodafone McLaren Mercedes for winning the inaugural Grand Prix here at this great race track, after having won the last United States Grand Prix in 2007.

Thank you to the organisers for making this race happen here in Austin. We will come back stronger next year. Congratulations to Red Bull Racing for securing the Constructors' World Championship today.

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Toro Rosso has mixed results in Circuit of The Americas

Daniel Ricciardo (STR7-04 - Race finish: 12th): “I think I overtook more people in this race than in any other in my whole career!

It was particularly fun at Turn 1, which became a favourite passing spot for me, especially one lap when I managed to pass two cars at once.

Until today, the whole weekend had not gone that smoothly and of course, I was particularly disappointed with how qualifying went yesterday.

Because of that, I was even more determined to go well today. I gave it everything I’ve got this afternoon, although it was not enough to finish in the points, but twelfth was probably the best result we could have got today.

At the start, the dirty side was indeed very slippery and the two Marussias got ahead and I touched with one of them. I thought I’d damaged the front wing, but I managed to keep going as the car was okay and after that I think we got the maximum out of the car.

It was very competitive on the Option, but once I switched to the Prime it seemed that tyre also worked better than expected, which meant I lost some of the advantage we had hoped to have by running a very long first stint. Deep down, I know I did my best.”

Jean-Eric Vergne (STR7-02 - Race finish: DNF): “I got a really good start and I had about a tenth of a second to decide whether to go to the left or the right going into the first corner.

Everyone seemed to be going right, so I went left aiming for the inside of the hairpin, as I was much quicker. But it didn’t pay off, because I lost many positions and got stuck behind other cars and therefore could not warm up my tyres properly.

Despite this, I was able to fight and make up some positions. Unfortunately, the suspension broke and the team told me to park the car rather than risk bringing it back. A shame, as this new circuit is fun to race on.”

Franz Tost: “First of all congratulations to Red Bull Racing on securing the Constructors’ championship this afternoon. It leaves the way clear for a thrilling final battle for the Drivers’ title in a few days time in Brazil.

As for our race, Daniel produced a good performance, given that after his qualifying was compromised by yellow flags, he came from eighteenth on the grid to twelfth at the chequered flag.

It was very tight in terms of pace between ourselves, Sauber, Force India and Williams. We chose to run long on the Options as the car was running competitively on these tyres.

Daniel did everything he could to close the gap to those ahead when he was on the Prime and managed to get near to Perez in the final stages, but there were not enough laps for him to pass.

With Jev, we had a suspension problem and told him to park the car. We still need to investigate its cause. We have one more opportunity to pick up points this season as we head for Sao Paolo and what is often an exciting and unpredictable race.”

[Bartolomeo]

Great race....great track.....great fans and very smart decision by Ferrari on getting Alonso moved to clean side

Looking forward to Brazil

Bart

[OZCUBAN]

I agree wholeheartedly Bart

Best thing to happen to auto racing in the U.S I think ,more skill than going round in circles LOL

But the circuit will also benefit other formulae as well

And as long as Alonso wins the world drivers championship I will be more than happy

OZ

[MIKA27]

I agree, hoping Alonso clinches the title as IMO he has driven alot harder and skillfully in a vehicle that is not to standard compared with McLaren and Red Bull.

It's been a great season, sad to see it nearing the end...

Austin track is brilliant, love it!!

[MIKA27]

FERRARI'S TACTICAL GEARBOX PENALTY:

One of the big talking points from the US Grand Prix weekend was the decision by Ferrari on Sunday morning to deliberately break a seal on the gearbox of Felipe Massa’s car, so that he would get a five place grid penalty which would move team mate Fernando Alonso one place up the grid and onto the clean side of the grid for a better start.

Practice starts during the weekend had shown that the dirty side of the grid was so lacking in grip that the car would lose up to a second in the 350 metre run to Turn 1, equivalent to two positions.

Much has been said and written about Ferrari’s tactic in the last 24 hours, but it’s worth looking in more detail at the background and technical detail of this to better understand whether the rules need to be re-written to avoid similar actions in future.

Ferrari used Article 28.6 (e) to give their own driver a tactical penalty on Sunday. This states that: “a replacement gearbox will also be deemed to have been used if any of the FIA seals are damaged or removed from the original gearbox after it has been used for the first time.”

The rules on gearboxes are that each ‘box must last for five Grands Prix. An FIA seal is placed in several areas of the gearbox, “to ensure that no moving parts, other than those specifically permitted, can be rebuilt or replaced.”

These seals may only be broken with the approval of the FIA in order to make limited repairs. These include replacing a damaged gear ratio with a similar one, O-rings and oil seals. Nothing is allowed to be done to the transmission itself and if needed a new gearbox must be used which incurs a five place grid penalty.

Ferrari were transparent about the fact that there was nothing wrong with Massa’s gearbox and they will have been equally open with the FIA about it. In fact they will have gone through the procedure carefully with the FIA’s Charlie Whiting and Jo Bauer to ensure that they satisfied the regulations. They broke the seal on the cross-shaft, which is at the back of the gearbox and drives the final drive.

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali confirmed that the team waited until the last moment to break the seal, so as not to allow time for Red Bull to react and do the same with Mark Webber, who was starting 3rd. However Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said that they never even considered it.

This is the second race in succession where a team fighting for the championship has done something unusual in order to gain an advantage for the race. In Abu Dhabi Red Bull Racing were penalised for not having enough fuel in Sebastian Vettel’s car in qualifying.

He was sent to the back of the grid, but Red Bull Racing used Article 34.5 of the Sporting Regulations to change his car and optimise it for overtaking in the race. So he was able to gain an advantage from what should have been a severe penalty. The rule states, “If a competitor modifies any part on the car or makes changes to the set‐up of the suspension whilst the car is being held under parc fermé conditions the relevant driver must start the race from the pit lane.”

Both actions were within the rules and as things stand, both rules are in the 2013 Sporting Regulations.

A lot of effort goes into thing through various scenarios and wording these regulations; for example on the rule regarding teams using 8 engines in a season, Ferrari was one of the prime movers in adding a detail whereby if an engine is replaced after qualifying with another from the permitted eight, the unit removed cannot be used again that season for qualifying and race. This was to avoid teams producing special “qualifying engines”.

This is the level of detail the teams and the FIA go to.

There’s no doubt that what Red Bull did in Abu Dhabi and what Ferrari did in Austin played badly with fans. Ferrari’s move affected their own driver Massa and it meant that several drivers who had qualified on the clean side of the grid, were forced to start on the dirty side.

The most affected were Senna, who moved to 10th and lost two places at the start. However his team mate moved onto the clean side in 9th and still lost four places. Hulkenberg moved to sixth and picked up a place at the start.

The dirty side did have an impact overall; Raikkonen lost three places from 4th and Hamilton lost a place from second.

[MIKA27]

Dennis: No issues with Hamilton

Ron Dennis has refuted suggestions that his relationship with Lewis Hamilton is on the rocks following the Brit's decision to leave McLaren.

Dennis and Hamilton have known each other since the driver was a ten-year-old who upon meeting the former McLaren team boss told him "I want to race for you one day... I want to race for McLaren."

Mentored by the Brit and the Woking team, Hamilton made his F1 debut with McLaren in 2007 and went on to win the Drivers' Championship a year later.

However, two months ago it was confirmed that Hamilton would be heading to Mercedes next season having signed a three-year deal with the German outfit.

At the time Hamilton revealed that he had not spoken with Dennis about his decision. This went on for several weeks prompting speculation that their relationship had completely deteriorated.

Dennis, though, insists all is well on the personal front.

"Obviously the media thinks there's some issue between Lewis and I - there's absolutely no issue between us," the 65-year-old told Sky Sports F1..

As for why the executive chairman of McLaren believes Hamilton is moving on, he hinted that sponsorship issues - which are believed to relate to both the meet and greet side and the selling of space on the racing suit - played a role.

"Sometimes the circumstances in a relationship don't balance, don't match.

"We're a team that requires a lot out of a driver and if some other team is able to make a more attractive proposition in any shape or form then it's understandable that your driver's going to move.

"But if you look back on our history, our team is, without being too pretentious about our team, it is bigger than any driver.

"We've had Ayrton [senna] of course and [Alain] Prost, Niki [Lauda], Mika [Hakkinen], Keke [Rosberg], we've had a hell of a lot of World Championships over the year and we're going to have World Champions in the future.

"It's important that everybody in the team is there for the right reasons, is focused, is determined to win and determined to make all sacrifices that are necessary to win.

"In our team that doesn't just extend to physical condition, medical condition, it also relates to how much work we have to do in and out of the car and not everybody has those sorts of issues."

Dennis added that he wishes Hamilton all the best for his future.

"I wish Lewis really, really well. He's been nurtured well through his career and I feel none of the emotions that attribute to me. I am completely relaxed, I am not upset.

"Of course you think of the good times shared. We're a racing team that exists to win and that requires, as I said, a whole range of sacrifices and as I said some other teams don't have that requirement.

"But in the end we'll win races next year and into the future and, I hope, World Championships."

[MIKA27]

Martin Whitmarsh: Not criticising Ferrari but...

Martin Whitmarsh disagrees with Ferrari's decision to penalise Felipe Massa to benefit Fernando Alonso at the start of the United States GP.

Not for the first time Ferrari created a bit of controversy in the build-up to the US GP when they deliberately broke the seal on Massa's F2012 to incur a grid penalty.

The penalty dropped the Brazilian behind his team-mate Alonso but, more importantly, put Alonso on the much quicker clean side of the grid.

Alonso went on to finish third behind title rival Sebastian Vettel, which means the Spaniard still has a shot at winning the title as he is only 13 points adrift with one race remaining.

However, the decision does not seem to have endured Ferrari to many in the paddock.

"I don't think so," Whitmarsh told The Telegraph when asked if that a way to run a race team. "I think it was quite a tough thing to do personally.

"I'm not criticising anyone for what they do. Team principals have to decide how they run their teams and it's very clear that Ferrari are very focused on Fernando.

"In fairness it works for Fernando because, lest we forget, when Fernando was with us it was not doing those things that meant that Fernando left us.

"You all have to go racing the way you see fit."

Ferrari's decision, though, did not only affect their drivers but also others who had qualified on the clean side only to be pushed over onto the slower dirty side of the grid.

"I think the toughest thing is that it put a number of people on to the slower side of the grid," said Whitmarsh.

"Sadly, it didn't impact on us at all. We were on the slow side of the grid and we stayed there.

"But I think if I had qualified on the fast side of the grid and then been moved to the slow side I would have been very p----- off.

"But it didn't so I will just enjoy [Lewis Hamilton's] win. It was an epic race and Lewis drove beautifully."