2007 United States Grand Prix

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United States  2007 United States Grand Prix
Race details
Race 7 of 17 in the 2007 Formula One season
The Indianapolis circuit, designed in 2000
The Indianapolis circuit, designed in 2000
Date June 17, 2007
Official name XXXVI RBS United States Grand Prix
Location Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis, Indiana
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.192 km (2.605 mi)
Distance 73 laps, 306.016 km (190.150 mi)
Weather Warm (33C/91F) and clear
Pole position
Driver McLaren-Mercedes
Time 1:12.331
Fastest lap
Driver Finland Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari
Time 1:13.117 on lap 49
Podium
First McLaren-Mercedes
Second McLaren-Mercedes
Third Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 2007 United States Grand Prix (formally the XXXVI RBS United States Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, in the United States on 15 June 2007.[1] The 73-lap race was the seventh round of the 2007 Formula One season and was won by McLaren-Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton. His teammate, Fernando Alonso, finished the race in second position whilst Ferrari driver, Felipe Massa, completed the podium by finishing third. This was the debut race of the future world champion Sebastian Vettel.

This race would be Formula One's final visit to Indianapolis, after an eight-year period. The race was removed from the 2008 calendar a few months later and Formula One did not return to the United States until November 2012, at the Circuit of the Americas.

Report

Background

Robert Kubica's large crash at the Canadian Grand Prix resulted in the season's first driver change. Although Kubica passed the medical examination and did not seem to show any ill effects, the FIA medical delegate decided it would be best to rest him for the weekend, and not risk a second impact at the circuit – so famous for its high speed crashes. This was a precautionary measure – another concussion so close to the previous one could be dangerous. He was replaced in the BMW Sauber team by Formula Renault 3.5 Series championship leader, 19-year-old German Sebastian Vettel, who made his Formula One debut at the Indianapolis circuit.[2]

Practice

Friday's morning practice was dominated by McLaren and BMW Sauber, with Fernando Alonso putting in the fastest time.[3] Sebastian Vettel started his first race weekend with a fourth fastest time. Ferrari, who expected that their pace would return at Indianapolis,[4] found themselves on either side of Williams driver Nico Rosberg with the fifth and seventh fastest times.

Qualifying

David Coulthard and his Red Bull-Renault were the first to leave the pit lane in part one of the qualifying session. His partner, Mark Webber, was close behind followed by the Spyker and Williams cars. Later in the session, with about six minutes left, Coulthard spun out in turn eight. Fernando Alonso ran first, Nick Heidfeld second, and Lewis Hamilton closely behind in third. Although they struggled, both Ferraris made it, as well as Vettel. Scott Speed failed to make it out of Q1 in his native country, along with team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi. Adrian Sutil, Takuma Sato, Alexander Wurz, and Christijan Albers also missed the cut.

McLaren and Ferrari began part two of their battle with Hamilton taking the top spot early. However, his team-mate, Fernando Alonso took top spot midway through. Felipe Massa, Kimi Räikkönen, and Heidfeld along with the two McLarens made the top five again. Webber made it to the next session, although his team-mate Coulthard was relegated along with 2002 United States Grand Prix winner Rubens Barrichello. Barrichello's partner Jenson Button was also relegated, along with Nico Rosberg, Anthony Davidson, and Ralf Schumacher.

File:Hamilton US '07.jpg
Lewis Hamilton on his way to pole position

In part three Hamilton was first out and set the quickest time with a 1:13:089. Alonso was about four tenths behind, followed by Heidfeld and the Ferraris. Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen, both Renault drivers, also were near the top, but Jarno Trulli and Webber knocked Fisichella down. With about 5 minutes left, Massa took first spot and Räikkönen took second. Hamilton was bumped to third, Alonso fourth, and Heidfeld remained fifth. About one minute later, Hamilton took the top spot, and Alonso second. Alonso had one lap left, but could only get within about 2 tenths of a second of rookie teammate Lewis Hamilton. Massa and Räikkönen were dropped to third and fourth respectively. Heidfeld held on to fifth, with Kovalainen in sixth, bouncing back from his disappointing 22nd starting position in Canada. Vettel finished seventh, just two spots behind his temporary partner, Heidfeld. Trulli was 8th, with Red Bull-Renault's Mark Webber ninth and Fisichella tenth.

Race

File:Lewis Hamilton 2007 USGP greets fans.jpg
Lewis Hamilton greets press and fans after winning his second race in a row from the pole
File:Lewis Hamilton 2007 USA.jpg
Hamilton on his way to victory in the McLaren MP4-22.

Lewis Hamilton, on the pole, sped off the grid. Fernando Alonso stayed close behind, followed by the Ferraris. The drama in turn one was in the middle of the pack. Vettel ran wide and lost places, but escaped damage. Ralf Schumacher, who started in 12th, turned in late, and ended up crashing into David Coulthard, who he had started alongside. Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg, 13th and 14th respectively, escaped but Rubens Barrichello got caught up. Schumacher was out on the spot, while Coulthard and Barrichello limped back to the pits and retired.

Also, Kimi Räikkönen was caught by Nick Heidfeld and Heikki Kovalainen. Up front, the top four were running strongly until the pit stops came around. The top four all went in early, soon followed by Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber, leaving sixth place qualifier Kovalainen in first. He led six or seven laps, and Hamilton then regained the lead.

Despite a mid-race challenge from team-mate Fernando Alonso, in which the two McLaren drivers were racing side-by-side for the lead down the main straight, Hamilton maintained the lead to win his second-ever Formula One Grand Prix race, the other victory being in the previous event at Montreal. This marked McLaren's first 1-2 finish at the circuit and their first win at Indianapolis since Mika Häkkinen's final Grand Prix win in 2001.

Takuma Sato spun off at turn 3 after managing to pass Adrian Sutil. Sato had been due a drive-through penalty for overtaking under yellow flags, but this was changed to a 10-place grid penalty for the next race.

There were also three mechanical retirements – Nico Rosberg in the Williams suffered an engine failure with only five laps to go, while BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld and Toro Rosso's Vitantonio Liuzzi also retired from the race due to mechanical failure.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Q3 Grid
1 2 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:12.563 1:12.065 1:12.331 1
2 1 Spain Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes 1:12.416 1:11.926 1:12.500 2
3 5 Brazil Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:12.731 1:12.180 1:12.703 3
4 6 Finland Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:12.732 1:12.111 1:12.839 4
5 9 Germany Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:12.543 1:12.188 1:12.847 5
6 4 Finland Heikki Kovalainen Renault 1:12.998 1:12.599 1:13.308 6
7 10 Germany Sebastian Vettel BMW Sauber 1:12.711 1:12.644 1:13.513 7
8 12 Italy Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:13.186 1:12.828 1:13.789 8
9 15 Australia Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:13.425 1:12.788 1:13.871 9
10 3 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:13.168 1:12.603 1:13.953 10
11 14 United Kingdom David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:13.424 1:12.873 11
12 11 Germany Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:12.851 1:12.920 12
13 7 United Kingdom Jenson Button Honda 1:13.306 1:12.998 13
14 16 Germany Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:13.128 1:13.060 14
15 8 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:13.203 1:13.201 15
16 23 United Kingdom Anthony Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 1:13.164 1:13.259 16
17 17 Austria Alexander Wurz Williams-Toyota 1:13.441 17
18 22 Japan Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:13.477 18
19 18 Italy Vitantonio Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:13.484 19
20 19 United States Scott Speed Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:13.712 20
21 20 Germany Adrian Sutil Spyker-Ferrari 1:14.122 21
22 21 Netherlands Christijan Albers Spyker-Ferrari 1:14.597 22
Source:[5]
Podium for the 2007 United States Grand Prix
File:Sebastian Vettel 2007 USA.jpg
Sebastian Vettel became the youngest driver to score a point by finishing eighth on his F1 debut for BMW Sauber, aged 19 years and 349 days. He has now lost this record to Max Verstappen

Race

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 2 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 73 1:31:09.965 1 10
2 1 Spain Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes 73 +1.518 2 8
3 5 Brazil Felipe Massa Ferrari 73 +12.836 3 6
4 6 Finland Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 73 +15.422 4 5
5 4 Finland Heikki Kovalainen Renault 73 +41.402 6 4
6 12 Italy Jarno Trulli Toyota 73 +1:06.703 8 3
7 15 Australia Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 73 +1:07.331 9 2
8 10 Germany Sebastian Vettel BMW Sauber 73 +1:07.783 7 1
9 3 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 72 +1 lap 10
10 17 Austria Alexander Wurz Williams-Toyota 72 +1 lap 17
11 23 United Kingdom Anthony Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 72 +1 lap 16
12 7 United Kingdom Jenson Button Honda 72 +1 lap 13
13 19 United States Scott Speed Toro Rosso-Ferrari 71 +2 laps 20
14 20 Germany Adrian Sutil Spyker-Ferrari 71 +2 laps 21
15 21 Netherlands Christijan Albers Spyker-Ferrari 70 +3 laps 22
16 16 Germany Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 68 Engine 14
17 18 Italy Vitantonio Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 68 Water Pressure 19
Ret 9 Germany Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 56 Hydraulics 5
Ret 22 Japan Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 13 Spun off 18
Ret 14 United Kingdom David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 0 Collision damage 11
Ret 8 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Honda 0 Collision damage 15
Ret 11 Germany Ralf Schumacher Toyota 0 Collision 12
Source:[6]

Championship standings after the race

  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

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External links


Previous race:
2007 Canadian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
2007 season
Next race:
2007 French Grand Prix
Previous race:
2006 United States Grand Prix
United States Grand Prix Next race:
2012 United States Grand Prix
Awards
Preceded by
2006 Brazilian Grand Prix
Formula One Promotional Trophy
for Race Promoter

2007
Succeeded by
2008 Singapore Grand Prix

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