At last lady luck has been on Brendon Hartley’s side, this time at the US Grand Prix. Starting from the rear of the field, Hartley crossed the line in 11th but was moved up to ninth overall after two disqualifications ahead of him.
“Really happy with my performance and race today which was rewarded with two points,” commented Hartly. I” was aggressive when I needed to be and did a good job with tyres, the team gave me good info from the pits and the mechanics did a good pit stop – a team effort!
“From last on the grid to P9 was the max we could do today, and I’m happy with the aggression I showed and how the race went. Even if the points haven’t come, I have been very strong in all the last races and am very motivated and optimistic for the rest of the season and beyond.”
His team mate Pierre Gasly finished 12th, having a more difficult race.
“It was a long and difficult Sunday,” said Gasly. “Starting from P19 we knew it would be a difficult race. We took some debris after the chaotic first lap and that damaged the floor a bit, after that I was just trying to do everything I could from inside the car, but there was a massive loss of grip for the rest of the race.
“We decided for a two stop strategy but there wasn’t much we could do today. The pace over one lap in Qualifying was really good so there’s positives to take away from the weekend. It’s just a shame we couldn’t fight properly this time, but I’m really hoping we can carry the pace into Mexico and have a clean Qualifying there to get a good result for the team.”
“Taking into consideration we had to start from the back of the grid, we ended up with a good result by finishing ninth,” said Franz Tost (Team Principal). “Brendon had a good race as he saved the tyres and defended his position well against Ericsson.
“Pierre went straight at Turn 5 on the first lap to prevent a collision with the cars that crashed in front of him, and unfortunately damaged the floor. As a consequence, his car lost downforce and was quite unstable under braking, so he could not be able to catch up to the rest of the field. Nevertheless, he finished the race in P12. With these two points added to our tally, we now head to Mexico for next week’s race.”
Haas Formula 1 driver Kevin Magnussen was disqualified for a fuel infringement as his VF-18 had exceeded the allowed fuel limit for the race, breaching Article 30.5 of the sporting regulations. Also disqualified for a similar infringement was Esteban Ocon. This moved Hartley from 11th to ninth and Gasly from 14th to 12th.
Race results
1 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1h34m18.643s
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Renault 1.281s
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2.342s
4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 18.222s
5 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 24.744s
6 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1m27.210s
7 Carlos Sainz Renault 1m34.994s
8 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1m41.080s
9 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso/Honda 1 Lap
10 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1 Lap
11 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren/Renault 1 Lap
12 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso/Honda 1 Lap
13 Sergey Sirotkin Williams/Mercedes 1 Lap
14 Lance Stroll Williams/Mercedes 2 Laps
– Esteban Ocon Force India/Mercedes Disqualified
– Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari Disqualified
– Charles Leclerc Sauber/Ferrari Collision
– Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault Electrical
– Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari Collision
– Fernando Alonso McLaren/Renault Collision
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