Brought to you by TJ13 Courtroom Reporter & Crime Analyst: Adam Macdonald.
[For those who are new to the page; TJ13 attempts to remove certain aspects of the race to give a fairer reflection of the race result.]
One of the most interesting aspects of the race was the start, as 22 cars sprinted up the hill to the first corner in the Texan sunshine. After this it became rather procession like, but for a few moans and groans over the team radio from Lewis Hamilton. The cries from other sections of the media were only 1 race to go. It is important to note that Newey has been caught out by regulation changes before – something I’m sure will be giving the other teams hope.
Nevertheless, I was fortunate enough to be situated at turn 1 for the race and watched the start of the race live. It was quite a spectacle to see and brilliant that the area is a general admission zone.
19 seconds of pleasure and then it was over. I can’t think what this reminds me of…
So what really happened?
Adrian Sutil: There unnecessary scuffle he got in with Pastor Maldonado along the back straight is probably the strongest evidence anyone who questioned Williams’ decision to drop the Venezuelan for 2014 needed. Put down as a racing incident so he remains RETIRED.
Pastor Maldonado: Being called into the pits after the contact ended any chances of decent finish at the GP. It was a miserable weekend for the man now searching for a drive next year and a race which will not have helped his chances of finding a new home. He remains in 17th position.
Jenson Button: Having once again caused is front wing to be damaged he is not given any time back as a result of changing it. He remains in 10th position.
The Verdict
This leaves the revised results table looking like this:
| Revised Race Position | Driver | Result comparison | Points | Points Difference | Grid Position | |
| Start | Revised Position | |||||
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | = | 25 | = | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Romain Grosjean | = | 18 | = | 3 | 2 |
| 3 | Mark Webber | = | 15 | = | 2 | 3 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | = | 12 | = | 5 | 4 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | = | 10 | = | 6 | 5 |
| 6 | Nico Hulkenberg | = | 8 | = | 4 | 6 |
| 7 | Sergio Perez | = | 6 | = | 7 | 7 |
| 8 | Valtteri Bottas | = | 4 | = | 9 | 8 |
| 9 | Nico Rosberg | = | 2 | = | 12 | 9 |
| 10 | Jenson Button | = | 1 | = | 15 | 10 |
| 11 | Daniel Ricciardo | = | 0 | = | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | Felipe Massa | = | 0 | = | 13 | 12 |
| 13 | Esteban Gutierrez | = | 0 | = | 20 | 13 |
| 14 | Heikki Kovalainen | = | 0 | = | 8 | 14 |
| 15 | Paul Di Resta | = | 0 | = | 11 | 15 |
| 16 | Jean-Eric Vergne | = | 0 | = | 14 | 16 |
| 17 | Pastor Maldonado | = | 0 | = | 17 | 17 |
| 18 | Jules Bianchi | = | 0 | = | 19 | 18 |
| 19 | Giedo van der Garde | = | 0 | = | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | Charles Pic | = | 0 | = | 22 | 20 |
| 21 | Max Chilton | = | 0 | = | 21 | 21 |
| 22 | Adrian Sutil | = RETIRED | 0 | = | 16 | 22 |
Below, the revised World Drivers’ Championship:
| Driver | Revised WDC | WDC Points Difference | |
| Position | Points | ||
| Sebastian Vettel | 1 | 383 | +11 |
| Fernando Alonso | 2 | 230 | +3 |
| Mark Webber | 3 | 222 | +41 |
| Lewis Hamilton | 4 | 182 | -5 |
| Nico Rosberg | 5 | 172 | +11 |
| Kimi Raikkonen | 6 | 163 | -20 |
| Romain Grosjean | 7 | 139 | +7 |
| Felipe Massa | 8 | 102 | -4 |
| Jenson Button | 9 | 50 | -11 |
| Adrian Sutil | 10 | 40 | +11 |
| Nico Hulkenberg | 11 | 38 | -9 |
| Paul Di Resta | 12 | 32 | -16 |
| Sergio Perez | 13 | 27 | -10 |
| Jean-Eric Vergne | 14 | 16 | +3 |
| Daniel Ricciardo | 15 | 11 | -8 |
| Esteban Gutierrez | 16 | 4 | -2 |
| Valtteri Bottas | 17 | 4 | = |
| Pastor Maldonado | 18 | 0 | -1 |
| Jules Bianchi | 19 | 0 | = |
| Charles Pic | 20 | 0 | = |
| Giedo van der Garde | 21 | 0 | = |
| Max Chilton | 22 | 0 | = |
*Those with 0 points will not be ordered
What they would have said
This would have been the race the Lewis regained an advantage in the WDC over his teammate in what has been the closest fought battle this year at the front. The continued resurgence of Nico Hulkenberg would also have been noticed to an even greater degree had he made his desperate last lap dive into turn 1 stick.
The battle for 2nd place in the WDC would be going down to the final race with Webber in with a good shout of making it a Red Bull 1-2. The unluckiest man on the grid is surely due some luck in his final Grand Prix.
Quote of the Day
The German writer and politician Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once said, “To witness two lovers is a spectacle for the gods.”
Following that theory then we must all be gods. Sebastian Vettel continually states his love for his car (and team). The pair are a match made in heaven as we witness something very special.
Hi Adam,
Cool video. It’s always good to see track-side videos. And I’ve enjoyed your articles from this past weekend.
I’ve noticed that these revised results here differ from the race classification for the following five drivers, Massa, Gutierrez, Kovaleinen, di Resta, and Vergne.
Sorry about that. I used the BBC results page to fill in the drivers which was wrong. This has now been corrected.
I’m glad you enjoyed reading about the my time in Austin. I thought it was important to report on all of the F1 weekend’s impact, not just the racing.
How come Heikki’s problems weren’t taken into account?
I would refer you to this article:
http://en.espnf1.com/lotusf1/motorsport/story/136343.html
Looking at his lap times, the best throughout the weekend the best he would have been able to achieve was 12th so still no points.