2007 United States Grand Prix

  2007 United States Grand Prix

Race details
Race 7 of 17 in the 2007 Formula One season.
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 4.192 km (2.605 mi)
Distance	73 laps, 306.016 km (190.150 mi)
Weather	Warm (33C/91F) and clear
Pole position
Driver	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes
Time	1:12.331
Fastest lap
Driver	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari
Time	1:13.117 on lap 49
Podium
First	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes
Second	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Mercedes
Third	Felipe Massa	Ferrari

The 2007 United States Grand Prix was the seventh race of the 2007 Formula One season. It was also, for at least the time being, the last Formula 1 race held in the United States. It was held on 15–17 June at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.^[1] It was won by Lewis Hamilton of McLaren-Mercedes, followed by team-mate Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa of Ferrari.

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 by 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. His partner, Mark Webber, was close behind with the Spyker Ferraris and Williams cars closely behind. Later in the session, with about 6 minutes left, Coulthard spun out on turn 8. Fernando Alonso ran first, Nick Heidfeld second, and Lewis Hamilton closely behind in third. Although they struggled, both Ferraris made it, as well Vettel, the 19-year-old temporary replacement of Robert Kubica. 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 fierce 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 5 again. Webber made it to the next session, although his team-mate Coulthard was relegated along with 2002 United States Grand Prix Champion Rubens Barrichello. Barrichello's partner Jenson Button was also relegated, along with Nico Rosberg, Anthony Davidson, and Ralf Schumacher.

In Part Three, Räikkönen, Alonso, Hamilton, Massa, and Heidfeld all had their eye on Pole Position. Hamilton was first out and had 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

Lewis Hamilton greets press and fans after winning his second race in a row from the pole

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 1 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. Ralf 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. Räikkönen would soon get his revenge. Up front, the top four were running strongly until the pit stops came around. The top 4 all went in early, soon followed by Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber, leaving sixth place qualifier Kovalainen in first. He lead 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 1 Grand Prix race, the other victory being in the previous event at Montreal. This marked the first win for a black driver, 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 Spyker's 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	Name	Constructor	Part 1	Part 2	Part 3
1	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:12.563	1:12.065	1:12.331
2	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Mercedes	1:12.416	1:11.926	1:12.500
3	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:12.731	1:12.180	1:12.703
4	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:12.732	1:12.111	1:12.839
5	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	1:12.543	1:12.188	1:12.847
6	Heikki Kovalainen	Renault	1:12.998	1:12.599	1:13.308
7	Sebastian Vettel	BMW Sauber	1:12.711	1:12.644	1:13.513
8	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:13.186	1:12.828	1:13.789
9	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:13.425	1:12.788	1:13.871
10	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	1:13.168	1:12.603	1:13.953
11	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	1:13.424	1:12.873
12	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	1:12.851	1:12.920
13	Jenson Button	Honda	1:13.306	1:12.998
14	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	1:13.128	1:13.060
15	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	1:13.203	1:13.201
16	Anthony Davidson	Super Aguri-Honda	1:13.164	1:13.259
17	Alexander Wurz	Williams-Toyota	1:13.441
18	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda	1:13.477
19	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:13.484
20	Scott Speed	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:13.712
21	Adrian Sutil	Spyker-Ferrari	1:14.122
22	Christijan Albers	Spyker-Ferrari	1:14.597

Race

Podium for the 2007 United States Grand Prix

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	2	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	73	1:31:09.965	1	10
2	1	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Mercedes	73	+1.5	2	8
3	5	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	73	+12.8	3	6
4	6	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	73	+15.4	4	5
5	4	Heikki Kovalainen	Renault	73	+41.4	6	4
6	12	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	73	+66.7	8	3
7	15	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	73	+67.3	9	2
8	10	Sebastian Vettel	BMW Sauber	73	+67.7	7	1
9	3	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	72	+1 lap	10
10	17	Alexander Wurz	Williams-Toyota	72	+1 lap	17
11	23	Anthony Davidson	Super Aguri-Honda	72	+1 lap	16
12	7	Jenson Button	Honda	72	+1 lap	13
13	19	Scott Speed	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	71	+2 laps	20
14	20	Adrian Sutil	Spyker-Ferrari	71	+2 laps	21
15	21	Christijan Albers	Spyker-Ferrari	70	+3 laps	22
16	16	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	68	Engine	14
17	18	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	68	Retired	19
Ret	9	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	56	Transmission	5
Ret	22	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda	13	Spin	18
Ret	14	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	0	Collision	11
Ret	8	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	0	Collision	15
Ret	11	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	0	Collision	12

Notes

Sebastian Vettel became the youngest driver to score a point by finishing eighth on his F1 début for BMW Sauber.

• Fastest Lap: Kimi Räikkönen, 1:13.117 (Lap 49, 206.397 km/h)
• Lap Leaders: Lewis Hamilton 66 (1 – 20, 27 – 50, 52 – 73), Heikki Kovalainen 5 (22 – 26), Fernando Alonso 1 (21), Felipe Massa 1 (51)
• First race: Sebastian Vettel
• Sebastian Vettel became the youngest driver to score points at 19 years and 349 days.
• For the United States TV coverage, FOX broadcast this race live.
• This was the last United States Grand Prix held in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the time being, although the door supposedly has not been closed to the possibility of holding the USGP there in the future. However, it had been confirmed that there would not be a United States Grand Prix for the 2008 Formula One season.

References

External links

• Official website
• Official Formula.com page
• Detailed United States Grand Prix results