Pick the Podium - F-1 - Pirelli United States Grand Prix, Austin, Texas, 2018

[Retroram52]

Hamilton comes out fourth.

 

[Retroram52]

Hamilton has to pass Bottas, Verstappen, and then take on Raikkonen.

 

[Retroram52]

HAmilton is chipping away at the time gap between he and Raikkonen. The gap is down to 11 seconds.

 

[Retroram52]

HAmilton gets by Bottas by team orders and moves into third.

 

[Retroram52]

Hamilton has 15 laps to catch and pass Raikkonen. Will he do it?

 

[Retroram52]

Hamilton is catching Raikkonen and Vettel is closing in on Bottas with 10 to go.

 

[Retroram52]

Hamilton has had to pit twice and those tyres may cost him the race apparently.

 

[Retroram52]

Hamilton has caught Verstappen and Raikkonen.

 

[Retroram52]

Wow, what a battle for second as Verstappen held his line and beat the charge by Hamilton forcing Hamilton to go wide and Verstappen sped away.

 

[Retroram52]

Vettel caught and forced Bottas to drive wide in a corner and Vettel takes fourth.

 

[Retroram52]

Wow, what a race in the last two laps. Raikkonen wins the race, his first in a 113 races. Verstappen finishes on the podium, a first for him in the U.S. Hamilton takes third as he could not get by Verstappen and Vettel takes fourth. Hamilton did not secure the championship as that tides over to Mexico City.

 

[Retroram52]

Here is how we did:

BoiseStateFan27: 0 points- Skunked
forty_three: 0 points- Skunked
Hank Kingsley: 0 points- Skunked
Retroram52: 0 points- Skunked

Season totals:

BoiseStateFan27: 87 points
forty_three: 79 points
Hank Kingsley: 76 points
Retroram52: 92 points


Next up: Mexico City, October 26-28.

 

[Retroram52]

It is a rarity that all of us got skunked but it happens. It all started when Hamilton blistered his rear tires. Mercedes is pissed about the tyre manufacturer.

 

[forty_three]

Brilliant drive by Raikkonen and actual strong strategy call by Ferrari.

Raikkonen held Lewis up just enough early on and then faking the stop under VSC which caused Hamilton to take tores too early.

And Red Bull HAS to be sabotaging Danny Ric's car. No one has luck that bad. I think Danny wins that race if the car just stays together.

 

[Retroram52]

Pretty strange race all-around 43. I think Hamilton will rebound in Mexico City to put this championship in the bag.

 

[Hank Kingsley]

Well. What the fuck do we know anyway...

 

[BoiseStateFan27]

Very bizarre race, after how predictable the last several races were this one suddenly was all sorts of mixed up