Hulkenberg’s race ended on lap one when he collided with Vettel and Bottas at the start. He limped back to the pits but had too much damage to continue. Perez didn’t get away cleanly either, hit from behind by Kvyat in an incident which earned the Russian a ten-second penalty. Fortunately the Mexican was able to continue and came home in the points.
Sergio Perez, 8th: “Eighth place was a good recovery after our race was compromised on lap one. I was hit hard from the rear under braking for turn 11 by Kvyat, who made a mistake and came in with no control. All of a sudden I was effectively in last place and with a badly damaged car. It was a difficult recovery, but step by step we got back into the points and in the end we didn’t get a bad result. We got all the strategy calls right and this helped us overcome the damage to the car because we made up positions in both pit stops. To come away with four points and to move up to seventh in the drivers’ championship is a good result in these circumstances. It’s important to hold on when you get a difficult weekend, especially in races with high attrition, and score every point you can get, but the regret remains because I think we could have finished fifth today.”
Nico Hülkenberg, DNF: “It’s really disappointing to have another first lap retirement. I just ran out of space going into turn one because I got sandwiched between Valtteri [Bottas] on my left and Sebastian [Vettel] on the right. Sebastian turned in quite aggressively, made contact with me, and that pushed me into Valtteri. I think it could have been avoided if Sebastian had given us a bit more space, but it all happened so quickly and I had nowhere to go. It’s really frustrating when you have a quick car and your race only lasts ten seconds. We had done all the hard work on Friday and Saturday, but all that effort counted for nothing.”
It’s really frustrating when you have a quick car and your race only lasts ten seconds. Here is my "race" report … 😡 @F1 @ForceIndiaF1 pic.twitter.com/TfyOMdRdRT
— Nico Hülkenberg (@HulkHulkenberg) October 24, 2016
Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal: “We had a pretty disastrous first lap – not for the first time this year. Nico was eliminated in turn one as he got squeezed between Bottas and Vettel. The resulting contact broke the steering arm and forced us to retire the car. Later in the lap, Sergio was hit by Kvyat going into turn 11 and he dropped to the back of the field. Despite picking up damage to the floor, he staged a remarkable recovery drive to finish eighth. To be leaving Austin with just four points is disappointing, especially considering the speed we had in the car this weekend. That said, we’ve only dropped a couple of points in the fight for fourth place in the constructors’ championship and we take encouragement from the car’s competitiveness across the weekend. It means we can go to Mexico confident of delivering a similar level of performance.”
Bottas was involved in a first lap incident with Hulkenberg, which led to a puncture that dropped him to the back of the field, caused floor damage and scuppered his chances of scoring points. Massa likewise had an eventful day, losing time under the Virtual Safety Car conditions before colliding with Alonso as the Spaniard overtook down the inside. That resulted in a puncture but luckily it didn’t cost Massa any further places.
Felipe Massa, 7th: “I had a really good start and the race was going fantastically. I avoided the incidents at corner one and managed to overtake two cars. Our pace was really good and I managed to open up the gap to the cars behind. Then I was really unlucky with the virtual safety car because I was nine seconds ahead and then Sainz came out in front of me, gaining a lot of time and points. At the end, Fernando dived into the corner I was taking, hit my car and I got a puncture because of it. It destroyed every opportunity I had to finish the race in sixth, and potentially fifth. We still finished seventh and closed the gap to Force India, but it should have been more. It’s time to look ahead to Mexico.”
Valtteri Bottas, 16th: “It was a very disappointing day today. I went into turn one on the inside and had a good line for the corner, but at the apex Hulkenberg touched me and I got a puncture. That also damaged the floor of the car and I lost a lot of downforce for the rest of the race. I’m happy there is another race coming quickly next week in Mexico to try and make up for this. The positive thing is that we narrowed the gap to Force India a bit, but we need to make sure that we score good points with both cars.”
Unlucky today. Damage & puncture in the 1st corner meant no points today. Glad #MexicanGP is soon! https://t.co/nr7U9QUoh6 #USGP #VB77 #F1 pic.twitter.com/EZkaXN3uJe
— Valtteri Bottas (@ValtteriBottas) October 23, 2016
Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: “The key factor today was that Valtteri was out of the race effectively from the first corner after having to limp back to the pits with a puncture after an incident with Hulkenberg. After that, we just tried to concentrate on Felipe. He had got himself into a good position and we created a decent gap to Sainz in the first stint. We then had a good pitstop and strategy, and kept a good gap to Sainz on the option tyre, so we were in control of our race. However, the virtual safety car caused by Verstappen put us at a disadvantage and allowed Sainz to get ahead. We were then just waiting for his tyres to degrade when Alonso caught up, and collided with Felipe as he tried to get through. The car could have secured fifth today but circumstances went against us. However, we will be back in seven days’ time and will continue to close the gap to Force India in the championship.”
Related Articles