2007 United States Grand Prix

2007 United States Grand Prix
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Round	7 of 2007
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Indianapolis road circuit, 2000 configuration
Race Details
Date	17 June, 2007
Race Number	775
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)
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
Second	Fernando Alonso
Third	Felipe Massa
Lap Leaders

The 2007 United States Grand Prix, otherwise advertised as the XXXVI RBS United States Grand Prix was the seventh round of the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship, staged at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indiana, USA, on 17 June 2007. The race, which would see future World Champion Sebastian Vettel make his Grand Prix debut, was won by rookie racer Lewis Hamilton after a race long duel with his teammate Fernando Alonso.

Vettel got his chance to make his F1 debut with BMW Sauber, for their second driver Robert Kubica was unable to race after his heavy accident in Canada. The German youth, then a member of the Red Bull Junior Team, would partner Nick Heidfeld for the US Grand Prix at the expense of his Formula Renault 3.5 Series title bid.

Vettel would impress during qualifying, claiming seventh just two places behind veteran teammate Heidfeld. Out front, meanwhile, the session would be dominated by the two McLaren-Mercedes, with Hamilton edging out teammate Alonso to claim pole position after exchanging barrages of quick times.

After their intense duel in qualifying all eyes would be on the McLarens at the start of the race, with both making fairly even getaways. As a results, Hamilton would instantly dart to the inside of the circuit to belay any dive from Alonso into the first corner, with the Spaniard hence having to settle for second.

However, there would be drama behind, as Vettel ran wide before Ralf Schumacher misjudged his turn-in point and slammed into the side of David Coulthard. That contact destroyed the Toyota's front-right suspension, with the pair duly sliding into Rubens Barrichello, who was left with damage.

Giancarlo Fisichella would then go to the back of the field with a pirouette of his own making at turn four, as the order began to stabilise. Hamilton would hence maintain a lead over Alonso, which settled at two seconds, with Felipe Massa giving chase in the #5 Ferrari. Heidfeld and Heikki Kovalainen were next ahead of Kimi Räikkönen, whom had been jumped by those two at the start, while Vettel found himself fighting at the back of the top ten with Nico Rosberg.

Hamilton and Alonso would ease clear during the first stint, with the duo trading fastest laps as they sprinted towards their first stops. As expected it was Hamilton who was the first to blink, diving in on lap 20, although Alonso would only manage one lap more and hence rejoin still behind his rookie teammate.

With Massa and Heidfeld also stopping it was Kovalainen who briefly inherited the lead, while Jarno Trulli found himself in third, splitting the two McLarens. An irate Alonso lost a lot of time barging his way past his former teammate, with Kovalainen stopping on lap 28 to hand the lead back to Hamilton and drop himself back to eighth.

The lead battle would ebb and flow throughout the second stint, with Hamilton consistently losing time behind back markers to allow Alonso to gain ground. This came to a head on lap 38 when a rather stubborn Vitantonio Liuzzi held up Hamilton on the run to the back straight, and hence allowed Alonso to draft alongside his rookie teammate. Hamilton, however, would have the inside line for the first corner, and duly held the lead, further fuelling Alonso's frustration.

Their fight rumbled on through the second stops and into the final stint of the race, with Alonso weaving around behind his teammate in a desperate bid to throw him off. Behind, Massa was in a lonely third place, while Räikkönen was steadily reeling in his teammate having jumped Heidfeld during the second pit phase.

Yet, for all his running nose-to-tail behind his teammate at the head of the field, there would be no late move for victory from Alonso, and hence it was Hamilton who claimed victory in the USA. Behind, Massa cruised across the line a distant third ahead of Räikkönen, with Kovalainen, Trulli, Mark Webber and debutante Vettel claiming the remaining points.

Background

A maiden victory for Lewis Hamilton would put the British rookie back on top of the Drivers' Championship leaving Canada, and with 48 points to his name having yet to finish off the podium. His title defending teammate Fernando Alonso was forced to make way for him and dropped eight behind, while Felipe Massa would leave Montreal fifteen points off the lead. Kimi Räikkönen had likewise lost ground in fourth, with Nick Heidfeld having closed right onto the Finn's tail in fifth.

In the Constructors Championship it was McLaren-Mercedes who once again ended the weekend on top, leaving Montreal with 88 points to their name and a 28 point advantage. Ferrari were still their closest challengers, but would need two strong weekends just to get back on terms with the Anglo-German alliance. BMW Sauber, meanwhile, had enhanced their grip on third ahead of Renault, while Williams-Toyota had held on to fifth.

Entry list

The full entry list for the 2007 United States Grand Prix is outlined below:

No.	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Model	Tyre
1	Fernando Alonso	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	McLaren	MP4-22	Mercedes	FO 108T 2.4 V8	B
2	Lewis Hamilton	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	McLaren	MP4-22	Mercedes	FO 108T 2.4 V8	B
3	Giancarlo Fisichella	ING Renault F1 Team	Renault	R27	Renault	RS27 2.4 V8	B
4	Heikki Kovalainen	ING Renault F1 Team	Renault	R27	Renault	RS27 2.4 V8	B
5	Felipe Massa	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari	F2007	Ferrari	056 2007 2.4 V8	B
6	Kimi Räikkönen	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari	F2007	Ferrari	056 2007 2.4 V8	B
7	Jenson Button	Honda Racing F1 Team	Honda	RA107	Honda	RA807E 2.4 V8	B
8	Rubens Barrichello	Honda Racing F1 Team	Honda	RA107	Honda	RA807E 2.4 V8	B
9	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber F1 Team	BMW Sauber	F1.07	BMW	P86/7 2.4 V8	B
10	Sebastian Vettel	BMW Sauber F1 Team	BMW Sauber	F1.07	BMW	P86/7 2.4 V8	B
11	Ralf Schumacher	Panasonic Toyota Racing	Toyota	TF107	Toyota	RVX-07 2.4 V8	B
12	Jarno Trulli	Panasonic Toyota Racing	Toyota	TF107	Toyota	RVX-07 2.4 V8	B
14	David Coulthard	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB3	Renault	RS27 2.4 V8	B
15	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB3	Renault	RS27 2.4 V8	B
16	Nico Rosberg	AT&T Williams	Williams	FW29	Toyota	RVX-07 2.4 V8	B
17	Alexander Wurz	AT&T Williams	Williams	FW29	Toyota	RVX-07 2.4 V8	B
18	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso	STR2	Ferrari	056 2006 2.4 V8	B
19	Scott Speed	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso	STR2	Ferrari	056 2006 2.4 V8	B
20	Adrian Sutil	Etihad Alder Spyker F1 Team	Spyker	F8-VII	Ferrari	056 2006 2.4 V8	B
21	Christijan Albers	Etihad Alder Spyker F1 Team	Spyker	F8-VII	Ferrari	056 2006 2.4 V8	B
22	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri F1 Team	Super Aguri	SA07	Honda	RA807E 2.4 V8	B
23	Anthony Davidson	Super Aguri F1 Team	Super Aguri	SA07	Honda	RA807E 2.4 V8	B
Test Drivers for Practice Sessions Only
38	Kazuki Nakajima	AT&T Williams	Williams	FW29	Toyota	RVX-07 2.4 V8	B
Source:

Qualifying

Qualifying Results

The full qualifying results for the 2007 United States Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team		Q1			Q2			Q3		Grid
					Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time
1	2	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes		3	1:12.563		2	1:12.065		1	1:12.331	1
2	1	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Mercedes		1	1:12.416		1	1:11.926		2	1:12.500	2
3	5	Felipe Massa	Ferrari		5	1:12.731		4	1:12.180		3	1:12.703	3
4	6	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari		6	1:12.732		3	1:12.111		4	1:12.839	4
5	9	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber		2	1:12.543		5	1:12.188		5	1:12.847	5
6	4	Heikki Kovalainen	Renault		8	1:12.998		6	1:12.599		6	1:13.308	6
7	10	Sebastian Vettel	BMW Sauber		4	1:12.711		8	1:12.644		7	1:13.513	7
8	12	Jarno Trulli	Toyota		12	1:13.186		10	1:12.828		8	1:13.789	8
9	15	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault		16	1:13.425		9	1:12.788		9	1:13.871	9
10	3	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault		11	1:13.168		7	1:12.603		10	1:13.953	10
11	14	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault		15	1:13.424		11	1:12.873				11
12	11	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota		7	1:12.851		12	1:12.920				12
13	7	Jenson Button	Honda		14	1:13.306		13	1:12.998				13
14	16	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota		9	1:13.128		14	1:13.060				14
15	8	Rubens Barrichello	Honda		13	1:13.203		15	1:13.201				15
16	23	Anthony Davidson	Super Aguri-Honda		10	1:13.164		16	1:13.259				16
17	17	Alexander Wurz	Williams-Toyota		17	1:13.441							17
18	22	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda		18	1:13.477							18
19	18	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari		19	1:13.484							19
20	19	Scott Speed	Toro Rosso-Ferrari		20	1:13.712							20
21	20	Adrian Sutil	Spyker-Ferrari		21	1:14.122							21
22	21	Christijan Albers	Spyker-Ferrari		22	1:14.597							22
Source:

• ^T Indicates a driver used their test/spare car to set their best time in that session.
• Bold indicates the fastest driver's time in each session.

Grid

	Pos.	Pos.
	Driver	Driver
	______________
Row 1	1	______________
	Lewis Hamilton	2
	______________	Fernando Alonso
Row 2	3	______________
	Felipe Massa	4
	______________	Kimi Räikkönen
Row 3	5	______________
	Nick Heidfeld	6
	______________	Heikki Kovalainen
Row 4	7	______________
	Sebastian Vettel	8
	______________	Jarno Trulli
Row 5	9	______________
	Mark Webber	10
	______________	Giancarlo Fisichella
Row 6	11	______________
	David Coulthard	12
	______________	Ralf Schumacher
Row 7	13	______________
	Jenson Button	14
	______________	Nico Rosberg
Row 8	15	______________
	Rubens Barrichello	16
	______________	Anthony Davidson
Row 9	17	______________
	Alexander Wurz	18
	______________	Takuma Sato
Row 10	19	______________
	Vitantonio Liuzzi	20
	______________	Scott Speed
Row 11	21	______________
	Adrian Sutil	22
	______________	Christijan Albers

Race

Results

The full results for the 2007 United States Grand Prix are outlined below:

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	+1.518s	2	8
3	5	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	73	+12.842s	3	6
4	6	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	73	+15.422s	4	5
5	4	Heikki Kovalainen	Renault	73	+41.402s	6	4
6	12	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	73	+1:06.703	8	3
7	15	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	73	+1:07.331	9	2
8	10	Sebastian Vettel	BMW Sauber	73	+1:07.783	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	Water pressure	19
Ret	9	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	56	Gearbox	5
Ret	22	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda	13	Spin	18
Ret	14	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	0	Damage	11
Ret	8	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	0	Damage	15
Ret	11	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	0	Collision	12
Source:

• ^T Indicates a driver used their test/spare car.
• * Rosberg and Liuzzi were still classified despite retiring as they had completed 90% of the race distance.

Milestones

• 750th Grand Prix appearance for Ferrari as an engine supplier.
• Debut race for Sebastian Vettel.
• 750th entry for a car using #6 as its race number.
• Lewis Hamilton secured his second victory.
• McLaren scored their 152nd win as a constructor.
  • 57th win for Mercedes as an engine supplier.
• Maiden points finish for Vettel.
  • Vettel became the youngest driver to score points at the age of 19 years and 349 days. This would stand until Daniil Kvyat scored at the 2014 Australian Grand Prix at the age of 19 years and 324 days.

Standings

Lewis Hamilton had extended his Championship lead as a result of the US Grand Prix, with his second victory in succession taking him up to 58 points for the campaign. That meant he held a ten point advantage over teammate Fernando Alonso, while Felipe Massa in third had slipped nineteen points behind in third. Kimi Räikkönen also looked to have fallen too far back to challenge in fourth, as Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel added their names to the scorer's list.

In the Constructors Championship it was, unsurprisingly, McLaren-Mercedes who once again left a Grand Prix in 2007 with an enhanced lead, their third one-two of the campaign putting them on 106 points. Ferrari hence had continued their tumble away from the lead, slipping back by 35 points, while BMW Sauber were an even more distant third on 39. Renault had hence made a little ground on the German-Swiss alliance, while Williams-Toyota held station in fifth once again.

World Championship for Drivers Pos. Driver Pts. +/- 1 Lewis Hamilton 58 — 2 Fernando Alonso 48 — 3 Felipe Massa 39 — 4 Kimi Räikkönen 32 — 5 Nick Heidfeld 26 — 6 Giancarlo Fisichella 13 — 7 Robert Kubica 12 — 8 Heikki Kovalainen 12 ▲1 9 Alexander Wurz 8 ▼1 10 Jarno Trulli 7 ▲3 11 Nico Rosberg 5 ▼1 12 David Coulthard 4 ▼1 13 Takuma Sato 4 ▼1 14 Mark Webber 2 ▲1 15 Ralf Schumacher 2 ▼1 16 Sebastian Vettel 1 ▲7

World Championship for Constructors* Pos. Team Pts. +/- 1 McLaren-Mercedes 106 — 2 Ferrari 71 — 3 BMW Sauber 39 — 4 Renault 25 — 5 Williams-Toyota 13 — 6 Toyota 9 — 7 Red Bull-Renault 6 — 8 Super Aguri-Honda 4 —

Only points scoring drivers and constructors are shown.

• * Includes points scored by McLaren-Mercedes before their exclusion prior to the 2007 Belgian Grand Prix.

References

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