Formula 1®
Vettel Charges Hard for Fastest Lap in Austin
Vettel wins Fastest Lap at 2014 USA GP
While Hamilton and Rosberg fought it out for first, Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel charged hard to P7 after starting from the pits, grabbing his 2nd DHL Fastest Lap of the season in the process.
VIDEO: Watch the video above to see cockpit footage of Vettel’s Fastest Lap and hear DHL’s F1 Expert and former F1 driver Christian Danner tell the story behind it.
For the second race in a row it wasn’t a Silver Arrow that ran the day’s Fastest Lap. But it was certainly a driver who knows a thing or two about piloting a Fastest Laps: Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel. The 2013 Drivers’ Champion also won the 2013 DHL Fastest Lap Award.
After starting from the pits, the Vettel pitted four times in the race, but it was his last pit with only 8 laps to go that made the difference. On a fresh set of soft-compound Pirellis, the German proceeded to pick off the cars ahead of them as if they were standing still. The hard charge netting him the day’s Fastest Lap and nearly 6th place. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso just barely held off his soon-to-be teammate.
“We decided to go for fresh tires with only a few laps to go, so we were in a stronger position at that point compared to others,” said Vettel after the race.
“He drove incredibly well to finish seventh place from the pit lane,” added Red Bull Team Principal, Christian Horner.
Austin thriller
After Nico Rosberg comfortably controlled the race in the first stint, the wheels came off on lap 24 just after Hamilton had closed the gap from 2.5s to 0.7s in just a few laps. Trusting his instincts, the Brit dove down the inside on Turn 12 to take the lead from his German teammate.
“It's a very special feeling to have such an amazing car, an amazing team and to be on this incredible run.” (Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton)
And though Rosberg never gave up, he was forced to watch Hamilton race to his 5th consecutive win and 10th of the season. The victory puts him at 316 points to Rosberg’s 292, which means he can win the 2014 Drivers’ Championship even if he finishes 2nd behind Rosberg in the final two races.
He remains 1 ahead of Rosberg in the race for the DHL Fastest Lap Award at 6-5, meaning a Fastest Lap in Brazil would clinch that trophy.
See what you’ve been missing
How has Danner been doing this year? Watch all of his past predications and analysis and get a driver’s view of the Fastest Lap from every Grand Prix on here.
Click here to follow the Motorsports stream on DHL InMotion!
Content from disqus has been blocked because you did not allow to load it.
Loading the blocked content will adjust your privacy setting and content from this service will not be blocked in the future.
You have the right to revoke or change your decision at any time.
Posting Guidelines
All communications on Logistics of Things should be appropriate for a professional community, respecting the diverse views of individuals from different backgrounds. We will review all comments and reserve the right to terminate or restrict access to user's account and to delete any content posted through it, without notice and at our discretion, if we deem it to be overly promotional, offensive, or off topic.
All posting become property of DHL.