United States Grand Prix – Warm Up
Everything you need to know about tyres, penalties and the final starting grid for the eighteenth Grand Prix of the season.
Lewis Hamilton was the fastest again, beating his nearest rival Sebastian Vettel by six hundredths. Kimi Raikkonen made it up to the third place, Valtteri Bottas finished his qualifying 4th, Daniel Ricciardo occupied the 5th place, while his teammate has damaged the car in Q1 and then stayed in boxes.
Both Mercedes drivers, Vettel and Ricciardo will start the US Grand Prix on Supersoft tyres, the other part of the top-10, including Raikkonen, will use an Ultrasoft.
Pirelli has brought three types of compounds for the United States Grand Prix – yellow Soft, purple Ultrasoft and red Supersoft. Here's which compounds every driver still has available for the race.
Pirelli also revealed the quickest strategy for the race:
“Quickest is a one-stopper. Initial stint on supersoft for 18-24 laps then soft to the finish. Slightly slower is this: start on ultrasoft for 14-20 laps then soft to the flag.
Clearly slower: start on ultrasoft for 20-25 laps then soft to the flag.”
As for the power unit changes and penalties ahead of the Grand Prix, let’s overview the below list.
- Brendon Hartley and Pierre Gasly - new internal combustion engine (ICE), turbocharger (TC), motor generator unit-neat(MGU-H), motor generator unit-kinetic (MGU-K)
- Hartley will also use a new gearbox, as well as Sebastian Vettel, Nico Hulkenberg, Romain Grosjean, Marcus Ericsson and Max Verstappen.
Both Toro Rosso drivers got penalties for engine changes, Brendon Hartley got a 5 places grid penalty in addition; Max Verstappen also got a penalty for a new gearbox.
And lastly, take a look at the starting grid for the United States Grand Prix (Note that Sebastian Vettel received a 3 place grid place for not slowing sufficiently during a Red Flag period):
|
1st row |
2° – Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari – 1.32.307s |
1° – Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes – 1.32.237s |
|
2nd row |
4° – Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull – 1.33.494s |
3° – Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes – 1.32.616s |
|
3rd row |
6° – Esteban Ocon, Racing Point Force India – 1.34.145s |
5° – Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari – 1.32.298s - 3 place grid penalty |
|
4th row |
8° – Romain Grosjean, Haas – 1.34.250s |
7° – Nico Hulkenberg, Renault – 1.34.215s |
|
5th row |
10° – Sergio Perez, Racing Point Force India – 1.34.594s |
9° – Charles Leclerc, Sauber – 1.34.420s |
|
6th row |
12° – Kevin Magnussen, Haas – 1.34.732s |
11° – Carlos Sainz, Renault – 1.34.566s |
|
7th row |
14° – Sergey Sirotkin , Williams – 1.35.362s |
13° – Fernando Alonso, McLaren – 1.35.294s |
|
8th row |
16° – Marcus Ericsson, Sauber – 1.35.536s |
15° – Lance Stroll, Williams – 1.35.480s |
|
9th row |
18° – Max Verstappen, Red Bull – 1.34.766s - 5 place grid penalty |
17° – Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren – 1.35.735s |
|
10th row |
20° – Brendon Hartley, Toro Rosso – start from the back of the grid + 5 place grid penalty |
19° – Pierre Gasly, Toro Rosso – start from the back of the grid |
