Alonso thanks Hamilton

The McLaren driver beat Vettel to the win in Texas. The German only managed to increase his lead over the Ferrari driver (who finished 3rd) by a further 3 points. But the current World Drivers’ Champion only needs to finish 4th on Sunday to retain his title

 

 

In the end, not even deliberately changing Felipe Massa’s gearbox - to push him 5 places down the grid – helped Ferrari in Texas: the F2012 just lacked pace. Massa's gearbox change meant Alonso gained one place on the grid at the start of the USA Grand Prix and, when the lights changed to green, Fernando was able to immediately settle in behind the 3 leading cars. But the penultimate Grand Prix of the 2012 season was won by Lewis Hamilton. Alonso had to make do with 3rd place, behind Sebastian Vettel - a result which means Alonso now trails the reigning World Drivers’ Champion by a further 3 points. Fernando’s bid to finish in front of the German failed. But, despite being completely outshone in qualifying and in the race, the Championship standings show that anything can still happen. It’ll be much, much tougher to win the title now, but anything can still happen. And Alonso and Ferrari have to thank Lewis Hamilton for that. Had he not had such a fantastic race and overtaken Vettel on lap 42 to take the lead, the gap between the German and Alonso would now be 20 points. Instead, it's "just" 13.

Miracle — But Ferrari need a miracle next weekend in Brazil. All Vettel needs to do is finish in 4th place, irrespective of what Alonso does. Tension, the weather and the support of millions of Ferraristi all over the world 'willing’ negative energy towards the RB8, will all, no doubt, now play a part. As, in Texas, we also witnessed just how fragile the Red Bull can be, with Mark Webber pulling out of the race due to mechanical problems. It'll be a week fraught with tension. Yet everything points to one conclusion: Ferrari have to hope that the Red Bull, who yesterday claimed their 3rd consecutive Constructors’ Championship, will stumble into problems. Yet again, Vettel and the car designed by Adrian Newey proved they were stronger than the Ferrari and that they deserve the title. It seems that only maths gives Alonso any chance of being crowned Driver’s Champion: unfortunately for Ferrari, the race in Texas was a non-contest - Alonso finished 39 seconds behind Hamilton and Vettel...

Squabble over the seal — There was friction in the air during the hours leading up to the start of the race, when news of the decision by Ferrari to deliberately change the gearbox on Massa’s car – which saw him demoted 5 places down the grid... - meant that Alonso would start the race one further place up the grid and on the clean side of the track. From a sportsmanship point of view, that wasn’t in the spirit of the game. But that’s the nature of the sport. When the race started Alonso therefore found himself behind Vettel, Webber and Hamilton at the 1st corner. They quickly pulled out a commanding gap. Hamilton was particularly quick. He overtook Webber on lap 4 and started to put an enormous amount of pressure on Vettel, until he finally managed to get past him on lap 42 of the 56 lap race.

Ferrari suffer — Alonso put up a fantastic fight. He took advantage of Webber’s mechanical failure, which meant he was eventually able to climb onto the bottom step of the podium. But he struggle throughout the race. In fact, he struggled a lot. Following his pit stop he found himself 23 seconds behind Vettel. And, thanks to an error from his bit crew, Alonso was down the field, in the middle of a group of cars. Luckily for him, Kimi Raikkonen, who had yet another fantastic race, also had problems during his pit stop: had Kimi managed to get back out in front of Fernando’s Ferrari, it would have made Alonso’s race much more complicated. The Finn was spectacular to watch, pulling off an incredible overtaking manoeuvre at the expense of Hulkenberg. Felipe Massa finished 4th, Jenson Button 5th. Now, as everyone heads off to Brazil, all Ferrari fans are authorised to go through whatever ‘good luck ritual’ they see fit.