Fourth place and a €5,000 penalty for Ferrari in Austin

Will Räikkönen lead the investigation into the improperly fixed wheel?

Disappointment for the 2007 world champion this Sunday in Austin with a third retirement in 2016. Starting fifth on super-softs, the Finnish driver got off to a good start, ahead of Verstappen. His early race was quite satisfactory. He even battled with Rosberg for some time and could have overtaken him at the beginning of the second stint, if not for a pit stop made one lap too early.

But his pace on soft tires was subsequently disappointing. Very quickly, Iceman got rid of his bad rubber to put on super-softs again. Third place might even have been possible with a final crazy stint. But his momentum was abruptly halted by a mistake from his mechanics during his third and final stop, made on lap 39. The car bearing the number 7 stopped on the climb out of the pits and gently rolled back towards its box.

Pragmatically, Kimi Räikkönen wanted to identify the source of the error afterwards.

The reasons why the light turned green must be found.

I now hope that we will change this in the future because we never need this mistake to happen.

The wheel wasn’t fixed at 100%, so I had to stop. Unfortunately, there’s no way to go back. »

After the race director’s report and listening to the team’s perspective, supported by video, the stewards also reminded of Ferrari’s responsibility in this incident. The “prancing horse” thus incurs a fine of €5000 for this dangerous situation, as highlighted once more by the driver involved.

« Why did this light turn on or why weren’t my mechanics ready? »

Consequently, the 2007 world champion is overtaken by his teammate in the drivers’ standings, by seven points (177 points for Vettel, 170 for Räikkönen).

Unfulfilled podium dreams for Vettel

Surviving this American race for Ferrari, Vettel briefly led the Grand Prix between the 12th and 15th lap, at the end of his first stint on super-soft tires.

« I think we had a good race. We stayed out longer. Fortunately, the other drivers in front of us stopped quickly. I then thought it was our chance: we had to try something different. »

Virtual fifth, Vettel was not lucky with aerodynamic issues disrupting the rear flow of his Ferrari. But the four-time world champion was also obviously caught out by the Virtual Safety Car.

« Then we quickly stopped to switch to the medium tire to maintain the advantage over Max. That said, a lap or two later, the virtual safety car was activated, which wasn’t ideal. »

Note here that Sebastian Vettel finally made a precautionary last stop at the pits, putting on super-soft tires, which allowed him to achieve the fastest lap.

Sebastian Vettel picks up 12 points and the fastest lap at the #USGP pic.twitter.com/N2fD2XBJb7

— Formula 1 (@F1) 23 octobre 2016

But evidently, regrets were present. The podium seemed within reach for him!

« Apart from that, I think we could have landed on the podium. Our race was more competitive than our qualifying. Obviously, it’s a shame that we couldn’t lead both cars across the checkered flag. »

However, beyond human error or not in the pits, Ferrari’s level in Austin was indeed that of a third force. A terrible observation, which lets the team allow Red Bull to pull away in the race for the runner-up status to Mercedes. Indeed, since the return at Spa-Francorchamps at the end of August, Ferrari has secured only one podium finish (in Monza for Vettel), compared to six for Red Bull Racing. Needless to say, the end of the season looks complicated for Maranello…