2018 United States GP : Drivers of the Day

The United States Grand Prix was a bloodbath – only eight drivers made the chequered flag with the other 14 not making it for various reasons that included exploded engines, battered brakes, and clumsy collisions. Of the 22 drivers, who got it right at Road America?

5. Antonio Giovinazzi

For the entirety of the season so far, George Russell has been carrying Tildesley GP into the races with Antonio Giovinazzi not having the pace compared to his Norfolk teammate, frequently being at least six tenths of a second behind. In qualifying, it was more of the same, but he did have the bragging rights over the two FJR drivers, although Kevin Magnussen and Catharina Caracciola were concentrating on their race set-up. In the race, Giovinazzi kept his nose clean in a consistent if steady drive where others were either crashing out or conking out, and the attrition rate was such that the Italian found himself in the points with a few laps remaining. He unexpectedly doubled his tally when Sebastian Vettel suffered his customary broken suspension which resulted in Tildesley’s first career points.

4. Romain Grosjean

The rebuilding Willows Racing found themselves firmly in the midfield after qualifying with Max Verstappen cracking the top 10 and Grosjean 14th. While Verstappen’s race ended much too quickly due to an overheating engine, Grosjean was thoroughly up for the race, making neat overtakes on drivers such as Russell and Mason Taylor and ended up having to uphold Judd honour once Tomas Gonzalez broke down in the closing stages. What looked to be a solid 6th place ended up being 4th thanks to a late overtake on Nolan Bryant and Vettel’s demise, and team boss Joseph Willows was more than satisfied with Grosjean’s result.

3. Lewis Hamilton

If ever Lewis Hamilton needed a champion’s drive in what has so far been a wretched 2018 season, he delivered it. He topped his group’s Friday practice session which indicated that the Mitchell car was fairly well-suited to the straights of Road America, but choosing the medium tyres for qualifying hindered his grid slot. Things didn’t go smoothly in the first part of the race where he fell behind the two FJR drivers, but after the first pitstop, things improved and Hamilton was able to make steady progress back up the order, mostly thanks to others’ unreliability, but he was also methodical with his overtakes and ended up taking a surprise podium finish.

2. Tomas Gonzalez

As noted by both James Brickles and Joseph Willows, Gonzalez’s return to his 2015 and early 2016 best was further indicated in yet another impressive performance. He managed to qualify in the top 10 ahead of his teammate despite running a harder compound of tyres, and his pace in the warm-up suggested that he was in for a decent race, and he proved just that as he progressed up the order throughout the race. The only blot in his copybook was an aggressive move on James Clark which resulted in contact, but no real harm to either driver at the time. It looked as if Gonzalez would take his first podium since Road America last season, but gearbox problems cruelly ended a great drive.

1. Charles Leclerc

It had been a frustrating few races for Leclerc of late with engine failures at Mugello and Aragon, and traffic woes at Kyalami and Monaco, so he was determined for a good result. Throughout the meeting, he had the legs over teammate Vaino Kimminen and was half a second quicker in qualifying compared to the Finn, who looked to be struggling with his car. At the start, Leclerc got ahead of Valtteri Bottas for 3rd going through Moraine before making light work of Fernando Alonso for 2nd. He kept Alessandro Farina in check throughout the first stint and caught up to the championship leader at the start of the second stint in part thanks to a lighter fuel load. A small mistake from Farina at the first corner just before half distance allowed Leclerc to take the lead going into Moraine, and the Monegasque was able to relax when Farina’s brakes failed and take a well-deserved maiden win.