The United States Grand Prix 2013 was the 18th round of the 2013 F1 season, and took place at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, USA, on November 17th.
Sebastian Vettel won the race from the pole, followed by Romain Grosjean, and Mark Webber completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 27 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 20-23: 10 stops
- Laps 25-29: 8 stops
The fastest pit stop was Charles Pic's, stopping the clock at 18.692 seconds during his pit stop on lap 50, while the slowest one was was Heikki Kovalainen's, who stopped the clock at 36.333 seconds, 17.641 seconds slower than Pic, during his pit stop on lap 31.
These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.
Strategy
We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 1 stop. Only Esteban Gutiérrez, Max Chilton, Heikki Kovalainen, Charles Pic, Felipe Massa and Paul di Resta decided to try something different with a 2 stops strategy.
The race winner, Sebastian Vettel, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
-
-Pastor Maldonado
-
5Jenson Button
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1Jules Bianchi
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1Giedo van der Garde
-
-Sergio Pérez
-
3Nico Rosberg
-
1Daniel Ricciardo
-
1Valtteri Bottas
-
1Lewis Hamilton
-
1Fernando Alonso
-
-Sebastian Vettel
-
2Nico Hülkenberg
-
2Jean-Éric Vergne
-
1Mark Webber
-
1Romain Grosjean
2 stops
-
6Esteban Gutiérrez
-
-Max Chilton
-
7Heikki Kovalainen
-
2Charles Pic
-
-Felipe Massa
-
5Paul di Resta
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy lost an average of 0.67 positions, while those on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 0.67 positions.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 1 stop strategy was the best option.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Circuit of the Americas, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
There race went on mostly with no incidents. Only 1 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, .
Accident
-
Adrian SutilLap 0
Qualifying
Sebastian Vettel managed to get the pole position by 0.103 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:36.338. Mark Webber was right behind him, helping Red Bull score a one-two and monopolize the first line of the grid.
Track evolution
As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and all of the drivers that took place in Q2 improved their times in this second session.
The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that 7 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.