| 2007 United States Grand Prix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Race 7 of 17 in the2007 Formula One World Championship
| |||||
 The Indianapolis circuit, designed in 2000 | |||||
| Race details | |||||
| Date | June 17, 2007 | ||||
| Official name | 2007 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix | ||||
| Location | Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana[1] | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
| Course length | 4.192 km (2.605 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 73 laps, 306.016 km (190.150 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Warm (33C/91F) and clear | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
| Time | 1:12.331 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | |||
| Time | 1:13.117 on lap 49 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
| Second | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
| Third | Ferrari | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The2007 United States Grand Prix (formally the2007 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix)[2] was aFormula Onemotor race held at theIndianapolis Motor Speedway inSpeedway, Indiana, in theUnited States on June 17, 2007.[3] The 73-lap race was the seventh race of the2007 FIA Formula One World Championship and was won byMcLaren-Mercedes driverLewis Hamilton. His teammate,Fernando Alonso, finished the race in second position whilstFerrari driver,Felipe Massa, completed the podium by finishing third. This was the debut race of the future four time world championSebastian Vettel withBMW Sauber F1 Team.
The race was Formula One's final visit to Indianapolis, after an eight-season period. The event was removed from the 2008 calendar a few months later and Formula One did not return to the United States untilNovember 2012, at theCircuit of the Americas.
Robert Kubica's massive crash at theCanadian Grand Prix resulted in the season's first driver change. Although Kubica passed the medical examination and did not seem to show any ill effects, theFIA medical delegate decided it would be best to rest him for the weekend, and not risk anotherconcussion so close to the previous one. He was replaced in theBMW Sauber team byFormula Renault 3.5 Series championship leader, 19-year-oldGermanSebastian Vettel, who made his Formula One debut at the Indianapolis circuit.[4]
Friday's morning practice was dominated byMcLaren and BMW Sauber, withFernando Alonso putting in the fastest time.[5] Sebastian Vettel started his first race weekend with a fourth fastest time.Ferrari, who expected that their pace would return at Indianapolis,[6] found themselves on either side ofWilliams driverNico Rosberg with the fifth and seventh fastest times.
David Coulthard'sRed Bull-Renault was the first car to leave the pit lane in part one of the qualifying session. His partner,Mark Webber, was close behind followed by theSpyker and Williams cars. With about six minutes left in the session, Coulthard spun out in turn eight. Fernando Alonso ran first,Nick Heidfeld second, andLewis Hamilton closely behind in third. Although they struggled, both Ferraris made it, as well as Vettel.Scott Speed failed to make it out of Q1 in his native country, along with team-mateVitantonio Liuzzi,Adrian Sutil,Takuma Sato,Alexander Wurz, andChristijan Albers.
McLaren and Ferrari began part two of their battle with Hamilton taking the top spot early. However, his team-mate, Fernando Alonso took top spot midway through.Felipe Massa,Kimi Räikkönen, and Heidfeld along with the two McLarens made the top five again. Webber made it to the next session, although his team-mate Coulthard was relegated along with2002 United States Grand Prix winnerRubens Barrichello. Barrichello's partnerJenson Button was also relegated, along with Nico Rosberg,Anthony Davidson, andRalf Schumacher.
In part three Hamilton was first out and set the quickest time with a 1:13:089. Alonso was about four tenths behind, followed by Heidfeld and the Ferraris.Giancarlo Fisichella andHeikki Kovalainen, both Renault drivers, also were near the top, butJarno Trulli and Webber knocked Fisichella down the order. With about 5 minutes left, Massa took first spot and Räikkönen took second. Hamilton was bumped to third, Alonso fourth, and Heidfeld remained fifth. About one minute later, Hamilton took the top spot, and Alonso second. Alonso had one lap left, but could only get within about 2 tenths of a second of rookie teammate Lewis Hamilton. Massa and Räikkönen were dropped to third and fourth respectively. Heidfeld held on to fifth, with Kovalainen in sixth, bouncing back from his disappointing 22nd starting position in Canada. Vettel finished seventh, just two spots behind his temporary partner, Heidfeld. Trulli was 8th, with Red Bull-Renault's Mark Webber ninth and Fisichella tenth.
Lewis Hamilton, on the pole, sped off the grid. Fernando Alonso stayed close behind, followed by the Ferraris. The drama in turn one was in the middle of the pack. Vettel ran wide and lost places, but escaped damage. Ralf Schumacher, who started in 12th, turned in late, and ended up crashing into David Coulthard, who he had started alongside. Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg, 13th and 14th respectively, escaped but Rubens Barrichello got caught up. Schumacher was out on the spot, while Coulthard and Barrichello limped back to the pits and retired.
Later, Kimi Räikkönen was caught by Nick Heidfeld and Heikki Kovalainen. Up front, the top four were running strongly until the pit stops came around. The top four all went in early, soon followed by Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber, leaving sixth place qualifier Kovalainen in first. He led five laps, and Hamilton then regained the lead (Alonso and Massa led one lap each).
Despite a mid-race challenge from team-mate Fernando Alonso, in which the two McLaren drivers were racing side-by-side for the lead down the main straight, Hamilton maintained the lead to win his second-ever Formula One Grand Prix race, the other victory being in the previous event atMontreal. This marked McLaren's first 1-2 finish at the circuit and their first win at Indianapolis sinceMika Häkkinen's final Grand Prix win in2001.
Takuma Sato spun off at turn 3 after managing to pass Adrian Sutil. Sato had been due a drive-through penalty for overtaking under yellow flags, but this was changed to a 10-place grid penalty forthe next race.
There were also three mechanical retirements – Nico Rosberg in the Williams suffered an engine failure with only five laps to go, while BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld andToro Rosso's Vitantonio Liuzzi also retired from the race due to mechanical failure.
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 |  Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 73 | 1:31:09.965 | 1 | 10 |
| 2 | 1 |  Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Mercedes | 73 | +1.518 | 2 | 8 |
| 3 | 5 |  Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 73 | +12.836 | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 6 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 73 | +15.422 | 4 | 5 |
| 5 | 4 | Heikki Kovalainen | Renault | 73 | +41.402 | 6 | 4 |
| 6 | 12 |  Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 73 | +1:06.703 | 8 | 3 |
| 7 | 15 |  Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 73 | +1:07.331 | 9 | 2 |
| 8 | 10 |  Sebastian Vettel | BMW Sauber | 73 | +1:07.783 | 7 | 1 |
| 9 | 3 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Renault | 72 | +1 lap | 10 | |
| 10 | 17 |  Alexander Wurz | Williams-Toyota | 72 | +1 lap | 17 | |
| 11 | 23 | Anthony Davidson | Super Aguri-Honda | 72 | +1 lap | 16 | |
| 12 | 7 | Jenson Button | Honda | 72 | +1 lap | 13 | |
| 13 | 19 |  Scott Speed | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 71 | +2 laps | 20 | |
| 14 | 20 | Adrian Sutil | Spyker-Ferrari | 71 | +2 laps | 21 | |
| 15 | 21 |  Christijan Albers | Spyker-Ferrari | 70 | +3 laps | 22 | |
| 16 | 16 | Nico Rosberg | Williams-Toyota | 68 | Engine | 14 | |
| 17 | 18 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 68 | Water pressure | 19 | |
| Ret | 9 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 55 | Hydraulics | 5 | |
| Ret | 22 |  Takuma Sato | Super Aguri-Honda | 13 | Spun off | 18 | |
| Ret | 14 | David Coulthard | Red Bull-Renault | 0 | Collision damage | 11 | |
| Ret | 8 | Rubens Barrichello | Honda | 0 | Collision damage | 15 | |
| Ret | 11 | Ralf Schumacher | Toyota | 0 | Collision | 12 | |
Source:[8] | |||||||
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| Previous race: 2007 Canadian Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 2007 season | Next race: 2007 French Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2006 United States Grand Prix | United States Grand Prix | Next race: 2012 United States Grand Prix |
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix | Formula One Promotional Trophy for Race Promoter 2007 | Succeeded by 2008 Singapore Grand Prix |
39°47′42″N86°14′05″W / 39.79500°N 86.23472°W /39.79500; -86.23472
