Ferrari driver, Kimi Raikkonen, managed to become the winner of the American F1 GP race at the Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Sunday (10/21/2018). Kimi Raikkonen’s victory succeeded in impeding the efforts of Mercedes driver, Lewis Hamilton, to seal the world title. Opening the race from second place, Kimi Raikkonen immediately shot to the front after starting. The Finnish rider, who is at the age of 39 this year, offered a powerful testament to his ageless talent, outpacing pole-sitter Hamilton and managing his tyres perfectly until the end. “Kimi made no mistakes,” Hamilton said. “He drove fantastically well and I’m really happy for him.” There was a trace of irritation, though, at the strategic miscalculations that denied him a shot at wrapping up the championship with three grands prix to spare. “As a team, we didn’t perform that great today,” he said. “It was a like a double-bogey for us this weekend. I thought we would be able to do better. Once Kimi was ahead, I didn’t have the pace to challenge him. We’ll just have to keep working, keep pushing. It can’t always be perfect.”
The victory has been Raikkonen’s first win since returning with Ferrari in 2014. The second position belongs to Red Bull Racing rider Max Verstappen, who started the race from the 18th grid. Max Verstappen shows a brilliant race to the finish line. At the end of the race, his position was threatened by Lewis Hamilton. However, Hamilton’s attempt failed. Although Hamilton success in acquiring the first pole position during qualification with his best time at 1 minute 32.237 seconds, he has to satisfy with finishing third and Verstappen still finished second. With the third place in the race, Hamilton has to wait in claiming the world title this season. Because the closest competitor, Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari), managed to end the United States GP race in fourth. Hamilton is currently firmly at the top of the standings with a collection of 346 points, followed by Vettel (276) and Raikkonen (221). Hamilton only needs an additional five points from the remaining three series to ensure the title.
ASL
Adrian Limanto
