UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX WRAPUP

Kimi Raikkonen wins in Austin; delays Hamilton's title

Seth Livingston
Chuck Flournoy
Oct 23, 2018, 7:29 pm
Kimi Raikkonen had a big win. Chuck Flournoy

It was a gorgeous Sunday in Austin with everything looking as though it was set up perfectly for Lewis Hamilton and the Silver Arrows of Petronas Mercedes AMG. Starting Second on the grid was the number 7 car of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen. Ferrari had rolled the dice and placed Kimi on the Ultra Soft tires to start the race- opposite of what the rest of the top five had chosen. The gamble paid off as Kimi was able to take the lead through turn one. Lewis harassed Kimi for several laps but settled down knowing that Kimi would have to pit sooner due to his softer tires.

Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel who needed to stay within 7 points of Lewis to stay in the World Championship hunt, suffered a spin from 5th to 15th place after contact with Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull, seemingly dashing any hopes of postponing Lewis’ 5th title.

Ricciardo’s chances of a podium finish ground to a halt as his engine failed, putting the entire grid into a Virtual Safety Car (VSC)  situation- which requires drivers to slow down and maintain gaps. The radio call to Hamilton was to do the opposite to Raikkonen- pit if he stays out, stay out if he pits. Raikkonen made a dodge towards pit lane but pulled away at the last moment as Hamilton went in for fresh tires. This caused Hamilton to lose only 9 seconds behind Raikkonen as opposed to the normal 20 due to the grid being slowed by the VSC.

Raikkonen pitted a few laps later leaving Hamilton in the lead. The race once again looked like it was Hamilton’s to lose, but the radio call from Ferrari to Raikkonen told him not to worry, Hamilton would have to pit again.  

During this action at the front Sebastian Vettel methodically made his way up to fifth place, meaning that Hamilton would have to at least finish second to win the title this day.

The prescience of Ferrari then came to pass as Hamilton’s tire blistered and he went in for fresh rubber at lap 38. When he came out he was in third place by 9 seconds and 12 from first. He quickly closed the gap leading to a furious battle between the top 3 of Raikkonen, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. On the second to last lap a slight error by Verstappen allowed Hamilton to pull alongside but brilliant defense by the Dutchman caused Hamilton to run wide thus preserving the positions. Vettel managed to pass Hamilton’s teammate Valteri Bottas into 4th place as Kimi crossed the line first.

Kimi Raikkonen scored his first victory in 113 Grand Prix to the uproarious cheers of the crowd. In so doing, he also managed to pass his Finnish countryman Mika Hakkinen into 15th on the all-time wins list. Sebastian and Ferrari live to fight another day and the championship moves on to Mexico City where now Hamilton only needs to score a further five points to win the championship regardless of any other outcomes.

 

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A lifelong goal fulfilled: How I got to live out my dream of riding in a race car with Mario Andretti

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Ever since I was a young man, I have always had a major interest in car racing. I don't know what it was that drew me to the sport but I have always loved it. Back when I was younger, while other kids loved watching cartoons and animaes, I was different. What I watched was a VHS copy of ESPN's CART year in review from 1996. Every day, I sat next to the TV and memorized all of the finishes and the winners of the races. From that point on, I knew I was an Indycar fan for life. While I was watching the greats like Michael Andretti, Jimmy Vasser and Alex Zanardi, I promised myself that I would get to ride in an Indycar and now thanks to the great people at Sportsmap and Giant Noise, on Thursday March 21 I got to fulfill a dream of a lifetime.

For some of the people that don't know me, growing up I had a lot of trouble socially. While I didn't necessarily have a hard time talking to people, keeping them around was a whole different story. I struggled with paying attention to other people when talking to them because I could only think about one thing and usually that was racing,

This was especially difficult in my early years of elementary school. Due to my lack of attention span, my parents (especially my mom) did all they could to try and help me have a better time in school. They took me to psychiatrists and I was placed on multiple medications to no avail. In 2002 I was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, a mild form of autism. This was very difficult for me because I was treated differently than anyone else by everyone at my schools due to my disorder. I was placed in smaller classes where the work I had to do seemed to be much less than anyone else. I felt horrible and I felt like I wasn't as smart or as normal as anyone else around me.

The one thing that helped me get through it though was my dream to hopefully ride in one of the indycar's that I watched so much of growing up. At a young age, I always told everyone I knew that one day, I was going to ride in a race-car and while there were many drivers that I told people I was going to ride with, one of the many names I mentioned was racing legend Mario Andretti. Flash forward many years later that time came. After getting into one of the fire suits and putting on one of their helmets I was summoned to which car I would ride in and guess who happened to be driving? Mario Andretti! When I strapped into the car while at that moment I couldn't believe that I had made it, I always knew that if I worked hard, met the right people and never gave up I would be able to achieve the dream I had hoped for and overall, riding in the car was one of the most incredible things to ever have happened to me!

As cliche as it sounds, life is a lot like racing in a way. No matter the obstacle, everyone has to keep going towards the checkered flag. Also like in racing It's essential to have a great team around you and I could not be more grateful for the people I met here at SportsMap, ESPN 97.5 and Giant noise. The people who did the most for me though where my mom,dad and my late grandmother. They did everything in their power to get me to where I am at today while they could have easily told me that there were other careers I should go into they always believed that I could cover motorsports. At the end of the day like in racing, there will always be minor setbacks but as long as you believe that you can win, you will find a way. Don't ever give up on the things you want to do.

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