Sebastian Vettel’s mighty charge back into the points relied on some “unusual” overtakes after a jack alignment problem wrecked his final pitstop in Formula 1’s United States Grand Prix.
The Aston Martin driver was on course for a top-six finish at Austin and even led two laps as the pitstops played out in arguably the team’s most competitive weekend of the year.
But Vettel plunged down the order because of a lengthy pitstop due to a problem getting the front left on.
His car was slightly offset on the front jack, which meant it slipped out of alignment and the front left was slightly difficult to remove and much harder to get on and tighten the nut properly.
That’s why Aston Martin had to drop the car, change the jack, and lift it again to complete the pitstop.
Aston Martin did not know the exact cause on Sunday, as it could have been related to the jack itself or it could have been that Vettel, who did make a small steering correction as he stopped, was slightly out of line on his approach.
Whatever the root cause, the outcome was that Vettel rejoined 13th, 5.8 seconds outside the points and 10 seconds behind the lead midfield car in sixth, which became Kevin Magnussen’s Haas.
With fresh tyres and a car that had been working well all weekend, Vettel’s recovery prospects looked decent. Team principal Mike Krack said the pace advantage “seemed to be enough to come back through” but admitted at first he “didn’t think that it was so easy” as Vettel went on to make it look.
He gained one place through a pitstop for Esteban Ocon but the others had to be earned the hard way.
Vettel quickly caught a trio of cars led by Alex Albon’s Williams, with Zhou Guanyu and Yuki Tsunoda behind, and had to be patient at first when he found himself at the back of the DRS train.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t have the pace down the straights to just pass comfortably,” said Vettel.
“So, I had to try something unusual, either on brakes or in unusual spots. And I did and it worked most of the time.”
It didn’t when he first tried to get past Tsunoda, rebuffed into the Turn 12 hairpin on the outside and then forced to correct a massive slide exiting the next corner as he tried to cut back and aggressively get on the power.
Vettel tentatively looked to the outside of Tsunoda through the triple-right near the end of the lap – a dress rehearsal for the move he would later successfully put on Albon – but next time around pulled a lovely pass diving to the inside of the tight left-hand Turn 15 that precedes it.
This quickly became a favoured haunt of Vettel’s. When Zhou went slightly deep defending into Turn 15 on the next lap Vettel cut back and then gradually pulled alongside through the triple-right that followed before sending it down the inside into the fast penultimate corner, which is rarely an overtaking spot.
Next up: Albon’s rolling roadblock, which Krack thought “was going to be the most difficult because they have very good straightline speed”. He needn’t have worried as Vettel got creative again.
Vettel initially sent a lunge inside at Turn 1 but Albon was able to cut back and retake the place. He then wasted his second chance to get ahead by overshooting on the brakes for Turn 12, having drafted past on the outside with DRS, so had to let Albon back by.
But Vettel knew he was much stronger than Albon through the final sector in particular as he had taken a huge amount of time out of him the previous lap. So Vettel lined him up before the entry to the triple-right knowing that even though he did not have so much as a front wing alongside Albon’s rear wheel on entry to the corner, he would be so much faster mid-corner that he could sweep past.
That’s exactly what happened. Vettel’s excellent positioning meant he was able to tough it out and move ahead at the end of the sequence.
At this point Vettel was ninth, with five laps to go and 6.7s to Magnussen. It looked like the end of his charge. But his tyre advantage and Magnussen struggling badly after a great effort on a one-stop strategy meant Vettel still had one scalp left to claim.
He moved within a second of Magnussen at the start of the last lap and the Haas was a sitting duck on the back straight – but it was Magnussen, “and he’s one of the most difficult ones to overtake in the entire field”, Vettel said.
Magnussen put up a tremendous defence, outbraking Vettel on the inside into Turn 12 then covering off Turn 13 (and blocking Vettel at the apex on exit) then Turn 15.
Vettel tried to repeat his Albon move through 16/17/18 and got a huge snap mid-corner on the dirty outside line, which he corrected and stayed committed through in order to get the inside for the Turn 19 left-hander. A lock-up over the bump unsettled the Aston Martin but the white-knuckled Vettel held on.
“It was on the limit and the problem is the other car doesn’t really see you at that point,” said Vettel, talking through the move from start to finish.
“So, it’s a bit of a surprise. And with Kevin, I thought I’m not sure whether he sees me or pushes me right to the edge but he just left enough.
“It was getting bumpy and dirty as well out there. I had a big moment, a snap and locked up all four wheels, especially the rear over the bump heading into Turn 19 – which I wasn’t sure that I’m going to make.
“But I made it so yeah, very much on the limit but good fun.”
Sebastian Vettel with a grandstand finish in his final United States Grand Prix 💪
Catch up with all the highlights from Austin 🇺🇸#USGP #F1
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 23, 2022
Covering off Magnussen into the final corner clinched eighth place on the road, which became seventh later in the evening when Fernando Alonso was penalised, and brought Vettel back to the kind of result his entire grand prix deserved – but particularly this exquisite final stint.
His ebullient radio messages after the race showed just how much this meant to him and the drive underpinned something that has been obvious for a few grands prix now. Vettel is now three races from retirement but more fool anyone who thinks he is phoning this in.
He is racing for fun and for points and doing an excellent job in getting returns on both. That may make it harder for some to take that Vettel will still walk away at the end of the year but he is at peace with his decision.
“I obviously will miss these moments,” he said. “That’s not a secret.
“But I did think long and hard making the decision and I also thought about these moments that I will miss, the adrenalin and so on.
“So, yes, obviously parts of me will miss those. A lot of other parts are looking forward to what’s coming.”
