Reigning four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel was looking to make it a record eight wins in a row during a single season at today's United States Grand Prix in Texas.
The German's Red Bull is seeminly unstoppable at the moment and he led from start to finish as he eclipsed the previous record of seven held by Michael Schumacher and Alberto Ascari.
Read how it all unfolded at the Circuit of the Americas in our lap-by-lap updates below.
Evening racing fans! It's the penultimate race of 2013 in Texas and unfortunately for the neutrals, Mr Vettel's Red Bull looks simply unstoppable this weekend.
Yesterday in qualifying the German stole pole position from teammate Mark Webber with a phenomenal final sector. The two Red Bulls were seven-tenths of a second quicker than the next fastest in Lotus's Romain Grosjean.
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Drivers were complaining yesterday of dusty, slippy conditions under overcast conditions during qualifying yesterday. The sun is shining today though and the track temperature is much hotter than it was during quali.
One man who could be a little nervous today is Heikki Kovalainen. The Finn is filling in for fellow countryman Kimi Raikkonen at Lotus because the latter is injured. He insists to Sky Sports F1 that he's not feeling uneasy at all.
CELEB SPOT! The grid at a Grand Prix is always awash with big names from both the sporting and celebrity world. Two of those present today are four-time golf Major winner Ernie Els and celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.
.@GordonRamsay's in the house! Interviewed here by Sky Italia's @SWinkhaus and Jacques Villeneuve. #USGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/cTCMuHwgjr — McLaren (@McLarenF1) November 17, 2013
The national anthem of the US is belted out from the top of the viewing tower. Quite a spectacle. There's meant to be around 250,000 here today.
Mercedes tweet that the air temperature is 29 degrees celsius, with the track at 36.
It wouldn't be an American sporting event without cheerleaders!
.@dallascowboys cheerleaders on the grid at today's #USGP. Just 10 mins to lights out in Austin. #F1 pic.twitter.com/CYDMZSAXGo — McLaren (@McLarenF1) November 17, 2013
Although this is only the second time that F1 has been to the Circuit of the Americas, it is the 53rd time that the sport has been in the US. This track was designed with many of the great corners from tracks across the world in mind and it is a cracker. We'll have 56 laps today.
The run up to the first corner in itself is quite a sight. It's a huge incline that was based on the famous Eau Rouge corner at the Belgian Grand Prix.
FORMATION LAP! Vettel leads off the cars for a single circuit of the track to warm up the tyres and brakes before we begin.
If the Red Bulls can maintain their one-two lead at the front after the first corner and first lap mayhem then you have to say it should be race over.
GO GO GO! The five red lights above the start line illuminate and then go out and we are underway at the United States Grand Prix!
Hamilton and Grosjean already past Webber. Vettel maintains lead.
No early crashes. Webber wasn't that bad off the line but was caught out as Hamilton and Grosjean went around the outside.
SAFETY CAR! Sutil crashes into the barrier and that's his race over. The stewards send out the safety car straight away and that will bunch the pack up.
The safety car being out there means that Vettel, who loves to secure a big early lead, will have to stretch his advantage again with Grosjean and Hamilton behind.
Kovalainen was a little rusty in his first Grand Prix this year. He's dropped four places to 12th.
Looking at replays of the start, it shows that Vettel closed off teammate Webber down the inside and that helped Grosjean and Hamilton get past the Aussie.
Sutil's car has only just been removed from the track by a crane. This period of easy driving under the safety car means that most of the frontrunners will do a one-stopper.
Safety car is coming in this lap. Vettel will back the pack up big time before stamping his foot on the throttle to streak away. Can Grosjean spring a surprise?
BACK UNDERWAY! Vettel slows down to almost a crawl before beginning the race at full pelt again. A perfectly-executed restart from the German as he maintains his lead.
TOP 10 UPDATE: 1 Vettel 2 Grosjean 3 Hamilton 4 Webber 5 Hulkenberg 6 Perez 7 Alonso 8 Bottas 9 Di Resta 10 Ricciardo
Vettel has already opened up a two-second lead back to Grosjean, who will be more worried about Hamilton behind him than the runaway world champion in front.
DRS is enabled for the first time in the race but Grosjean is too far behind Vettel for it to help. You would have expected Hamilton to be challenging him but he actually has Webber right on his backside. The Red Bull has looked superior to all others this year so it wouldn't be surprising if he gets back into second come the end of the race even after that sluggish start.
Maldonado is shown a black and orange flag. That's very rare and it means that he must come in to the pit to get his loose front wing replaced.
Pastor pits for a new front wing and a new set of hard prime tyres #USGP #Austin pic.twitter.com/M6pB7rS0lv
— Williams F1 Team (@WilliamsF1Team) November 17, 2013
Vettel's lead to Grosjeean is 3.7s and the Frenchman has the same advantage back to Hamilton.
Alonso has dropped one place from the start down to seventh. He looks to dive up the inside of Perez on turn one but wasn't quite close enough to the Mexican.
Both the one and two-stop strategies should see cars flood into the pit over the next five or six laps. The most interesting battle out on track at the moment is between Hamilton and Webber.
WEBBER gets it done with the help of DRS down the outside at the end of the back straight. Great move and one that Hamilton himself would have been proud of.
And now Hulkenberg is told to catch up with Hamilton, who is having to manage his pace. Hamilton's lead back to the German is just under three seconds.
Vettel reasserts his authority on the race with a fastest lap of 1:43.680. Still yet to see any of the frontrunners pit for a set of the harder tyres.
Vettel is setting fastest lap after fastest lap at the front. His lead back to Grosjean is around seven seconds now. Kovalainen pits from 12th place and the others will now see how the harder tyres fare in these hot conditions. Vettel is told over the radio that its about how "far we can go, not how fast we can go."
Strong move by Rosberg as he slips past Ricciardo for the 10th and final points-scoring place.
TOP 10 UPDATE: 1 Vettel 2 Grosjean 3 Webber 4 Hamilton 5 Hulkenberg 6 Perez 7 Alonso 8 Bottas 9 Di Resta 10 Rosberg
Button pits from 13th and comes out in 16th a second or two behind Kovalainen.
Cracking battle between the Ferraris and McLarens. Massa pitted and then came out just ahead of Button while further forward Alonso is all over the back of Perez, who pits from seventh.
Alonso hasn't pitted yet so it's unlikely that he'll be able to jump Perez when he takes his stop.
Lap 22: And a pitstop for Checo! Primes. pic.twitter.com/EAD98tSJRf
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) November 17, 2013
Strong move from Gutierrez as he ducks down the inside of Vergne with the aid of DRS for seventh place.
Hamilton pits from fourth and he's out in sixth, ahead of the aforementioned battle between Gutierrez, Vergne and Perez.
Once Webber passed Hamilton he was expected to close up on Grosjean but he's stayed around five seconds behind the Frenchman. Will be interesting when those two make their stops.
ALONSO finally makes that pit stop and he gets out just ahead of Perez, who had been held up by Vergne enough for Alonso to go back in front of the Mexican.
Vettel pits from the lead and there's almost an unsafe release from the Red Bull team as he pulls out near to Marussia's Chilton. The pit lane in Austin is very wide though and he'll probably get away with that.
Hulkenberg pits and he comes out a few seconds behind Hamilton. Webber is next in and it's a super-quick stop from the Red Bull boys as they get him out in 2.3 seconds. Incredible stuff. Pressure now on Lotus to pit Grosjean quickly.
Grosjean doesn't wait long to pit after Webber and he comes out two and a half seconds ahead of the Aussie. That pit stop phase has worked out better for the Red Bulls then.
Vettel is 10 seconds clear at the front and barring an error, it is going to be an eighth straight victory for the German. His Red Bull is just too good at the moment.
WEBBER looks like he's feeling it on the hard tyres as he sets a new fastest lap of 1:42.2.
Kovalainen's chance of scoring points looks over as he has to pit for a second time for new tyres and a new front wing.
TOP 10 UPDATE: 1 Vettel 2 Grosjean 3 Webber 4 Hamilton 5 Hulkenberg 6 Alonso 7 Perez 8 Bottas 9 Gutierrez 10 Rosberg
Webber seems to have a small problem as he is losing around a second a lap to Grosjean.
PIC: We have a PACKED house for the #USGP right now! pic.twitter.com/uYWxDBevao — Circuit of Americas (@circuitamericas) November 17, 2013
Whatever the problem was with Webber, it must have gone as he's now back within a couple of seconds of Grosjean. Vettel's lead at the front is still at 10 seconds.
Hamilton, in fourth, will only have eyes on Hulkenberg behind him as he's 10 seconds behind Webber. The Mercedes looked ever so good at the start and middle of the year but is now nowhere near as good as the Red Bulls.
Kovalainen's race continues to get worse as his Kers fails. The Finn is down in 17th though and it won't matter too much.
ALONSO passes Hulkenberg for fifth place and is now catching Hamilton. Ferrari and Mercedes are close in the race for second in the constructors' rankings.
As things stand, Mercedes will have a 15-point lead over Ferrari ahead of the final race in Brazil next weekend.
Webber with the fastest lap of the race as he moves ever closer to Grosjean. If he can get ahead of the Frenchman it will be Red Bull's first ever back-to-back one-two finish. So dominant.
All eyes are on the Grosjean-Webber battle. Can the Aussie get past with seven laps left?
A little further back and Hamilton and Alonso are set for an interesting end to the race. The former is currently around three seconds ahead.
Webber goes wide on turn 10 and that ends his chance of a pass down the back straight. He was just told on the radio to use all of his Kers on the final corner to try something different.
BUTTON with a great move to get into the 10th and final points-scoring position. Alonso has fallen back from Hamilton and Hulkenberg has a chance to grab fifth.
Hulkenberg dives up the inside of turn one but Alonso is too wise and manages to squeeze back past the German.
SEBASTIAN VETTEL WINS THE UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX TO MAKE IT A RECORD EIGHT F1 WINS IN A ROW!
© Getty Images
© Getty Images
Another simple victory for the four-time world champion as he leads from start to finish. Grosjean and Alonso held on to their respective places of second and fifth. Webber completes the podium.
"We have to remember these days. We have to remember these days. There is no guarantee that they will last forever. I love you guys," Vettel emotionally tells the team over the team radio after a robotic message of "Good job, very tidy," from engineer Rocky.
FINAL TOP 10 & POINTS: 1 Vettel 25pts 2 Grosjean 18pts 3 Webber 15pts 4 Hamilton 12pts 5 Alonso 10pts 6 Hulkenberg 8pts 7 Perez 6pts 8 Bottas 4pts 9 Rosberg 2pts 10 Button 1pt
It's a first win at the Circuit of the Americas for Vettel, who did his now-customary doughnuts off the track in celebration.
That's all we've got time for here on Sports Mole as the national anthems begin on the podium. Come back next weekend for the final race of the season in Brazil. We'll see you then.
