Rate the race: 2014 United States Grand Prix

2014 United States Grand Prix

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What did you think of today’s race? Share your verdict on the United States Grand Prix.

F1 Fanatic holds polls on each race to find out which fans thought of every race during the season.

Please vote based on how entertaining and exciting you thought the race was, not on how your preferred driver or team performed.

Rate the race out of ten and leave a comment below:

Rate the 2014 United States Grand Prix out of ten

  • 10 (4%)
  • 9 (14%)
  • 8 (33%)
  • 7 (27%)
  • 6 (11%)
  • 5 (5%)
  • 4 (2%)
  • 3 (1%)
  • 2 (1%)
  • 1 (1%)

Total Voters: 645

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1 = ‘Terrible’, 10 = ‘Perfect’

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See the results for past seasons here:

2014 United States Grand Prix

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Image © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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145 comments on “Rate the race: 2014 United States Grand Prix”

  1. Annoyingly more evidence for Bernie to say that backmarkers are pointless.

    1. Yeah, I liked it without backmarkers also, looked clean

      1. No offence, but what do you guys like about 2 teams that get lapped 5 times and have no chance of fighting for points?!? (Monaco 2014 was an exception, thanks to lucky circumstances and Bianchi’s talent!). F1 is better off without Caterham & Marussia.

        I Hope that when HAAS joins, they can at least challenge teams like Toro Rosso & Force India.

        1. Can’t speak for anyone else, but I like hoping they could move forward in the future.

          It’s also nice to have four extra slots for drivers.

        2. You must realise there are benefits to having even uncompetitive teams on the grid. If nothing else, Caterham has this year given a local driver for fans to cheer on at Suzuka and given Sweden its first representative for decades. In Monaco, Marussia’s existence gave us what was surely the feel-good moment of the season.

          Did you watch this years Hungarian Grand Prix? Now that was a race that kept us all on the edge of our seats until the very end. And what made that race such a thriller? An awkwardly timed safety car which turned the running order on its head. And what caused said safety car? None other than Caterham’s Marcus Ericsson. If that alone is not justification for keeping the small teams in F1, then I don’t know what is.

      2. ColdFly F1 (@)
        2nd November 2014, 22:17

        I disagree.
        We all saw how good the fights by the mid field teams were (Fer/McL/Tor/Lot/Vettel).
        If we had Mar/Cat then we could have seen a similar fight between them and Sau.

        Of course this requires good drivers (and not those sponsored guys); but you need financially healthy teams to hire the quality drivers.
        (@strontium, @wackyracer)

        1. Exactly, every sport needs under dogs, FI and TR won’t like being last it almost feels like we need those back markers to be the last cars for the egos of the midfield teams as well as the other reasons stated above.

        2. Exactly this @coldfly.

      3. Absolutely enjoyed the cleaner circuit as well.
        Makes the circuit/racing ever so safer as well.

    1. Me too, crappy tyres spoiled it, top 3 track though.

      1. @hohum did you prefer the race in Russia where the tyres were “perfect”?

        1. @jerseyF1, anyone who thinks these tyres are ever perfect has a different view of F1 than I do, I wanted RIC to be on the podium but I wanted him to get there by doing to MAS and BOT what he did to ALO, not time a pit stop to perfection and wave bye-bye.

          1. @hohum That’s kind of my point – every other weekend someone complains the tyres were too durable or degraded too much and spoiled the race. The point is that the tyres are never going to be perfect but there is a level playing field for everyone (except for the rule forcing some cars to start on quali tyres). Personally I also dislike the rule forcing everyone to run two compounds but ultimately it doesn’t give any driver or team an unfair advantage.

            Riciardo had a great race and to me it doesn’t matter too much how he passed some drivers, he gave us some great wheel to wheel action and passing on track as well so why not celebrate what was great (fantastic overtaking and strategy) rather than complain about what we’re indifferent to.

  2. 9

    A stellar of a race. Drivers fighting everywhere in the grid. This is the kinda race one wish to watch. Bravo !! :D

    1. Jasmine (@jasmineellaine)
      2nd November 2014, 23:54

      It was one of the races with the most overtakes and fighting and action :) The tyres kind of ruined it. If the tyres were not conservative we could’ve seen more nico-lewis wheel-to-wheel fights and more mid field overtakes

      1. I think tyres were alright in this race. Rosberg struggled initially with medium tyres and hence Lewis overtook him comfortably. Had Rosberg found the rhythm early on we could have a more decent battle between them .

        Mid field fights were good as well. Alonso- vettel – magnussen ….then button holding up the back back… Vettel’s comeback in last 7 laps… it was good. :)

  3. Trenthamfolk (@)
    2nd November 2014, 21:45

    Superb stuff there!!! Loved it… amazing wheel to wheel action… great discipline (mostly)… great.

  4. While there are only 14 voters so far, I’m disturbed that 2 people gave this race a 4.

    1. nico and keke?

      1. Very funny!

      2. +1 =))

  5. I definitely need a summary cause I’m a bit confused :)

  6. Had its moments of great action with large sections of dullness

  7. Not a great race.
    Would have been better had Ros been more competitive in the second half.

  8. 6/10

    Last 10 laps were entertaining, the rest was just boring.

    1. likewise 6/10

      1. I nearly gave 6 because crappy tyres spoiled a lot of racing but upped it to 7 because the track allowed good racing when the cars actually got close together.

    2. Agree. There was too much boring stuff, and a lot of sloppy driving for it to be rated any higher.

  9. Judging the race on its own merits, a seven.

    Really good fighting up and down the field throughout the race and we had a battle for the lead as well.

    This track – and the softer tyres – is very good for encouraging overtaking. COTA is the best addition to the calendar in recent years.

    1. Agree about the track, have opposite opinion about the tyres. I would like to have seen an un-interrupted fight between DanR and the 2 Williams, hopefully with the same result.

  10. 9…..

    Vintage Lewis Hamilton, Nico needs to go back to the drawing board.

    1. Congrats to the guy on being the greatest british British racer of all time.
      His hardwork has finally got him to this point.

      1. When you say “of all time” I presume you mean during your obviously short life-time.

        1. +1 maybe the greatest black driver of all time… being the only one so far :))

          Don’t get me wrong, in time Lewis became my favourite driver on the current grid, after Michael Schumacher retired, but you can’t compare drivers from different eras.

        2. No I’m pretty sure he means of all time. Based on the fact he has more wins than any othe british driver. Wether that is the correct measurement for greatness is a different matter entirely.

          1. I see , maybe I was harsh,” winningest driver” must be unarguable, but much as I like Hamilton I suspect that averaging win ratios will show he still has targets to achieve before he can be called the “Greatest ever”.

          2. Well it’s one barometer…if he wins this year’s title that’ll be another measuring stick.

            I can’t really find an equal for him though since Mansell, though Jenson fans can debate this. So perhaps best of his generation would be more appropriate.

          3. @jleigh be interested to hear where you would place him compared to other brits?

            He has a 21% winning ratio at the moment, Mansell in comparison 16%. Alonso’s percentage is 13%.

            And with the way it is looking for next season i would Hazard a bet that Lewis will plenty of races next season too. I would argue that Hamilton has, similar to Alonso rarely had the best car in the field. 2007 was a seesaw battle with Ferrari all year as was 2008. 2012 arguably over the season the Mclaren was the quicker car for the majority of the races but reliability was an issue (cost Hamilton a few wins).

            So the fact he has won 32 races is a pretty good achievement in my eyes. Yes he has always been in and around the top teams, but rarely had the BEST car so has had limited chances to win more than a handful of races per year.

    1. I originally thought 8, but the hilarity of Romain Grosjean inventing his own race track for the last 5 laps pushed it up to a 9 for me!

      1. Haha, that was funny. Did he have damage or was he just basically trolling the circuit by the end?!

      2. :D
        Gro is was a lot of fun to watch!

  11. Yes (@come-on-kubica)
    2nd November 2014, 21:49

    I hate having one dominant car. Lost interest by the end. Just can’t get into this season, if it’s anything like this next season I can see myself giving up on F1.

    1. And when has there never been one dominat car?

      1. 2010, 2012

    2. Trenthamfolk (@)
      2nd November 2014, 21:53

      see ya….

    3. So, you don’t like overtakes for the lead between the two title protagonists in the same car? Get your coat son.

    4. I’ve been watching F1 since 2001 and this has legitimately been my favourite season ever so far. Go figure.

      1. @reiter 2007/08/10/12 were all better if you ask me.

        1. Maybe for the racing/drama involved, but the engineering aspect present in these new cars gives it that plus for me.

          1. agreed, BTW. anyone else notice that the soundtrack on TV is picking up the exhaust note much better recently and while the cars don’t scream like banshees anymore they have a nice grunty growl that sounds very purposeful.

          2. Yes, I have noticed that as well @hohum. Either they just learned or Bernie called off his campaing to make them look (sound) worse then they are!

        2. I would say in terms of pure racing, race by race, ignoring the championship situation, only 2012 can match this year.

    5. Jasmine (@jasmineellaine)
      2nd November 2014, 23:56

      If you really are an f1 fan you with stick with it no matter what

    6. I don’t really know what’ll put me off F1, people say stuff like this…but I put up with the Vettel years, granted I wasn’t as into it but I learned to appreciated minor battles. Before that, the Schumacher years of 2001, 2002 and especially 2004.

  12. Great race. A lot of good battles and a superb drive by Hamilton.
    8.

  13. I just don’t get it. I gave it the same rating as the one Russian one (7) but now everyone seems to have loved today’s race …

    Good race, nothing spectacular.

    1. @paeschli THANK YOU. So I’m not going insane. I don’t see how this race was any better than Sochi. I don’t care what you voted for the Russian GP but giving it a 4 and now this a 7+ is just crazy talk to me. They both just weren’t what they could’ve been.

      1. lol we had a battle for lead here haha nothing similar atall

      2. both fairly dull, some good bits of racing, but not enough, by a long way. 6/10

      3. A pass for the lead and an awful lot of other battles were pretty stark differences.

      4. Maybe the fact that there was far more action and the race was won in a tight battle, with a nicely done pass for the lead, while the midfield had a great tussle for most of the race here played a role?

    2. RB (@frogmankouki)
      2nd November 2014, 23:24

      I’d have to say the first 6 laps of Russia were okay, but today at COTA there was always a battle going on, positions were being traded throughout the field much more entertaining than Russia. Yes Mercedes were out in front again but the rest of the field remained quite entertaining. Also there is no comparison between Sochi and Austin as far as the circuit is concerned.

  14. Meh, i didn’t enjoy it so much. F1’s current situation may have dimmed my view on the race.

    1. @rigi I can’t desribe it but it felt rather strange to see only 17 cars on the grid and already down to 16 by lap 2.

    2. same here – I’ve been watching since 88, but I was never as detached as this year.

  15. 8
    Good race, sadly no proper battle for the lead but not all races need them to be enjoyable, do they?

  16. Probably worth an 8 but I gave it a 7 as a bit of a protest vote against all the nonsense going on at the moment

  17. It’s the quality (of the cars), not the quantity.

    A brilliant race. Some superb battle between fine World Champions and possible future World Champions.

    8.

  18. So out of the 3 teams that threatened to boycott, 1 and a half of them didn’t finish the race. Out 6 possible cars that may not have run, 3 didn’t finish!

    Well, anyways, decent race. Lewis was exceptional, Daniel was extraordinary and Sebastian was ballsy. But is it only me or did anyone miss Caterham and Marussia? I guess they may have added a bit spice to the backmarkers battle.

  19. 6/10
    Last 10 laps were pretty exciting, rest not so much.

    I don’t understand how people can rate that an 8/10, if that was an 8/10 maybe I’m just starting to lose interest in the sport…

  20. 9/10 that was a lot of fun. Nice pass from HAM and great from Redbull and Ricciardo, interesting to see Vettel’s race suddenly click.

    Loads of action further down also.

  21. Hungarian commentators ruined the race. :( They had no idea what’s happening.

    1. Same here for the Belgian ones. They took 5 laps to notice Massa had passed Bottas at the start …

  22. Way better than Sochi! Good battles, not the first part but that doesn’t matter so much.

  23. 7/10 for me. The start of the race and the mid-part was boring, but the last 15 laps were enjoyable in my opinion.

  24. I can’t say I was excited before this race as the background situation of the missing teams rather took the attention away from the job at hand. I wasn’t any more excited after qualifying, as the cars at the front looked like they could easily process to the finish with no order change.

    However, that was an entertaining race with plenty of overtakes, different strategies and good, simple wheel-to-wheel racing. It reminded me why I like F1 in the first place!

  25. Are people giving 8/10 to this race because it’s the Unites Stades Grand Prix? Nothing spectacular, 6.

  26. 7. Pretty good.

  27. ColdFly F1 (@)
    2nd November 2014, 22:07

    8 – we did not see the Merc’s a lot, but the mid field battles were just epic.

    PS – what a disaster how RAI performed. What is happening with him?

  28. I must say that Alonso VS Button fight was epic. Young drivers should learn something from that.
    I gave it 8 points only for that. The race was not that good, so overall no more than 6 points, I think.

  29. Sometimes I wish the voting wasn’t anonymous, or a explanation was obliged. Both the people who voted 10 or 1, I’m interested in their thoughts.

    1. @xtwl, I don’t think they have any thoughts when they vote those extremes, merely a result they either did or didn’t want.

    2. Why do some people just have to go around commenting on how they think someone else’s vote is wrong?

      Just drop in your vote, comment on the race, if you so wish but just let the voting speak for itself.

      1. @psynrg Did I say they were wrong? I just said I was interested in their thoughts on why a race is a 1 or 10. I’ve never voted under a four and never a 10 so it does make me wonder why people would.

    3. @xtwl To be clear, I’ve never said the voting is anonymous , and although at present there isn’t a facility for you to see who voted which way, that may change in future.

  30. 7/10 – battle for the lead was boring and DRS made the pass – still there was a battle. RICs drive was impressive, so was VET’s recovery and the end and the battles in the pack. All in all a solid race but nothing extra ordinary.

    1. +1 I was at turn 12 and there were several great passes, but watching Hamilton cruise up the rear end of Nico via DRS and stick him at the apex was disheartening. DRS – the saccharine of F1.

  31. Solid 8 i guess….loved the wheel to wheel stuff specially daniel riccardo overtakes

  32. 7/10. Not the best race of the season, but a very nice race nonetheless. There was battle for the lead (even if it wasn’t very exciting), the battle for the podium was decided in the pits, so a bit disappointing. But the last few laps were quite fun, people were all over the place, the Lotuses ran wide basically in every single corner, Vergne overtaking Gran Turismo style (which is: using your opponent to make the corner) and Vettel pitting even if there was no need to, probably.

  33. Nathan (@il-ferrarista)
    2nd November 2014, 22:08

    An 8. from me. Pretty good overall, and as ever the great Texas atmosphere Great moves by great drivers, but still a bit boring in the middle. 8 is pretty good, but not perfect.

  34. Very, very relieved that this was a good race. With two teams missing and the World Champ starting from the pit lane, this could have been awful and killed F1 in the US for another ten years. But it was great with loads of overtaking through the field.
    I think Bernie and the entire F1 industry can breath a sigh of relief.

  35. Gave it a solid 7, but had it not been for all the off-track excusions, I’d give it an 8. It’s annoying when half the field is off the track every lap and don’t loose any time at all.
    I also find the it strange that most of the overtaking is done without leaving space for the car being overtaken…….
    I wonder how many post race penalties that will be handed out….

  36. Found myself watching the live timing on my tablet most of the time, seemed to be more going on there… Wasnt a race id watch again. There were a few scraps for position but for me… it was a very average race by 2014 standards.

    1. That could also just mean @brawngp, that once again the FOM broadcast director wasn’t showing us all the action – it influences our enjoyment of the race, but not the actual racing. I also watched the timing myself, and the track on tv (when RTL.DE weren’t doing commercials), and enjoyed it quite a bit.

  37. Not a good race, not a horrible one. 4/10 seems to be fair. Even the commentators had breaks of 30+ seconds because there was nothing to be said.

    Everything about this race was business as usual:

    Alonso preparing and executing overtakes – every race weekend’s eyecandy.
    Hamilton wins – Rosberg defenseless as usual.
    Ricciardo needs a championship-worthy car – like he has for some time now.
    Vettel crying about the car – same old, same old.

  38. Felt a pretty decent 8 for this one. Ideally I’d have gone with a 7.5 but you can’t have em all.

    The start was a little slow (with the safety car and all) but it picked itself up rather neatly and kept me entertained, with plenty of drivers going all out and having the tyres and track to battle on. Perhaps it’s because Vergne has to prove himself, but him, Maldonado, Ricciardo, Vettel and Grosjean were really giving it their all during battles. That’s really what I want to see; drivers fully directing their attention to a battle as it happens, I can live with the calls for tyre preservation once they’re past.

    That being said, it definitely felt like there was less at stake without Marussia and Caterham.

  39. it’s 9 or 10 for me but i guess i’ll pick 10.
    5 am here and still can keep my eyes on because of the race. Poor Williams

  40. 8, nothing spectacular in the top 5, even hamilton’s overtake was like, oh hey he passed, ok.

    but the racing behind that was awesome, so many overtakes, seeing people take different lines through a succession of turns to overtake was awesome. and who tHought we’d see a lotus overtake a red bull this year?? loved the fights, and pastor’s last lap move on vergne was brilliant :)

    1. well, the redbull of Vettel? it seems more the toro rosso of Vettel!

  41. I rated 6, it was boring.

  42. 7/10 – The race ended better than it started which to me always leads to a higher number (in this case, 1 point higher than if the last 20+ laps had been the boring bit as opposed to the first 20+). It had an actual close pass for the lead, several tire-to-tire overtakes, and the Button-train which lead to some great moments of frustration and aggression. Not sure how anyone who actually watched both races can say this race was identical to the Russian GP.

    This United States GP was far from the most exciting race I’ve ever seen (the first ~20 laps were boring and the lead was never threatened more than once), but at least there was a moment where it became exciting. That moment never really happened for me in the last race. In no way is that a condemnation of the Sochi track. I recall a Valencia race (2012 I believe) as being one of the best Grand Prix races I have ever seen, so I still have hope for a great Russian race next year. This year’s Russian GP simply wasn’t exciting while I did enjoy aspects of the US GP, and as a mature adult I’m ok with acknowledging that (“that” being my opinion) without fear of being called biased.

  43. I gave it a 7.

    No racing at the front, back markers couldn’t afford to turn up. Alonso and Ricciardo providing most of the entertainment. Alonso and Buttons tussle was some great wheel to wheel stuff.

  44. 7/10

    But think that 10 it’s perfection, so it’s never achieved, or only rare, like once in a lifetime. So actually it’s 7/9… not bad :)

  45. I have it a five. Because I fell asleep after lap five….

  46. Why do people think there has to be an overtake for it to be racing? Sure, the lead only changed once, but the battle for it was going on all race long, trading a tenth of a second each sector, the game of chess that is tire management being balanced by the need for pace. Couple with the backdrop of the previous races of the season, and the anticipation of how the next two will play out, the battle for the lead was dynamic exciting and important.

    And I’ve only touch on two of the the 18 cars.

    I voted an 8, because there were moments when it felt like the race was biding it’s time, and it would have been interesting if the battle for the lead was a bit more visual. But I’m not going to fall into the trap that some do of slating a race because there isn’t side-by-side racing for the whole race. That’s not the only way to measure racing…

    1. Well said @fluxsource, that closely matched my experience too; HAM only had to make a small mistake and ROS would have been there – not that it looked likely he’d do that, but still, it wasn’t a runaway win. A bit of a pity that DRS made the actual pass so swift, but we saw a lot of great fights in and for the points positions.

    2. But if I want a chess match, I can watch chess. More precisely there are plenty of formats like time trials, economy runs and even WRC where the competitors are racing the clock not each other if that is what you enjoy but when + – 20 cars start simultaneously the purpose is side-by-side racing.@fluxsource,@bosyber.

      1. @hohum And you get that as well. But wheel to wheel racing is meaningless without the context of the build up to it. F1 races are too long for the strategic part not to have an effect. This is what F1 is – the combination of pace, strategy and reliability. Isn’t that what we love?

        1. @fluxsource, What I love,or used to love, did indeed combine pace and reliability along with the technical seesaw of teams finding a few more horsepower from race to race or better suspension design to improve grip along with an uninterrupted race from start to finish with the only tactic being to pass the car(s) ahead and stay ahead.

  47. All the commotion about the high costs and the teams going into receivership made me think. Would NASCAR be considered a successful “sport” if each week it was between Gordan and Johnson? Well, that’s what’s going on in Formula 1. Is it really ideal? I love Formula 1, but they need to start with a rule-book that keeps it more affordable. Beginning with affordable “power units”. Next thing you know the rule book will require the “power-units” to be mini nuclear fusion reactors that meet F1 scrutineering only if the byproduct after a two hour race is a thimble of water. Cutting edge, right Bernie?

    I guess the philosophy is exploring the pinnacle of technology at any price. But I do get tired of the one-team dominance over and over. I wish the focus were more on drivers, car-drivability and set-up choices rather than million dollar technology teams.

    1. @warren2185, while the $20m. bill for engines obviously does not help the smaller teams, it is still only 1/3rd of the expenditure of the lowest budget.

  48. It was a 10!!! OK, I was sitting at turn 1 so that made it great for me :)

    But it was a great race for those of us in the crowd. Everyone around me loved the race and had a blast which is the important thing. And there were so many passes and then over-under moves between Turn 1 and Turn 2 that it was great for those of us at the race. And lots of fights throughout the field that we got to see that weren’t always obvious if you watch the TV feeds.

    Alonso and Vettel were both driving like wild men and the fight between Button and Alonso for about 3 laps was awesome.

    Well worth the trip.

    1. @daved, great place to be, glad you enjoyed it. What are your thoughts on the exhaust note ?

      1. @hohum Thanks :)

        I really liked the sound. It was loud enough that you could still feel the power of the cars, but it wasn’t silly loud so that it hurts your ears. As others have noted, you really, REALLY can hear all kinds of cool sounds: the whir of the of the ERS kicking in while it was under hard braking and then the acceleration of each engine as it took off towards turn 2.

        And I was right at the fence and could enjoy the race with no ear plugs and no headache! It was awesome to me and it certainly didn’t rate a comment from anyone around us and we made lots of friends during the couple hours before the race, and I did ask. A few people said they missed the engines you could hear all around the track, but admitted they preferred to be able to talk and cheer and hear the announcers so they knew what was going on.

        By the way, the announcers at the track did a good job of keeping the crowd informed of what was going on and even relayed key radio transmissions so we knew most of what was going on. I found that very helpful, and was really glad I could hear them 90% of the time unless the whole pack was right on top of us at once.

        1. @daved, thanks for that “on the spot report”, hope @keithcollantine sees it.

          1. dont worry @hohum, I’ll include it in the rate the race results ;-) thanks for the comments @daved

      2. I think the sound issue is no longer the main issue. I’m used to it already after attending two races.

        Try this at close range:
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDJ1tGPRZ2k

    2. @daved I was at turn one last year and had a blast /made a lot of friends too thanks for the trip back down memory lane. Also your post on the engine sound really answered one of my questions, I enjoy the sound of the V8, but it was annoying toting ear plugs all weekend. Glad that at least in person the sound is enjoyable.

      1. @hyakuyagami
        Yeah, it was a bit strange not to hear the cars when they were at the far end of the track…it was literally like we were sitting at a picnic a couple of times when they were behind the safety car on the other end of things LOL
        But is was SO nice to enjoy the race without ear plugs! And the nuanced sounds of the cars were REALLY cool. So it’s highly recommended to go see another one in person to enjoy the new experience now if you haven’t been since the engine change.

        For those who love the super loud V8’s, I do understand that you miss the raw power of the old sound…but give this a try. It’s not bad, just different.

  49. Neil (@neilosjames)
    3rd November 2014, 2:14

    Gave it an 9 (I think). A few barren patches, but we got a proper duel for the lead with a clean and very good overtake for the race win, plenty of wheel-to-wheel (some of it quite literally) action, a lot of daring lunges and great defending, lots of different cars involved in tussles (Lotus v Red Bull!?)…

    And very, very few drive-by DRS jobs. Nearly every overtake required the attacking driver to really work hard for the position, and gave the defender at least half a chance of stopping it.

  50. 9/10 …. would have Given 10 if Rosberg would’ve won .. 11 if Massa … that apart.. I think the race could have been lot different if Perez would have been more sensible. His clear lack of far sightedness would prove a disaster for Force India against Mclaren this season as the P5 money is now slipping further away from FI’s hands. They should try to get Button if he becomes free from Mclaren either due to Alonso or Vettel.

  51. I thought it was a pretty lively race, and a fun one to watch. Gave it an 8. Nothing to do with my rating, btw, but I was also very happy to see another large turn-out. Great track, fun town, and it looks like the USGP has found a home.

    1. @schooner

      Thanks for bringing that point up about USGP finding a home. Everywhere I went around town, restaurants and establishments had signs up welcoming the F1 crowd even though the Cowboys had a big game in the NFL and the Longhorns had a game on the college side. And everywhere I went with my F1 gear people were very friendly and asked about the race and how things were..they were genuinely interested and curious about things.

      And the crowd at the race was a nice mix of locals and visitors. Turn 1 is a highly recommended area even if it is crowded. Everyone was friendly and made room and watched each other’s gear during beer runs :)

  52. I gave it 9/10 probably a little generous but great race with plenty of fights through the field exactly what we needed after the boring russian grand prix

  53. I went to Austin last year and watched a poor race worthy of just a couple of points.
    This year I watched a thriller of a race on TV.
    Plenty of action all through the field. It’s a nine this year.

  54. Most of cars finished +1minute distance… next year it could be even better reaching 1/2 hour gap at the end. Some people call it race.

    1. +1 on that and honestly i gave to the race a 6 without so much heart for this and only because of the back action. FIA and Bernie must really reconsider the engine freeze because in a race without real incidents as matter SC the Mercs lap almost the whole field and this is wrong even if i like the battle of the LH and NR. Some will say it is like this for ages but that doesnt mean is good. Rules need to be placed and changes to be implemented to avoid this.

      As for the track i really liked it, i also liked the fans a lot and this shows to me that they are people who are there to enjoy and this is pretty good.

  55. Rated race at 6. It was good though but I wouldn’t scream about it although there were quite a bit of overtakes. Ric overtake on Alonso was the best I thought.

  56. I don’t know, except a couple of nice thrills thanks to Vergne, Madonado (for once), Grosjean, Button, I remained very, hum…placid yesterday.

  57. tgu (@thegrapeunwashed)
    3rd November 2014, 9:36

    Some pretty mixed driving out there: Perez, Maldonado and JEV were driving like idiots and Grosjean seemed to be intent on carving out a new circuit design. On the other hand, Hamilton, Ricciardo and Button (while his tyres lasted) put on a great show. Solid performances from Alonso and the Williams drivers. I enjoyed the race, but watching it in BBC Highlights form takes out some of the continuity, which made it harder to follow. I gave it an 8.

  58. I enjoyed the racing throughout the grid. Would it have been better or worse with the two bottom teams? I have no way of judging. The Majority of drivers demonstrated more than flashes of greatness. Was it the track, the TV controller or some other factor I don’t know – what I do know is that I enjoyed it

  59. It’s interesting to see criticism of those of us who voted an 8. Here’s my reason. After a reasonably cool race in Japan which ended in horrible circumstances we were then subjected to total bore of a race in a country where the president is a nutcase. Finally we were given an opportunity to see Mercedes vs Mercedes, Williams stay close for a while, Ricciardo drive brilliantly again with him, Alonso and Button fighting with everyone before Button lost the balance with the rear. People always imagine a golden age, forgetting that Ferrari dominated for 5 years, that redbull dominance made 2011 and 13 dull, and cars in the 70’s and before could be separated by minutes. Apart from Bianchi’s accident and the politics this year has been a cracker, better than it being vettel v vettel.

    1. Absolutely @broke84. This is a golden age, let’s not miss it though focussing too hard on its faults. Not that there aren’t plenty of faults, but it’s still the most compelling sport around afaic, and more so than ever atm.

  60. Great race, 8 for me. This is season has been anything but dull. Sure we have had lots of off the track drama but the racing as been top notch.

    As for the noise, I went to Suzuka for the first time and was really surprised how good they sound. The broadcast doesn’t do them justice.

  61. The question is: how did America like it? Yawn or hurrah?

  62. 8/10
    Didn’t actually feel it was exciting, but thinking back we had Rosberg apparently running away from Hamilton, then Hamilton catching Rosberg in front. Ricciardo recovering and passing both Williams. The McLaren starting well and falling back into the clutches of Alonso. Vettel trying a different strategy, and recovering in the end. The Lotuses and Vergne battling it for a couple of points. But it all happened in brief moments, and a large part of the race saw nothing happenening.
    As with backmarkers, seeing a Sauber in last position with a Ferrari not far ahead is just plain wrong. And though lapping happened only on the final lap and there wasn’t much to gain from it, it could’ve added to the battle. For example, in a go-kart race I had I was leading by less than a second a few laps from the start but eventually won by plenty of them because I lapped the backmarkers better than my opponents. And without blue flags. Of course it would be disappointing to see the race leader throw away a win for a slow Marussia but as the Mercedes drivers haven’t really got anyone to overtake apart from themselves they could really bear an extra challenge.

  63. I vote 7 as it was a good action-packed race yet its downside was that two teams were absent from the proceedings which meant that there was less competition at the back of the race

  64. Very rare i voted a 8, but i liked the close combats in the beginning and at the end. That happens when people take risks with tyres. But still i think the race should be bit longer 4-5 ronds more but not sure if the 2 hour barrier is reached.

  65. I gave the race an 8.

    I only saw the BBC highlights and so didn’t get a full picture of the race but there seemed to be plenty of action throughout.

    Also although it wasn’t a classic battle we still had a fight for the lead with Hamilton hunting Rosberg down and taking his chance when it arose just like he did at the same track with Vettel in 2012.

    Of the newer generation of circuits this is defiantly one of my favourites.

    For me the US GP was a significant improvement on the previous race in Russia, and I know there are plenty who are critical of the designed to degrade tyre philosophy that F1 and Pirelli have adopted in recent years, but when you compare the two GP I believe a large part of the difference was down to the tyres.

    There are many different factors which can produce a great race, such as the track layout, the type of cars and the weather, and you can never guarantee a race will be any good, but the way F1 is today I think the current type of tyres are more likely to result in exciting races than tyres which can last the whole race with no degradation.

  66. The more time that goes by, the more I hate DRS. We could have had a proper battle for the lead. Instead, Hamilton just cruises on by. An average to above average race for me. At least Button and Alonso have shown that where there is talent, there can be exciting overtaking without DRS.

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