Rate the race: 2015 United States Grand Prix

2015 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.

What were the best and worst moments of the race? What was the main thing you’ll remember about it? Rate the race out of ten and leave a comment below:

Rate the 2015 United States Grand Prix out of ten

  • 10 (40%)
  • 9 (42%)
  • 8 (15%)
  • 7 (2%)
  • 6 (1%)
  • 5 (0%)
  • 4 (0%)
  • 3 (0%)
  • 2 (0%)
  • 1 (1%)

Total Voters: 812

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1 = ‘Terrible’, 10 = ‘Perfect’

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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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182 comments on “Rate the race: 2015 United States Grand Prix”

  1. ColdFly F1 (@)
    25th October 2015, 20:54

    10/10 – race would be 9/10 with 1 bonus point for great quali on Sunday!

    Congratulations Lewis!

    1. Yes an amazing race.

      Congrats to Lewis he deserves it.

      Nico made me think that he lost the championship this weekend and not that this was a season long accumulation of results, which put Lewis into the position of winning it all with several races to spare. Lewis simply drove calmly during the race which handed him the win although he was not leading most of the race. Nico was overdoing it which resulted in his error; not that it will change the outcome of the championship rather than delaying it.

      Sebastian was driving consistently as he did all season long.

      Too bad the Williams pair retired and also Kimi; I was and am still excited about the outcome of this trio championship points battle.

      Too bad the Redbulls got a very bad result after an amazing progress during the weekend. What happened to them reminds me to what happened to Williams in Silverstone, losing a lot of time after track conditions changed; although in reverse this time.

      I also had my eye on the remaning Manor; 2 more retirements and he would have been in the points.

      In all cases it was an amazing race and it was worth it to stay up to watch after having little track action all of the weekend.

    2. I was going to rank it a 9, but instead gave it a 10. Because America.

    3. *yawn*: A race result we could easily have predicted a year ago. A championship result we could easily have predicted a year ago.

      Here, I’ll save us some time now, shall I? Lewis wins both next year, as well. Not through skill or talent, necessarily, so much as through having far and away the best engine on the grid and a rule system that doesn’t allow rivals to catch up.

      1. @gweilo8888 So you’re the one who rated this race with 1?

        1. Based on the fact that there are 737 votes and 1% are 1/10, about seven or eight people have to have voted it a one.

          1. 1% might just be rounded number :D (I too m good at nit picking).

  2. Easy 10 ! It had everything ! what else can we ask for a race?!?!

    I was initially dissapointed that the race would not be held under the rain, I wanted a totally wet race, but the dry track, for the first time this weekend, caught everyone out.

    1. First 3/4 of the race I agree with 10/10 – it was literally perfect, and filled to the brim with unpredictability. Anticlimaticly the last SC restored evrything to normal, greatly helped along by yet another Rosberg fuk up. HAM, ROS, VET again, again, again… The finale of the race never really came, so 8/10 it is from me.
      The midfield battle though, the slippery patchy track, the McLarens, all so so good!
      I really feel for Nico, and the tossing of pirelli caps between him and ham, just painted a symbolic picture of the whole season. F1 is not completely lost though, as long as such quality races can still happen :)

      1. The race was great, cars fighting throughout the field during pretty much the entire race. The wet to dry scenario certainly spiced things up. You know it’s a great race when you’re 85% race distance and throughout you’ve had no idea who would end up winning!

        This is clearly without doubt Tilke’s best track, you can have multiple racing lines though so many corners, opening up potential to attack or defend, even in the slower more technical sections of the track (I can’t think of many tracks that have that quality).

        I have 9/10 only because yhe to and fro battle at the front that occurred in Bahrain is still etched in my mind, and a larger grid may have given more action (although I know I’m being picky, and this was a fab race)

        1. *Bahrain 2014
          @testa-corsa @fer-no65

        2. This track wasn’t designed by Tilke, Dom. Maybe that’s why is so good.

          1. Comment of the day candidate

            +1

          2. 8/10…big problem was sloppy work from marshals which took too much time to remove the standing cars, tarmac runoff areas – if the areas would be made out of sand, even Rossi could maybe be scoring points, because at least 5 drivers that finished ran across the circuit… and ofcourse DRS which ruined positions to those with weaker engines. As i said once before, 8 is max score until DRS gets banned.

          3. @Jorge Olivier CotA was designed by Tilke.

          4. No, it wasn’t designed by Tilke @PSYNRG. This track layout was designed by Tavo Hellmund and Kevin Schwantz. Tilke only assisted here and there.

      2. +1, 8 from me as well

        1. +1 – couldn’t agree more – the removal crane could not have gone any slower even if they had tried.
          nice colour green though.
          Only 1 gear I suppose – very disappointing.

      3. Agree completely. 8/10 for me as well. Without the last safety car, we might have had an even better finish.

    2. Agreed, EASY 10!
      I was in the main grandstand and we never sat down the whole race. I usually hate when people do that, but there was just SO much going on that we were trying to see the action in front of us, the action on the big jumbo screens and keep track of positions. It was wonderful mayhem in person.

      Also, I have to say that the McHondas really are louder than the other cars in person. Quite a bit actually. And whatever change they made to Alonso’s upgraded engine made his louder even than Button’s. It was great to see them in the action for once! I couldn’t find out what happened to Alonso at the end, but he clearly had a problem and slowed down because he’d been running great up till that point.

      The weather was a mess but it was really great anyway. And Lotus was really nice and let my fiance get into the pits and get pics with their car….so she’s thrilled! We went back today and some of the crew autographed the picture for her since she’d already had it printed Sunday morning. :)

      1. 10 from me to. Admittedly the result was what many predicted but it was an incredible race to get there, rain is a great leveller and there was proper racing from every driver for the whole race as well as some interesting strategy. It’s races like this that that show F1 at its best.

        Rosberg was unlucky this race but Hamilton fully deserves the championship.

      2. So jealous that you were actually there, although appreciate what you went through with the weather after me and my family got drench at qualifying in Silverstone 2012. Glad to hear you enjoyed it as much in the flesh as we did on TV

        1. @bascb @3dom
          Yes, we were jumping around to stay warm! LOL Actually, about the time the race started, the rain went away and it warmed up enough that I wasn’t even using my jacket, so it was spectacular for the race itself.

          I DVR’d the race so tonight I’m going to watch the replay to get the commentary and see the action again. The cars were too loud in the grandstand area for me to hear what they were saying despite being much quieter than the past.

          1. This really is a race you can rewatch and find out new things. I read a race report today and it had me surprised about details I forgot about in the whole chaos of it already!

          2. Ha @daved @bascb this again reminds me of my experience of Silverstone 2008 and 2012, in the build up to the race I went back to the car to get extra layers due to rain and wind (think I had 4-5 layers on and 4 pairs of socks) then was way too warm by the end of the race. I beam with pride that I was present during a classic (Lewis’ awesome performance in 2008), I’m sure you’ll be beaming that you got to witness a cracker of a race in the flesh :-)

      3. Ha, just admit you guys were jumping around just so that you wouldn’t be cold @daved! :-o

        Seriously this was a race that really had it all, wet, dry, passing, stupid mistakes, surprises, misfortunes and a world champion crowned to top it off, making it really worth having to endure the first half of the weekend for it.

    3. The circuit is great, changing weather and safety cars added the extra spice (not talking about the Spicy Girl in Red Bull garage) needed for a great race.

      Congrats Lewis, let’s hope Ferrari is closer next year because Lewis vs Seb in equally competitive cars looks promising.

  3. 9/10.

    A real shame that Rosberg did everything right only to make a mistake you’d expect from somebody with Nasr or Verstappen’s experience.

    Well done to Hamilton, and a really really great race!

    1. The Rosberg mistake says enough…

  4. Best race of the season by an absolute country mile, in fact the best of the hybrid era. An absolute classic race with just about every ingredient you would want. Constant battle for the win all race, most of it directly on the track, some of it in the strategy and it all came to a head at the end. It swung so many different ways, kept you hooked. The fact is still ended with a Merc 1-2 didn’t really matter, because they gave us a race. It was nearly all proper racing to boot as well, very few easy highway DRS passes. Even McLaren were properly racey!

    The only downsides you could probably come up with are that we actually lost too many racing laps to the SC/VSC but those periods did give us many interesting periods. We also lost a lot of cars but with so much action you really didn’t notice. They weren’t enough to really detract though.

    Cracking race, just what F1 as a whole needed and just what the US market needed after the soggy early weekend.

    10/10, of course.

    1. Totally agree.

      @weeniebeenie

    2. Yeah really glad that the U.S. Got s great race like this but to be fair with this track they’ve had pretty good races since we came to Austin. I hope that they’re taking notice because we have a great track here, I hope it stays, we can’t take tracks and races like this for granted, they aren’t easily achieved

  5. That was some show ! 9

  6. 10, what else?

    1. It was like watching those karting races for a good part of the race. It was a very good race.

  7. Absolutely 10/10, plenty of fights, not just for the lead but all through the field.

    Best race for ages.

  8. What a race! From start to finish, it was just, incredible! And Rosberg…. well, he alone trashed the title…

  9. Great race 10. Shambolic decider. Wolff and Lauda smirk when Rosberg drops it. Why didn’t Merc prioritize the 1st car on track for the last SC? They really wanted to win on the American market.

    1. @peartree As annoying as it is, they did the only thing they could when the safety car came out. Rosberg had already pitted. It isn’t their fault Rosberg dropped it.

      1. @strontium @weeniebeenie @jules-winfield Yes Rosberg did drop the ball, as I’ve said above. I’m just angry that ever since the incidents between both drivers, Merc has blocked unlike @ju88sy says all fighting between both drivers, which often leads to favouring the guy that needs no favouring as Lewis has been much stronger than Nico this season. @ju88sy At least we knew that Ferrari had team orders, toto and Lauda just smirk when they see Nico out of the way.

        1. @peartree again, where did they favour Hamilton in this race? By not pitting him at the last SC? He was fine on tyres, he’d just stopped. After Monaco surely it made sense they decided it was best to stay out and not risk trying to get a ‘free’ pit stop.

          1. @weeniebeenie Vettel had no pace for the mercs on equal tyres, it was always about the 2 Merc drivers, just re-watch the start if you have any doubts. If one pits the other pits, Lewis couldn’t stop on the first VSC because this went out to soon for him that said the team was confident on their strategy, until the next SC. It is a pointless debate after the Nico mistake but it’s a certain case of favouring the right publicity.

          2. No it’s not a certain case @peartree. Rosberg had perfectly fine tyres, they were four laps old. Hamilton needed tyres. If Rosberg stopped he would have been behind Hamilton on equal tyres. If Rosberg preferred that over leading him on slightly older tyres, he could have asked to come in.

            I’ve literally seen nobody else bring this up, not in the media, and nobody in Mercedes. It’s just you.

    2. There always has to be someone with the conspiracy stuff. It was a crazy race that swung several ways and by the end of it the only person that cost Rosberg the win was Rosberg.

      1. @weeniebeenie It was perhaps his best race of the past two seasons and all he had to do was drive another four or five laps. Then he was almost going to lose it to Vettel too…

      2. Yes, there always has to be someone with the conspiracy stuff, and it’s always that poster. It’s getting more than a bit tiresome.

    3. True! At least they let them race unlike Ferrari and Red Bull where it would have been team orders to get out the way! Vettel brilliant though kept it going to the last lap.

    4. @peartree Yeah, Rosberg has just pitted 5 laps earlier. Surely they should pit him again when SC arrives? If anything they screwed up by not stacking Hamilton on VSC period just like Martin Brundle said.

    5. Had Kvyat not crashed and the second safety car not happened Rosberg would’ve won easily. Mercedes misjudged things for Lewis only for circumstances to swing back in his favour. No conspiracies, just bad judgement not to stack the drivers under the second VSC.

  10. Brilliant race, anti-climax with ROS mistake though. And a deserved champ, but very undeserving winner IMO.

    1. @magon4 Mercedes was always going to run away with it when it dried, and as soon as the second or third SC came out it ruined Vettel his gamble on the primes too.

    2. Long as u agree Monaco was an undeserved winner as well. At 1 point I really thought Ros was gonna be a real jerk and let vettel by so Ham couldn’t win the WDC today

      1. To his credit Rosberg raced very well – unfortunately his only mistake of the race proved costly. I agree with you that Rosberg is not a jerk. Mistakes made in the beginning of a race can perhaps be undone to some extent but mistakes made in the last 10 laps rarely go unpunished.

      2. At 1 point I really thought Ros was gonna be a real jerk and let vettel by so Ham couldn’t win the WDC today

        I thought that too, but the reality is that Rosberg, to save face for not winning the championship, HAS to beat Vettel to second in the WDC. Letting Vettel past would just be delaying the inevitable, and making Rosberg’s job in the next three races more difficult.

  11. Championship decider, track which allows overtaking, mixed weather conditions, favorite not on pole, proper 5 way fight for the lead, every driver going for it and racing hard and Button being able to fight for points. You couldn’t have any more in a race. 10/10

    But somehow an unpredictable race still ended up Ham, Ros, Vet. Go figure.

    1. Qotd

      Exactly what I would have written
      One of the most enjoyable races of all time.

      1. Absolutely! Sums things up very nicely :-)

  12. HAM/ROS/VET. Never seen that before! Great race though, thoroughly enjoyed it. 9/10.

  13. 9/10. I never felt Rosberg would really make it, so it never truly felt like there was a battle for 1st. It’s the problem when one is as comparatively weak as Rosrberg has been this season.

    Great drives from Verstappen and Vettel, congrats Hamilton.

    1. Rosberg was making it :o..

      He was kind of unlucky with both SC I would say.. That cut him the advantage..

      1. SC is part of de whole thing

        1. That doesn´t mean that a driver can get a disavantage or an advantage from that situation.. And for him, those came at a really bad time..
          Albertch comment, just makes it feel like a much worse performance from Rosberg than it really was.. His mistake though, was made in the only time he could not make one..

  14. Oh my goodness… I was shaking every moment of the race. Even until the final corner of the final lap. 10/10. I can’t give it any less, probably 11. Best race, even though the results were “the same, HAM, ROS, VET”, and even though Lewis won, as I am a Lewis fan, it was, hands down, the best of I don’t know, since 2011 Canada or 2012 Brazil probably??

  15. I havent’t enjoy it that much – both Williams cars out plus elections here in Poland so I have little idea what was going on.

  16. 9/10 FOM coverage stopped it from being a 10 but the action on track was amazing

  17. 8/10

    -1 Rosberg throwing it away at the end
    -1 Average FOM at best [shaky and missed some good action]

    1. Agreed terrible FOM random shots of noideawho in the crowd then cutting to replay’s of missed on track action….

      1. Have to agree. I thought the footage was shaky. Often watching the wrong cars on the wrong part of he circuit. But I guess there was so much action all over the place that it was hard to know where to look.

    2. You take 1 point away because of the TV coverage? Really?

      1. Because it detracts from the spectacle and causes the viewers to miss things. I don’t want to see people up in the tower, Geri Halliwell-Horner or anything like that. I’m here to see a race.

      2. Yes, it was distracting for me. I work in the field. I know it can be done much, much better.

      3. tgu (@thegrapeunwashed)
        26th October 2015, 8:55

        It spoiled it for me. I watched the highlights, but it sounds like the live race wasn’t much better. The camera repeatedly joined the action halfway through the move.

  18. WHAT. A. RACE. A strong 9/10 from me.

    I don’t envy @keithcollantine having to write the race report for this, way too many talking points!! Slightly anticlimactic at the end which loses a point, but otherwise it was a near-perfect race – an absolute classic.

    Incredible racing at the beginning with the two Mercs and the two Red Bulls, then the entire midfield battling towards the end was very entertaining. There was barely a dull moment aside from the SC/VSC periods, best race of the year.

  19. Yep 10/10.

    Don’t think I’ve given 10 before!

  20. 9/10 for the simple reason I don’t understand why some debris needs a VSC and a car on track in a fairly safe location needs a real one. If anything I’d say it should have been the other way around. Did shape the race massively.

  21. “Sprinklers” to start with, then constant Safety Car to mix up the strategy and remove the gaps……
    F1 fans rating it 9/10…..just the sheer hypocrisy. Never owning up to what they really want – just competition, no matter how it comes.

    1. Try drinking less alcohol during the race, rock star.

    2. Well, yeah, pretty much. Were you not entertained?

    3. Where is Russel Crowe when you need him? ‘Are you not entertained!?’

      Seriously, despite the many SC there was plenty of action going on.

    4. petebaldwin (@)
      26th October 2015, 12:38

      Yeah but everything happened naturally. Rain, crashes, safety cars, drying tracks…

  22. 10. Epic. Feel for Rosberg even tho I’m not exactly his greatest fan and he wish could have congratuated Lewis on the podium. Lots of great drives up and down the field. Max. JB. Seb.

  23. 9/10. Cracking race. Five cars fighting for the race win. Proper IndyCar-esque battling on the track and multiple safety car periods and some very intriguing strategy decisions. The cars also looked excellent on such a greasy track. Some absolutely outstanding performances by the Toro Rossos (yet again!), Button (in inferior equipment to Alonso) and Vettel. The championship was decided in a straight fight and it went to the right driver in the end.

    1. I should add however that Sky Sports F1’s commentary was diabolical today, especially David Croft. Full of silly errors and not noticing some big moments. It sort of ruined it for me at times.

      1. Can’t be any worse than the Dutch commentator. He fills the entire time with constantly repeating the same useless catch phrases and cliche’s. When something actually happens he gets the names wrong or completely missed that it happened until the replay shows it.

        1. Dutch commentary is indeed way, way, way worse….

        2. I watched the race with my parents, none of us had seen a Mol-commentated race since the RTL7 days.. We were really disappointed at his use of catchphrases from those days and getting confused over things that used to be excused by him not going to the races. I’m really let down that he hasn’t improved at all and still has moments where he’s obviously looking at another screen and misses an overtake or starts talking softly because he’s either reading something or thinking too hard.

      2. Yup.

        Truly awful. Lazenby also.

        Speaking of TV coverage, the race direction was excellent today. The cameras missed a few things, but there was so much happening all the way down the field, all the way through the race, that some things were bound to be missed. So, this small complaint adds up to nothing.

  24. great race! finally! reminded me why i grew to like f1. well done Lewis. Well done McLaren, finally some sort of light at the end of the tunnel.

  25. Certainly a good race, probably among the best of this year, but no idea why people are giving it a 10. Kvyat was doing great before crashing. Button was impressive in the McTractor. Raikkonen was funny with deciding to go rallying. Good battles. Rosberg… gah.

    Congratulations to Hamilton, he’s easily had the best car and made the best of it this year. Fully deserved 3rd title. Let’s hope next year he actually has some competition.

  26. when there is these kind of action I go for a 9 or 10, depending if there was or not a fight for 1st place. so I gave it a 10

  27. Trenthamfolk (@)
    25th October 2015, 21:15

    Fantastic race… loads of action and brilliance from all over. I was aghast when Nico had a typical ‘crack under pressure’ episode… but if you can rely on anyone to hang it together its LH. Shout out to the German finger too… excellent stuff!!!!!

  28. If this isn’t a 10, then what is! My word, that was tense!

  29. 10/10

    This race had everything I wanted to see ever in a race. Fight for lead, fight at the back…safety cars… More than 2 drivers leading race….Too much of strategic battles…drivers banging wheels…

    Today the race gave the american fans on track one of the finest displays of F1.

    PS – If someone had recorded the whole race, could you please upload it online ( torrent etc) :D
    I really wanna watch this race again :D

  30. So much happened i can’t actually remember most of it, has to be a 10 from me.

  31. Well that was quite something else, wasn’t it? Like Canada 2011, such a great race after such a poor set-up. My favourite thing about this race was how different cars performed differently as the race went on and the conditions changed. The added tension of whether Hamilton would win the championship or not and the post-race drama was pretty enjoyable as well.

    Two negatives though: a lot of neutralisations, virtual or actual safety car… I’m not quite sure what the criteria are for choosing between the two, although the main criterium seemed to be ‘gap between P1 and P2’. Also, such a shame Rosberg lost the lead at the end, would have loved to see Hamilton fight for his championship. But that’s all I got, 9/10 it is.

  32. That was like 3 races in one, I want to watch a replay already.

    Well done to Lewis on his 3rd championship!

  33. Easy 10/10. I’m usually critical and don’t vote too highly – and rarely comment – but it’s just impossible not too. Was a shame that we didn’t get an unusual result from a manic race, but that can’t take anything away. The result was unpredictable until about lap 53, and for 50-odd laps of the race I was convinced we wouldn’t see Lewis celebrating like that at the end. There was drama, action, chaos, it just, a fantastic advert for F1 in the USA, and just what they needed. Only one word sums it up.

    Wow.

  34. Don’t understand the 2% who gave it a 1. An easy 10 for me. A lot happened and at one point I even thought Rossi would get a point.

  35. 9/10. Best race since Canada 2011. Once Rosberg made his mistake, it was a foregone conclusion, but everything up to then was absolutely superb.

  36. 10 and definitely in top 10 of this decade. Damp track, strategies all over the place, cars that can match Merc’s pace (that eventually falls off the literal cliff), overtakes galore, mistakes galore, attritions… and a Manor on-board.

  37. 9/10 Exciting stuff but too many retirements though,i hope all races aren’t like this. Lot of errors made by drivers in this race

  38. Great race. If anything, it shows the potential of F1 – if they can get the rules moving in the right direction for 2017, we can have a lot more races like this more often.

  39. I don’t get how people give this a 10. A 9, yes OK. But for a 10/10 you need to start the last lap without having an idea who’s gonna win it. Hamilton overtaking Rosberg on track would have been so much better than what we got today.

    Also the VSC periods where a yellow flag was enough and the SC where a VSC was enough was annoying.

    So a 9/10 for me.

    1. That’s your rating system. Each to their own. For me yes it would have been even better if it had been a fight on track for the lead. But it didn’t detract from the overall entertainment of every single racing lap to knock a full point off.

      I’ve seen more dramatic and entertaining race finishes, but not an overall more exciting start to finish race.

    2. @paeschli I think the VSC periods is justified because there are debris on track and really near the racing lines. The old way of sending a brave marshals to pick those with only yellow flags is too dangerous. As for SC, I think its probably because the situation is too similar to Bianchi’s accident (damp track and heavy machinery inside). I agree VSC is enough but imagine all the bad press if they not sending out the safety car, I guess Charlie just played it safe.

      1. @sonicslv My main problem was with the Sauber parked completely out of the racing line. Just leaving it there and continuing the race would have been justified IMHO.

        1. And then someone spins and hits the car getting killed in the process.. Of course they remove it. Especially in the USA, the organization would be sued to hell and back if the former scenario happened.

        2. @paeschli No, they should remove the car. You can never take compromises with safety. It’s the same when they red-flagged Silverstone 2014 after Kimi’s crash even though it’s much more unlikely anyone will hit that same spot.

          On the positive side, the new regulation of SC actually works really well. We only got couple laps after the track is actually cleared and not circling behind just to wait for the lapped cars to un-lap themselves and rejoin the pack.

  40. 9/10 that really close to 10/10.

    The race start at 2 AM while I already quite tired, but now its 4:30 AM and I got pumped up again! Amazing race, and more amazing crowd. So many gambles that could really go either way like Red Bull with the obvious full wet setup, Vettel trying to run to the end with medium and changing to soft again while Perez still stick into his medium. Not to mention Button drove a brilliant race which he will be my DOTW. What makes it 9 just nitpicks like can’t believe Rosberg blew it again after what he shown so far in the race, Sir Elton John turns out not a good podium interviewer, and most importantly no Stetson hats in the podium(!).

  41. 11/10. Seriously, everything about this race was packed with excitement. Red Bulls swapping the lead with the Mercs early was incredible, and I’m thoroughly impressed impressed with Daniil Kvyat, even though he binned it late. Vettel coming from the back to challenge Rosberg for third, Rossi and Nasr didn’t get any tv time but they swapped places a lot. And nothing will take away the feeling I got cheering on Rossi with all my mates in our home Grand Prix. It seemed, at least to us, that Rossi had the points in the bag with 6 to go, being ahead of Ricciardo and Alonso losing power, but it wasn’t meant to be. Still one hell of a race. Totally unpredictable. Never seen anything like it. Well deserved title by Hamilton too. 11/10

    1. Kvyat kept binning it all through the race though. Even Verstappen passed him.

  42. 10, best race of the season. Had everything we want on a race.
    After so much rain a great spectacle for the fans.
    Congrats Lewis!

  43. 8/10 for me. It had the potential to be a 10 with a Merc-RBR fight but Kvyat was poor and Ricciardo was crashed into by Hulkenberg.

  44. 10/10.
    It had everything.
    Great racing. Wonderful over takes. Accidents. Differing strategies. Errors.
    Race of the Season.

  45. What kind of a pit call was that from Ferrari? Sure, he would have most likely been passed backwards after the restart, but then again, what was the point of playing safe at this point? a massive gamble on track position over fresh tires was the only shot they had. Damn i hate it when they do stuff like that. Also great race, but the end was kinda meh, when after all this turmoil, five laps from the end everything just fell into its usual places. 8/10

    1. @mrboerns If you mean why Vettel changed back to softs at SC then they doing the right call. It’s obvious Vettel with mediums wont be able to hold any of the Mercedes so he will be demoted to 3rd place quickly. Remember SC will negates any gap he has and on restart he will face Hamilton with much fresher softs and all cars behind him also has fresher tires. At that scenario Vettel will be 3rd and forced to defend with old mediums, but pitting him only surrendering a place to Hamilton (which he most likely gonna lose anyway) but he has much more competitive package for the final stint.

      1. As i said, most likely yes. but it would have been a crazy gamble yielding a small chance. Pitting ment giving up right then and there. It was kind of playing safe, only there was really no reason to play safe.

        1. It would never be a tiny chance thanks to DRS. It is a guaranteed loss to Hamilton that already has much more top speed. So of course they pit him. Strategically correct choice.

  46. Black 'n' Blue15
    25th October 2015, 21:38

    Absolutely Stellar Race. It felt like a throwback to Interlagos 2012; Changeable Conditions, Unpredictability, several lead changes, a fair share of Attrition and race-long Battles with a Top Championship Placing on a Wire, undecided until the Death. A Ten is the only score I can give this, simply for the reason that I can’t change anything that happened in this Race for the better, Entertainment-Wise.
    It captured the Zeitgeist of what high-end motor-sport should be all about. What’s testament to that, is the way the TV director scarcely got a chance to cut in a shot of a celebrity (Or Carmen Jorda) and how Edwards and Coulthard in the Commentary Booth, couldn’t find the time like they often have done before, to drift off into discussions about the Sport’s Politics and any other off-track Poppycock, because for once what unfolded on-track was simply too good to ignore.

  47. 10/10, perfect race. Lacking absolutely nothing except the result I would have liked – but objectively? Perfect!

  48. I gave it a 9/10. I might have given it a 10/10, but the U.S. coverage on NBC was awful. Let me be clear. I didn’t rate it 9/10 for the TV coverage. I rated it 9/10 because of the race that I saw. I missed close to a third of the passes due to the awful NBC coverage. I didn’t see the same race as the folks in Europe. At one point, after watching cars under the VSC, the race restarted and then they went to a commercial break! They even cut away at one point just as Mercedes started to talk to Lewis. I only got to see Hamilton’s final pass on Rosberg as a replay, as of course it happened during a commercial break.

    (Most of the commercial breaks shrink the screen so the race keeps going in a smaller box to the right. Some local commercials, though, don’t do that and take over the whole screen. When they come back from a break they waste 10 seconds showing pictures of Austin in full screen. Oh, and Steve Matchett did a 2 minute technical piece sponsored by an oil company that overshadowed on-track action, which just peeved me. I understand their monetary requirements, but at the least they should be able to schedule the ads to coincide with safety cars.)

    1. Agreed, the adverts were worse than usual today… we switched back and forth to spanish language station, which wasn’t in HD and was in fact squeezed down to 4:3.

  49. 9/10. If it was the same race but Williams 1st/2nd with a Williams WCC and WDC then a 10/10 ;)

  50. 10/10, absolutely fantastic race. As always, the 3 same guys on the podium but eh.. They’re the 3 best drivers I MO. Rosberg shunted it itself.

  51. 10/10. Epic race. Cracking conclusion. And a deserving winner and World Champion. Great fights all the way down the grid.
    Contrary to what most are saying, Nico did not throw this race away or “lose” it. He was beaten fair and square by Lewis. Even if he didn’t throw that car off track, he would have been passed anyway. Such was Lewis’s pace after the last pit stop. He was in DRS range for the preceeding 3 laps and he built up almost a 5sec gap after overtaking him; whilst Nico had to defend from Vettel till the very end.

    However, Mercedes AMG Petronas ALMOST fluffed this for him, and for themselves. They should simply have stacked both cars.

    1. @kbdavies

      I also questioned their decision not to stack. They made it more difficult for themselves. For a while, it looked like Vettel and Ferrari had stolen the march strategically.

  52. Not a big fan of races that are interrupted a lot, but I have to admit it kept the excitement going this time.

    Not sure why Rosberg was so upset before and during the ceremony. Can’t believe that he would have thought he still had a chance at the title and it’s not the first time he cracked under the pressure and went off when Hamilton was chasing either.

  53. 10/10 for me – it was exciting and unpredictable, and the best race of 2015. Hungary was great, but the one thing it lacked was a real battle for the lead for most of the race, with Vettel dominating most of the race. By contrast, at different points in this race Hamilton, Ricciardo, Vettel and Rosberg all seemed to be in the best position to win, and the performance and strategic advantages frequently seemed to shift. Add to that numerous overtakes, and some terrific battles in sector 2/3, the uncertainty as to the best moment to switch tyres and the end result was an enthralling race from start to finish. Unusually, I thought there was no real dull spell, as even the VSC and safety car periods mixed up the order and seemed to alter the scenario each time.

  54. Trenthamfolk (@)
    25th October 2015, 22:09

    just listening to Nico on Sky whining and whingeing about turn 1… like he’s got no history of aggressive moves on the 1st lap! He was ahead by 10 seconds at one point in this race… he needs to grow up and stop blaming.

    1. @trenthamfolk

      Agreed. Even if it was a little bit rude.

  55. I’d been to all the COTA races thus far, cancelled this one for various reasons including the weather. Friday and Saturday that seemed like a good decision. Today it seems like like an epic mistake; 10/10. Best race of the season by far…

  56. 9/10 One of the best races so far. Only the many safetycars spoiled it a bit, otherwise it would have been a 10.

  57. 8/10. Best race of the hybrid era, and best race since Brazil 2012.

  58. Best race in ages, Niki Lauda said. Best race he ever watched… I believe best I saw live.

    Do 10. I dont see a single grade bellow 8 yet lol… So maybe best race of all time?

    GJ F1.

    On race, Nico did superb job, but then Boom Lewis sneaks in for the win.

    But driver of the day? Sebastian Vettel. Against all odds there he was. 5 seconds from victory. Starting from 15th.

    Also Omg verstapen and seinz.. Oh my. Great race.. And did you see Button, faster than Alonso with upgraded engine?

    Watching Montoya now, I agree with him, Lewis struggles with second place, Nico has speed to take him on. But Lewis upfront is unbeatable. So there is hope for Nico. Lewis just wants it more baddly. He has great emotional power within him. It is enough to get an edge on Nico, time and time again. Que some car failures and Nico lost championship today. But even without failures it has to be said… Lewis would win it anyway.

    But looking at Vettel… I believe he is even more of a championship material than Lewis.if those two would gave equal machinery just imagine the fireworks.. Epic.

    Good race.

    1. Watching Montoya now, I agree with him, Lewis struggles with second place

      Really? Montoya must be smoking something. If there is one driver who is most guaranteed to win from 2nd place, on a track where overtaking is possible, then it is Lewis. Just look at how many times he did it last season. And this season too.

  59. 9/10. The only way to make it a 10 would have been for HAM and ROS or VET to be side by side coming out of turn 20 on the last lap.

  60. An easy 10/10.

    It was the race the fans in the COTA deserved after such a very difficult weekend for them.

  61. 9/10.
    It was a great race. The first laps were quite exciting, with the Red Bulls pushing the Mercedes hard and all the action that was going on behind. But even in the dry part of the race there was a lot of action and the battle for the lead was very open between Rosberg and Hamilton (and you could say that Vettel had an outside chance as well). I’m just incredibly annoyed by how it ended. There were only a few laps remaining, Hamilton was catching Rosberg, I would have loved to see a battle, but Nico gifted Lewis the victory once again.
    Also I’m not sure that the long back straight needs a DRS zone. For the Mercedes guys passing was completely effortless.

  62. After sticking it out in the rain and mud here in Austin, turned out to be a great race. Even Rossi was legitimately challenging the Sauber for a bit.

    Lewis was great, Button was brilliant and Vettel made the final lap quite interesting indeed.

    Judging by the absolutely massive crowds here F1 is alive and well in the states.

  63. 10/10. Best part of HAM-ROS-VET podium is watching Vettel congratulate Lewis with a look that says “I’m coming for you next year!” while Rosberg sulks in the background like a spoiled child. I hope Ferrari keeps upping the pressure, as I’ve lost hope for Nico.

  64. Best race for a long, long time.

    If some of you who have read any of my posts recently, you would have probably noticed a slight wiff of cynicism. The last few seasons have been so testing that I my enthusiasm for F1 really took a nose dive.

    At the start of the weekend, it was all looking like a bit of a farce. Terrible weather, limited running, spectators being locked out during one of the only meaningful sessions…

    “Oh, here we go”, I thought.

    But what a race that ended up being!

    I’m struggling to remember the last time I enjoyed a race that much. Canada 2011, maybe?

    Thrilling overtakes throughout, great action, great fans (I love hearing the stands go wild on the TV). It had a few spills, too. It had it all.

    It was a shame for Red Bull, being so strong in the early stages. I’m gutted for Williams, too. They had a shocker.

    I was surprised to see McLaren mixing it, even with the help from the safety cars.

    Vettel had a great race! He really was impressive.

    In the end, the Mercedes were too quick today. Even with Nico’s mistake. I feel bad for Nico. He looks a little bit broken. I would have enjoyed seeing him win today.

    Fair play to Hammers. His championship was looking like a forgone conclusion for the final third of the season. He fully deserves his title.

    In terms of the championship, let’s hope some more drivers are in with a shout next season.

    10/10. The first time I’ve ever voted 10.

  65. What a race. Fights for the lead between the Mercs and Red Bulls, massive fights in the points scoring positions, Ferrari and Sainz coming from the back to fight, wet/dry tyre drama, an off chance at Manor points.. This race had pretty much everything I want to see in an F1 race. Normally I’d lament the typical podium, but with a WDC won, fights for the top positions and fights till the flag, I can’t fault that.

    What I can fault however is DRS on the back straight and the VSC/SC periods. I feel that removing the cars took too long and I’m still not a fan of the ‘letting lapped cars pass’ during SC periods. 9/10

  66. I rated 9, this race was very exciting!

  67. I gave it a 9. Enjoyed all the battles throughout the field especially Jenson battling away in the Mclaren.

  68. 8/10. Great race by Vettel, Perez, Sainz, Hamilton.

  69. Fri and sat then race day boom 10/10 ,

  70. 8/10 great race. sc helped bunch them all up towards the end too. DRS not too powerful, worked well. BUT OMG the FOM race director was awful! missing loads of action whilst flicking through long repetitive replays!

  71. Man, what a thriller this one was, even though Hamilton confirmed his 3rd title. Action, action, action… 9/10 from me.

  72. It was a 10/10 race, but VC / SC periods were a bit too long, and DRS far too powerful at the back straight. Still a 9/10.

    1. I agree, they really should do something about the safety car situation…. But I’m still giving this a 10, this is the best race I’ve seen in a long long time.

  73. What an amazing race!! I voted a 9/10 as the race had everything that a F1 fan looks for in a race. Stayed up till 3 Am and went to bed happy! Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton for winning his third World Championship. As a Lewis fan I am very happy the way this season has panned out for him.

    I hope Lewis carries on the form and wins the next few races as well.

  74. 9/10 for me. A race that had it all – great driving, changing conditions, lots of action and a WDC crowned.

    The only think preventing a 10/10 was use of the safety car. It was kept out far too long first time around as the marshals were slow removing the car.

  75. Incredible race! Yes, Rosberg chucked it – first in the first corner by not pushing Hamilton more and then made a mistake to let Hamilton through. The SC and VSC took too long to clear. BUT, flukes and funks and we still get the the same top 3. What more can we really ask for? 10/10

  76. Fantastic race. It’s a 9/10 for me because in the end it did not finish the way I was hoping. The first 3 quarters of this race was brilliant, but as soon as the last Safety Car entered the tracks it stopped the exciting “Rosberg charge, Vettel on mediums, Hamilton on old softs but in front” action. Three strategies were to come together, but it all played into Hamilton’s hands. He is World Champion, perhaps this season more deservedly than the other two. I’m not a fan, but I am in awe of his driving this season. So few mistakes (the only real one I can think of on the fly is Monaco, where he requested a pit stop from the lead). Compare that to Rosberg who has continously driven above his abilities in an attempt to keep up.

    Hamilton, Champion of the world.

  77. 6/10 for me. I enjoyed large portions of the race, as there were some genuine battles on track that were both unpredictable and exciting. I can’t however give much more than a 6/10 to a race that saw no less than 16 FCY laps, especially since they were all spread out and frequently reset the race. I like GPs for their length as well as the action; to see people try different strategies and make the most of the necessary compromises.

  78. 9.5 and worth the wait for the weather to calm down since Friday.
    Not a dull moment and should be the best race of the year.
    The sound and the speed didn’t matter simply because there was good close racing, that’s what we fans need and want.

  79. Nick (@theawesomefish)
    26th October 2015, 8:54

    9/10 from me. Race was very, very exciting with the changeable conditions, one or two incidents shaking things up along the way, and we did get a few surprises throughout the order. Never really knew how it was going to pan out until the very closing laps, and even then it wasn’t a lock.

    However, I had to dock at least one point for seeing the exact same podium on four other occasions during the season, and the HAM/ROS/VET combination locking out the podium in half of the races this season. A lack of variety in the result, even with Vettel’s penalty dropping him deep into the mid-grid after qualifying, does numb quite a lot of the excitement and surprise.

  80. I had to give it a 10. There was nothing I could fault enough to knock a point off.

    Action all through the field for the entire race, plenty of attrition, differing strategies. I was on the edge of my seat for the whole race.

    All in all, it ranks among the best races I have ever seen, and is certainly the best I have seen for a long time.

  81. 9/10

    I was tinkering with giving a 10 however it lacked the only two things which would’ve made it perfect.

    i – A surprise winner (Hamilton didn’t look like winning until the end but he was favourite going into the weekend)
    ii – A lead change in the last lap or two

    Apart from that it was utterly breathless all the way through the field.

    1. Well, Hamilton did take the lead with 8 laps to spare. That semi-ticks your second request. Still, I agree with your reasoning.

  82. Who gave it a 1 out of 10?

    1. @andybantam Probably Rosberg and his family.

      1. Haha!

  83. Gave 10/10. Very happy to watch a real race, it’s so rare nowadays…

  84. I don’t ever remember a more exciting race except maybe for Brazil 2008. Easy 10/10.

  85. Easily the best race of the year. Maybe my faulty memory but this feels like the first time this year there was an actual battle for the lead. First 25 laps was MINT!

  86. This was an awesome race, really thrilling and all over the track !
    3 remarks :

    – The damn German TV (RTL) which kept interrupting the race for publicity, and this naturally when the best battles occurred.
    – A bit sad for Nico Rosberg, but hey, he didn’t have the “eye of the tiger” this season, Hamilton had !
    – I don’t know what happened to Hulk(enberg) ?

  87. Sorry, I gave it a 9 :)

  88. Super race. Thoroughly enjoyed it. And I really didn’t think it was going to be that good after the weather problems and delays.

  89. 9/10 id have given it a 10 if Rossi had managed to get past alonso for a point, sadly or not so sad for Ricardo he got that last point for the best race of the season so far. heroes, in no order Button Max Hamilton and Seb for a cool head and laughs at press conf.

  90. 9/10 for me..

    But still.. this was a great artificial race as well.. the fighting in the last 15 laps after the last SC was artificial as well… With all the SCs and VSCs and low track temps, everyone had relatively unharmed tyres that could take a beating so they didn’t have to look out for them.. And for the same reason, everyone had fuel to burn so they weren’t limited on that either.. So everyone was pushing like hell…
    So.. BRING BACK RACING TYRES AND REFUELING!! So we can at last see some racing from lap 1..

  91. A fantastic race on a fantastic track! Ever since arriving in 2012 this has been my favorite Tilkedrome, jointly with Sepang, now that Istanbul is no longer around. Gave it a 9/10 purely because I felt that the VSC and SC took longer then they should have done. That robbed us of a few more laps of brilliant racing

    Can’t say I’m happy with the result. Hamilton didn’t deserve to seal the title with this subdued performance. He’s capable of so much more and in this race he was purely lucky he didn’t finish 5th. But this can’t figure in the assessment of the race itself, which was awesome. Hence the aforementioned 9/10

  92. 9/10, the only thing that was missing was loud engines with 18000 RPM, if need be let give them more fuel to raise the REVS and power

  93. After some 700 votes, the average sits around 9.1 for this race. Prior to 2015, only 6 races have ever been rated higher. The best race ever held was apparently the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix followed by the 2011 Chinese Grand Prix =)

  94. 9.. To get ten it needed more hard wheel to wheel for the win which Rosberg robbed us of.

  95. ILuvSoundtracks (@)
    26th October 2015, 15:24

    10. The race was unbelievable from start to finish!

  96. The race had everything. Unfortunately, in the case of DRS, “everything” isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Without DRS it would have been just as good a race and think it took the heat out of some of the battles. It’s really not needed when the racing is as good as that. Because of that, it’s a 9/10

    Same again next time out? Unfortunately I doubt it.

  97. Easy 10, we got what we asked for.

    Verstappen overtaking, Battles everywhere and cars dropping out, best race of the season and Hamilton became a champion

  98. I didn’t vote because I saw the race in a very disjointed way…visiting family out of town…volume too low to hear commentary…had to travel across town during the race too…ie. wasn’t very invested in this race. Saw the start and the end. Got the gist of it.

    My comment, and it would seem I’ll be in the minority, is what a shame it takes for a drying track and safety cars and accidents for an F1 race to get such a high score. If BE reads this forum he’ll be bringing out the sprinklers for sure.

    I just wish F1 would simplify toward closer racing and we wouldn’t need to see them driving like they’re on ice and crashing and going off for there to be unpredictability. Would far rather see that coming from driver vs driver, on the limit action considering most of the racing will always be in the dry. Can’t get all that excited about one-off races that were exciting ‘just because’. There’s something wrong, and of course that has become a dailey conversation, when it takes weather to ‘level’ things, or was that even levelling we saw or just a scramble of different approaches due to the forecast and the number of safety cars and Vsc’s.

    F1 is heeding these concerns with changes coming for 2017, so it’s going to be really interesting to see what that will be like.

    I hope NR stores up his anger and disappointment and comes out swinging next year, and doesn’t lash out next weekend when it won’t count for anything, other than ending ahead of SV in the standings. I hope he makes the next three races about SV, and reserves a take-no-prisoners attitude for 2016.

  99. 9/10
    I’ll avoid a review of the race, but:
    1) we lost two Williams early on. While top drivers having problems helped this and other races become unpredictable, we lost two protagonists which could have shaken things further up.
    2) we had too many Safety Cars: not a fault of race direction, but for the first time in the past years the first time I looked at the lap counter there were only ten left.
    3) we had no fight for the lead between Ham, Ros and Vet. In the end it was the same podium as always, and those three are the ones who escaped major turnarounds during the race.

  100. I thought it was the best race of the season and I gave it a 9.

    With the way the season has gone so far if you had missed all F1 coverage this weekend and just saw the podium result of Hamilton-Rosberg-Vettel you could be forgiven for thinking it was a race typical of this year with the Mercedes pair then Vettel, but the US GP was anything but a typical 2015 race.

    The various circumstances such as the weather, different cars being faster at different times during the race and the safety car periods all added up to plenty of on track action and a great race.

    At times during the race, especially early on it seemed the director didn’t know what to show on TV as there were multiple battles happening at the same time.

    I see quite a few have rated this race as a 10 (currently 40% of the vote), while everyone has their own criteria for rating races, for me, for a race to be a 10 it has to be perfect with no room for improvement, because of this I have never given any race a 10 as I can always think of a realistic way in which the race could have been better.

    For this race, as good as it was I thought it was a shame that there wasn’t a better battle for the victory in the closing laps, with Hamilton only having taken the lead after Rosberg went off track and Vettel not quite catching Rosberg either to battle for second in the last few laps.

    It was a shame that this was a race that BBC only had highlights for, but when after the pre-race build up they went straight to the race start without any of the formation lap I hoped that it was because they had a lot of action to fit in, and it proved to be the case, of course I may just not be remembering previous highlights shows correctly and they may never show the formation lap on the highlights.

  101. 10/10.

    Only real downside was that strange Safety Car after Ericsson stopped at what looked like the safest place on the circuit. That one looked like an attempt to please the American audience with a packed-up field.

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