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2015 US Grand Prix / Circuit of the Americas
It wasn’t pretty, but it was perfect

Expectations

Any prior anticipations or data-driven tire performance models for this year’s United States Grand Prix evaporated Friday with the arrival of Hurricane Patricia on the southwest coast of Mexico. As a Category 5, it was the strongest hurricane ever to hit a Western Hemisphere coastline and its rain-engorged feeder bands extended into Texas, bringing in 28 continuous hours of torrential rainfall.

Nico Rosberg had topped FP1, which took place in wet, but manageable, conditions. Then the skies opened up. FP 2 was cancelled when the continuous thunderstorms meant the medical helicopter could not take off. FP3 was held in barely drivable conditions, with Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel surviving long slides off the gradient corners awash with deep rain puddles.The rain intensified during the last 30 minutes of the session and no drivers were able to improve their times. Qualifying was moved to Sunday morning.

With rain lashing the circuit, Q3 was abandoned. Once again, the Mercedes duo put in incredible Q2 laps to beat the Red Bull pair of Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Riccardo to the front row, with Rosberg snatching pole. Ricciardo, who had topped Q1, started the race in P3 ahead of his Red Bull teammate Daniil Kvyat. Sebastian Vettel qualified fifth, losing it in Turn 10 in Q1 and bouncing off a barrier; the Ferrari driver would drop 10 places on the grid due to a new engine change penalty.

Sunday’s race would start with no data on dry tire wear or long run setups. For success, the best drivers would have to come to the fore in the race, handling whatever was thrown at them and their car without prior knowledge. Could Lewis Hamilton outdrive teammate Rosberg and sew up his third World Championship? To do that, he would have to read the raindrops and handle the deep puddles on his own.

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