United States GP: hats off to Vettel

Fog delayed the start of first practice for the United States Grand Prix.

The United States Grand Prix weekend got off to a bad start when first practice was delayed for poor visibility by 40 minutes because of fog

First practice was then stopped when the medical helicopter didn't turn up. When it eventually made an appearance, there was only enough time for 30 minutes of running

Heikki Kovalainen was parachuted into the Lotus team at short notice to replace Kimi Raikkonen in Austin and did a decent job qualifying eighth before problems with his car saw him finish 15th in the race

The Circuit of the Americas' signature corner is the steep uphill run into the hairpin Turn One which is similar to Spa's Eau Rouge corner in Belgium

Felipe Massa struggled for pace all weekend in Austin as he comes to the end of his Ferrari career ahead of a move to Williams next season

The skies were overcast for practice and qualifying, but it was not doom and gloom for Sebastian Vettel who waltzed to his eighth pole position of the season

After his performance in qualifying, Sebastian Vettel was the favourite to take his eighth consecutive win of the season to break Michael Schumacher's record set in 2004

The Austin paddock was full of celebrities on race day, including Mask of Zorro star Antonio Banderas, American actress Melanie Griffiths and Law Abiding Citizen actor Gerard Butler

Finn Valtteri Bottas had the strongest weekend of his rookie season with ninth in qualifying and eighth - and his first F1 points - in the race

Romain Grosjean has been in a rich vein of form since team-mate Kimi Raikkonen announced he was leaving Lotus and that continued in Austin as the Frenchman took his fourth podium in five races

In winning the United States Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel claimed his 12th win of the season and 38th of his career to keep him on course to match Alberto Ascari's record of nine consecutive wins, set over the 1952 and '53 seasons

Vettel said he was very "proud" of becoming the first man to win eight consecutive races in a season, having won every grand prix since Formula 1 returned from the summer break at the Belgian Grand Prix

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