Austin, 17 November – Fernando Alonso finished fifth at the Circuit of the Americas, with Felipe Massa thirteenth. The Spaniard therefore cannot be beaten for second place in the Drivers’ championship on 227 points. In the Constructors,’ Scuderia Ferrari is still third on 333 points, fifteen behind Mercedes and eighteen ahead of Lotus.
Both Ferraris started on the Medium and the Spaniard dropped one place off the line, to go seventh, while Massa crossed the line thirteenth. The Safety Car was out from the opening lap to the fourth when Sutil had a crash and after that, there were no changes of position until the first run of pit stops.
Massa changed tyres at the end of lap 21, switching to the Hards, as did Alonso 6 laps later. By delaying his stop, the Spaniard managed to get ahead of Perez’s McLaren to go sixth. At the end of lap 38, Massa made a further stop, going back to the Mediums, rejoining sixteenth. With 12 laps remaining, Alonso mounted a successful attack on Hulkenberg’s Sauber to take fifth. Sebastian Vettel won the race for Red Bull.