Bitter setback for Mick Schumacher: With a departure of his team -mate Frederic Makowiecki, the Alpine #36 (Gounon/Makowiecki/Schumacher) had to come to a repair stop. At the time of departure by aquaplaning, #36 was in the twelfth position in a race, which until then had hardly been described as such.
Because the departure occurred under green during the five minutes of the whole race under green. Due to the constant rain in Austin, the race was only released after an hour and 50 minutes.
But just with the green flag, the rain increased easily, which put curve 2 completely under water. At the same time, Makoweicki and Tom Gamble in the Aston Martin #007 (Tincknell/Gamble) flew off with aquaplaning and hit the barrier. While the Aston Martin kept the leadership round, #36 lost a round.
Happened in the same place of the BMW #15 (D. Vanthoor/Magnussen/Marciello), which also slipped next to the route but did not turn.
After five minutes green again Safety car
For almost two hours, the spectators at the Circuit of the Americas had to be patient for racing, as it was not possible to rain because of the rain. This ensured that the management vehicle, a Porsche 911, ran out after an hour.
However, the change of the safety car went vigorously to the pants. As a result, some vehicles followed the management vehicle in the box, but others stayed outside and the order was thrown over the pile. Racing director Edoardo Freitas had nothing else than to interrupt the race with the red flag and restore the correct order.
It only started after 40 minutes when the conditions slowly improved, but only until the restart ten minutes later. The double departure joined Safety car for another 20 minutes before the Lone Star Le Mans could finally be released after two hours and 15 minutes for a long time.
It leads the polesetter after two and a half hours (and thus 15 minutes after the race was released) than the AF Corse Ferrari #83 (Kubica/Ye/Hanson). Ferrari and Porsche looked the fastest after the restart.
The BMW M Hybrid V8 from Rene Rast has already been eliminated. The DTM star had to park the BMW #20 (Rast/Wittmann/S. van der Linde) with an error in the insulation of the hybrid system, causing the outer warning lamp to red, while the interior was not indicated. For safety reasons, the LMDH-Bolide had to be parked.
The race continues until 2 a.m. CEST and the weather should improve from now on.