Lewis Hamilton achieved his dream result in winning his third Formula 1 world championship after clinching race victory in a thrilling United States Grand Prix.
Hamilton, who finished 2.8 seconds clear of his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg, becomes the first British driver to win back-to-back titles.
From second on the grid and on the run up the hill into Turn 1, Hamilton had the inside line, and not for the first time this season he forced Rosberg wide and off track after they had bumped wheels, relegating the German to fifth.
When Sauber’s Felipe Nasr lost most of his front wing at Turn 1 on lap two after clipping the rear-left tyre of team-mate Marcus Ericsson – on the occasion of the team’s 400th Grand Prix – debris at that corner led to the virtual safety car being called.
On the restart, Hamilton backed up those behind him to such a degree that once the racing resumed Rosberg soon passed Red Bull Racing duo Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat.
Over the next few laps, on wearing intermediate tyres and on a circuit not quite ready for a switch to slicks, a fantastic battle ensued between the leading quartet.
Ricciardo took the lead on lap 15 from Hamilton, with Rosberg through for second shortly after.
That forced Hamilton into the pits at the end of lap 18, taking on the softs, with the Briton setting the tone as the rest of the field followed him in either on that lap or the following one.
From fourth and second respectively, Hamilton and Rosberg made their way up to third and first with moves on Kvyat and Ricciardo, with the latter duo not as strong on slick rubber.
When Ericsson pulled his car out of the race at Turn 11 on lap 28, its positioning on the track brought the safety car out.
At that stage it wiped out a 10.6 seconds lead for Rosberg over Hamilton, who had passed Ricciardo for second just before Ericsson’s exit.
All bar the leading four – Rosberg, Hamilton, Ricciardo, Kvyat – pitted for another change of tyres, with fifth-placed Sebastian Vettel in his Ferrari taking on a new set of mediums in an attempt to get to the end without another stop.
Once the safety car departed after five laps, the German soon cleared Kvyat and Ricciardo to move up to third before another incident on lap 37.
This time it was Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg retiring after running into the side of Ricciardo in a bid to claim fifth, leading to a second virtual safety car, under which Rosberg pitted, dropping to fourth, with Hamilton staying out.
Come lap 42, with Rosberg within six seconds of Hamilton, the safety car was deployed again when Kvyat lost his car on the approach to the final turn, sending him into a barrier.
That allowed Hamilton to make his second stop and come out behind Rosberg, whose hopes of extending the title race into Mexico next Sunday ended when he got out of shape at Turn 15 on the power and ran off track at Turn 16-17.
From there it was a smooth run to the finish for Hamilton, with Rosberg just holding off Vettel for second, followed by Toro Rosso’s Max Vertsappen in fourth after a long final stint on his tyres.
Just 12 drivers saw the flag, with eight retiring through mechanical failure or after on-track incidents.
So an entertaining United States Grand Prix with many wheel-to-wheel battle. Lewis Hamilton proved that he is a racer and his desire to win reveals his passion in the sport. Many congratulations in achieving the third drivers’ title.
United States Grand Prix, after 56 laps:
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1h50m52.703s
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 2.850s
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 3.381s
4 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso-Renault 22.359s
5 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 24.413s
6 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso-Renault 25.619s
7 Jenson Button McLaren-Honda 28.058s
8 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Mercedes 32.273s
9 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari 40.257s
10 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 53.371s
11 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda 54.816s
12 Alexander Rossi Marussia-Ferrari 1m15.277s
– Daniil Kvyat Red Bull-Renault Spun off
– Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes Collision
– Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari Brakes
– Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari Retirement
– Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes Retirement
– Romain Grosjean Lotus-Mercedes Brakes
– Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes Retirement
– Will Stevens Marussia-Ferrari Retirement
Drivers’ standings:
1 Lewis Hamilton 327
2 Sebastian Vettel 251
3 Nico Rosberg 247
4 Kimi Raikkonen 123
5 Valtteri Bottas 111
6 Felipe Massa 109
7 Daniil Kvyat 76
8 Daniel Ricciardo 74
9 Sergio Perez 64
10 Max Verstappen 45
11 Romain Grosjean 44
12 Nico Hulkenberg 38
13 Felipe Nasr 27
14 Pastor Maldonado 26
15 Carlos Sainz 18
16 Jenson Button 16
17 Fernando Alonso 11
18 Marcus Ericsson 9
19 Roberto Merhi 0
20 Alexander Rossi 0
21 Will Stevens 0
22 Kevin Magnussen 0
Constructors’ standings:
1 Mercedes 574
2 Ferrari 374
3 Williams-Mercedes 220
4 Red Bull-Renault 150
5 Force India-Mercedes 102
6 Lotus-Mercedes 70
7 Toro Rosso-Renault 63
8 Sauber-Ferrari 36
9 McLaren-Honda 27
10 Marussia-Ferrari 0
Next race: Mexican Grand Prix, Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. October 30-November 1st
A jubilant Lewis Hamilton said he was struggling to put his feelings into words after clinching his third Formula One drivers’ championship with victory in Austin on Sunday.
The Briton prevailed in a breathless, frenetic and wildly unpredictable US race – and with Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg beating Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel to second, earned an unassailable lead in the standings.
“It’s difficult to find the words really. I owe it all to my dad and family who supported me all these years and sacrificed so much,” Hamilton said afterwards. “It’s a very humbling experience, especially to equal Ayrton Senna [on three world titles] – I feel very blessed today.
“It’s the greatest moment of my life. I pushed and pushed – I hope I can inspire people to never give up. It’s just crazy to think I’m now a three-time world champion.”
Hamilton admitted there were several occasions where he thought his chance of victory was over, particularly after dropping to fourth at mid-distance and then losing the advantage to Rosberg late on.
“Today so many times I thought I had lost the race,” he said. “Nico was really quick in stages, he pitted under the Virtual Safety Car…but never for one second did I think I couldn’t do it.
“I’m buzzing inside… I can’t find the right words to express the feeling but it’s the greatest I’ve had in my life. Nico drove a fantastic race, mad respect for him as a team mate. I just can’t believe I’m sitting here. To my family, I love you. To the team, thank you so much – I’m overdue a drink with the team!”
Source: Formula1.com
Vital stats on the United States Grand Prix, as courtesy from Formula1.com:
Lewis Hamilton scored his tenth win of the season in Austin on Sunday, but more importantly he became just the tenth driver in history – and the first Briton since 1973 – to become a three-time world champion.
Hamilton, also the first of Britain’s 10 world champions to claim back-to-back crowns, joins Jack Brabham, Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda, Nelson Piquet and his childhood idol Ayrton Senna on three titles, with only Michael Schumacher (7), Juan Manuel Fangio (5), Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel (both 4) having tasted championship glory more times.
It’s the second time in a row that Hamilton has sealed the title with victory, and he now has 43 career triumphs, moving him ahead of Vettel for sole possession of third place on the all-time wins list. Only Schumacher (91) and Prost (51) have more victories.
Meanwhile it’s the seventh time in history that the title has been decided on US soil, but the first time since 1982 when, somewhat ironically, Keke Rosberg – father of Hamilton’s title rival Nico – sealed the championship in Las Vegas.
Away from Hamilton’s achievements, Sebastian Vettel’s third place was not enough to extend the title fight to Mexico, but it was enough to keep him just ahead of Rosberg in the drivers’ standings and to help Ferrari secure second place in the constructors’ championship – the Scuderia’s best result since 2012, when they were also second.
Further back, Max Verstappen equalled his career-best result with fourth place for Toro Rosso. The Dutchman’s team mate Carlos Sainz finished seventh in the sister STR10, meaning the Italian team leave Texas with 18 points – their biggest haul of the season so far.
Elsewhere, Jenson Button benefited from Sainz’s five-second time penalty for pit lane speeding to record his best finish of the year – sixth. But McLaren were denied what would have been just their second double points finish of 2015 when Daniel Ricciardo passed Fernando Alonso for P10 on the final lap.
Alexander Rossi – the first American driver to start a Grand Prix on home soil since Scott Speed in 2007 – was the only other classified finisher not to score points in Austin, though the GP2 racewinner’s 12th place equals Marussia’s best finish this year.
Just in front of Ricciardo, Felipe Nasr came home ninth to ensure Sauber scored points in their 400th Grand Prix, just as they did in their very first race in South Africa back in 1993. But whilst there were smiles for Sauber, there were only grim faces at Williams as the Grove-based team recorded their first double DNF since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix.
On the plus side, the next race is in Mexico, and Williams dominated the last race there, even if it was 23 years ago…
Nico Rosberg says he is at a complete loss to explain the error that handed Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton the lead – and ultimately the win and championship victory – in Sunday’s 2015 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix.
Race leader Rosberg slid off-track at Turn 12 with seven laps to go, handing Hamilton first place and paving the way for the Briton to seal his second title in a row with his tenth win of the season.
“I just got wheelspin,” Rosberg explained. “It’s never happened to me before, not even in testing. I can’t explain it. It’s unbelievable. To nearly spin by myself coming off a corner- I don’t understand it.
“Obviously that was really, really tough at the time to lose the lead and the win like that. I was feeling really good – it just went wrong. My mistake cost me the win.”
Polesitter Rosberg had worked his way back into the lead after slipping to fourth place at the start following contact with Hamilton in Turn 1. Speaking before he had seen a replay of the incident, the German said he believed his team mate had been ‘too aggressive’ into the uphill right-hander.
“I was ahead mid-corner, and I have a right to the track there,” he said. “Lewis was too aggressive, one step too far, and that’s not okay.”
He also played down the significance of an incident in the post-race podium room, in which he tossed a cap back in Hamilton’s direction after the Briton had thrown it onto his lap.
“The cap was nothing, just typical games,” Rosberg said.
Rosberg eventually came home in second place after seeing off a late challenge from Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel. However, he remains four points behind his compatriot in the standings with three races to go.
Source: Formula1.com