After the ecstatic Lewis Hamilton took the chequered flag on Sunday he performed donut spins for the cheering crowd while Daft Punk’s “One More Time” blared out from the Mercedes garage. As he crossed the line and had it confirmed that he had equalled his idol Ayrton Senna with his third F1 world title the 30-year-old said over the car radio: “This is the greatest moment of my life.”
A little later tears mixed with sprayed champagne. Beside Hamilton and his beaten team-mate Nico Rosberg and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel on the podium there was Sir Elton John. It is not often that he looks upstaged.
This was a chaotic, compelling race. There were two safety cars, two virtual safety cars, crashes and enough all-round action to fill half-a-dozen grand prix weekends. How the Americans loved the show.
Hamilton needed to beat his closest challenger, Vettel, by nine points and Mercedes team-mate Rosberg by two, and he did just that –finishing the race 76 points clear of his nearest rival with 75 points still available. Rosberg was second and Vettel, who needed to be runner-up if Hamilton won to push the championship into next weekend’s race in Mexico, was third.
Even as he approached the winning line Hamilton could not be certain he had won the championship because Vettel continued to put Rosberg under intense pressure until the end. It was Hamilton’s third win in the four races in Austin as he secured the title with three races to spare.
When he had taken the chequered flag and was congratulated by his team the emotion of the moment finally got to him. “I’m feeling it now, guys, I’m feeling it,” he said. He jumped into a crowd of Mercedes mechanics. Then he was congratulated by the vanquished Rosberg and Vettel. But Rosberg looked less than amused when Hamilton threw a cap into the German’s lap. Rosberg flung it back, without the flicker of a smile.
The race appeared to belong to Rosberg with 15 laps to go. Hamilton was leading, but on old tyres, and Rosberg was closing on him with fresher rubber.
But then Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat spun off. The safety car came out and Hamilton took his chance to make a second stop. He still had to catch Rosberg and that looked unlikely until the 48th of the 56 laps when the German made a mistake and came off the track, allowing Hamilton through.
The rain which had blighted much of the weekend in Texas finally relented. But its legacy was a damp and occasionally wet track which made this the busiest, most unpredictable of races. The rain had forced the cancellation of qualifying on Saturday and curtailed it on Sunday morning, with grid positions decided by Q2. All the cars started on intermediate tyres.
The only predictable thing was the start. Hamilton, who was second on the grid, went straight on the attack and was level with the pole-sitter Rosberg almost immediately. Then, as they went into turn one, Hamilton, on the inside, squeezed his team-mate wide. Rosberg would not yield and the two touched wheels but it was Hamilton’s racing line and the German was forced out, dropping to fourth behind Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo.
It was yet another example of Rosberg’s inability to beat Hamilton in wheel-to-wheel racing. He knew he could not afford to finish second to Hamilton in this race but he could not do anything about it.
Vettel, who had started back in 14th place because of a 10-place grid penalty, refused to let himself drift out of the championship picture and steadily worked his way through the field.
But it was the action at the front of the field that was dominating attention. Hamilton is normally a strong front-runner but he showed signs that he was struggling with his rubber and he was passed by the charging Red Bull of Ricciardo.
Worse was to follow, for he then came under pressure from Rosberg who eventually went past on the 19th lap. The world champion came in for fresh rubber, the first of the drivers to move on to dry-weather tyres.
Rosberg, recovering well from his setback at the start, now put the squeeze on Ricciardo before taking the lead on lap 23. He followed that by putting in the fastest lap as he attempted to build himself a gap at the front. The freshly shod Hamilton moved past Ricciardo and into second place.
There was bad news for Williams, with Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas dropping out of the race, the team’s first double retirement since the Brazilian Grand Prix of 2012. There were only a dozen finishers in this high-casualty race.
At the halfway stage the safety car was deployed for the first time because Marcus Ericsson’s Sauber had stopped on the track. When the safety car came in, the immediate winner was Vettel, who went past Kvyat to take fourth place.
Then he went past Ricciardo on the outside to take third. The three surviving challenges for the world championship were giving the American crowd a race to remember. And another thrilling drive from Max Verstappen, who came fourth for Toro Rosso, provided more entertainment.
It all climaxed over the last 10 laps with the safety car finally off the track. A nervous Mercedes garage warned Hamilton to “keep it clean”.
But Hamilton was not required to do anything dangerous. With a few laps remaining Rosberg made his mistake and let Hamilton in. At that stage, with Hamilton in front, followed by Rosberg and Vettel – who had overtaken Verstappen for third – Hamilton was world champion.
There was no change at the sharp end after that.The leading three cars kept their places. Verstappen was fourth, Force India’s Sergio Pérez fifth and Jenson Button sixth for McLaren. It had been some race.
The Englishman’s tenth10th win of the season put him alongside Sir Jackie Stewart with three titles but he is the first British driver to successfully defend his championship.
Hamilton needed to beat his closest challenger, Ferarri’s Sebastian Vettel, by nine points and his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg by two, and he did precisely that. Rosberg was second and Vettel, who needed to be runner-up to carry the championship into next Sunday’s race in Mexico, was third.
But as he approached the winning line Hamilton could not be certain that he had won the championship because Vettel continued to put Rosberg under intense pressure until the end. It was Hamilton’s third win in the four races in Austin.
Once he had taken the chequered flag and was congratulated by his team the emotion of the moment finally got to him. “I’m feeling it now, guys, I’m feeling it,” he said. “This is the greatest moment of my life. Thank you so much, guys, for everything you do.”
He jumped into a crowd of Mercedes mechanics. Then he was congratulated by the vanquished Rosberg and Vettel.
But Rosberg looked less than amused when Hamilton throughthrew a cap into the German’s lap while waiting to go out to the podium. Rosberg flung it back, without the flicker of a smile. On the podium the Briton was drenched in champagne and was congratulated by Sir Elton John.
The rain which had blighted much of the weekend in Texas finally relented but this was still the busiest, most unpredictable of races with crashes, safety cars and overtaking moves to fill half-a-dozen races.
There was something rather predictable about the start. Hamilton, starting second, went straight on the attack and was level with the pole-sitter, Rosberg, almost immediately.
As they went into turn one Hamilton, on the inside, squeezed his team-mate wide. Rosberg would not yield and the two touched wheels but it was Hamilton’s racing line and the German was forced out, dropping to fourth behind Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo as he did so.
It was yet another example of Rosberg’s inability to beat Hamilton in wheel-to-wheel racing. He knew he could not afford to finish second to Hamilton in this race but he simply could not do anything about it.
The rain storms over the weekend that forced the cancellation of qualifying on Saturday and then curtailed it on Sunday morning had put the race’s start time in doubt.
But the track, though still wet in places, had largely dried in the wind. All the cars started on intermediate tyres.
Vettel, who had started back in 14th place because of a 10-place grid penalty, refused to let himself drift out of the championship picture and steadily worked his way through the field.
But it was the action at the front of the field that was dominating attention. Hamilton is normally a strong front-runner but he showed signs that he was struggling with his rubber and on the 16th lap he was passed by the charging Red Bull of Ricciardo.
Worse was to follow for Hamilton, for he then came under pressure from Rosberg who eventually went past on the 19th lap. The world champion came in for fresh rubber, the first of the drivers to move on to dry-weather tyres.
Rosberg, recovering well from his setback at the start, now put the squeeze on Ricciardo before taking the lead on lap 23. He followed that by putting in the fastest lap as he attempttried to build himself a gap at the front. Meanwhile the freshly shod Hamilton moved past Ricciardo and into second place.
There was bad news for Williams with both Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas dropping out of the race, the team’s first double retirement since the Brazilian Grand Prix of 2012.
At the halfway stage of an absorbing race the safety car was deployed because Marcus Ericsson had stopped his carSauber on the track. The cars duly formed a waiting train behind the safety car.
When the safety car came in, the immediate winner was Vettel who went past Red Bull’s Kvyat to take fourth place. Then he went past Ricciardo on the outside to move to third. The three surviving challengers for the world championship were giving the American crowd a race to remember.
But it was not a memorable afternoon for everyone. On lap 37 Nico Hülkenberg collided with Ricciardo, putting his Force India and the Australian out of the race.
But it was the all-action race at the front that was commanding everyone’s attention. When Rosberg pittedcame into the pits, followed by the two Red Bulls, it gave Hamilton the lead once more, though the British driver had had only one stop against the two of the other leading cars.
Rosberg came back on to the track in fourth place but he soon worked his way up to second and then took Vettel to move to second.
To make matters even more complicated the safety car came out again when Kvyat crashed out, leaving his wrecked car on the track.
Hamilton took advantage of the situation to make his second stop and then Vettel came in for his third. After that had shaken itself down Rosberg led the race, followed by Hamilton and Toro Rosso’s thrilling Max Verstappen, followed by Vettel and – to surprise all round – the two McLarens of Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso.
With 10 laps to go, and the safety car off the track, a nervous Mercedes garage warned Hamilton to ‚Äú“keep it clean.”.
But Hamilton was not required to do anything dangerous. With only half a dozen laps remaining Rosberg lost control as he came out of Turn 12. He left the track, handing the lead over to Hamilton once more.
At that stage, with Hamilton in front, followed by Rosberg and Vettel – who had overtaken Verstappen for third – Hamilton was world champion.
There was no change at the sharp end after that. The leading three cars kept their places. Verstappen was fourth, Sergio Pérez fifth for Force India and Button sixth. It had been some race.
Race result
1 Lewis Hamilton GB Mercedes 45pts
1hr 50min 52.703sec
2 Nico Rosberg Ger Mercedes 18
+2.850sec
3 Sebastian Vettel Ger Ferrari 15
+3.381sec
4 Max Verstappen Neth Toro Rosso 12
+22.359sec
5 Sergio Pérez Mex Force India 10
+24.413sec
6 Jenson Button GB McLaren 8
+28.058sec
7 Carlos Sainz Sp Toro Rosso 6
+30.619sec
8 Pastor Maldonado Ven Lotus 4
+32.273sec
9 Felipe Nasr Br Sauber 2
+40.257sec
10 Daniel Ricciardo Aus Red Bull 1
+53.371sec
11 Fernando Alonso Sp McLaren +54.816sec
12 Alexander Rossi US Marussia +75.277sec
Not classified
Daniil Kvyat Rus Red Bull DNF
Nico Hülkenberg Ger Force Indie DNF
Marcus Ericsson Swe Sauber DNF
Kimi Raikkonen Fin Ferrari DNF
Felipe Massa Br Williams DNF
Romain Grosjean Fr Lotus DNF
Valtteri Bottas Fin Williams DNF
Will Stevens GB Marussia DNF
Drivers’ standings
1 Hamilton 327pts 2 Vettel 251 3 Rosberg 247 4 Raikkonen 123 5 Bottas 111 6Massa 109 7 Kvyat 76 8 Ricciardo 74 9 Pérez 64 10 Verstappen 45 11 Grosjean 4412 Hülkenberg 38 13 Nasr 27 14 Maldonado 26 16 Button 16
Mnufacturers’ standings 1 Mercedes 574pts 2 Ferrari 374 3 Williams 220 4 Red Bull 150 5 Force India 102 6 Lotus 70 7 Toro Rosso 63 8 Sauber 36 9 McLaren 27
How Lewis Hamilton now ranks among other multiple world championship winners
7
Michael Schumacher Ger
5
Juan Manuel Fangio Arg
4
Alain Prost Fr
Sebastian Vettel Ger
3
Jack Brabham Aus
Jackie Stewart GB
Niki Lauda Aut
Nelson Piquet Br
Ayrton Senna Br
Lewis Hamilton GB
2
Alberto Ascari It
Graham Hill GB
Jim Clark GB
Emerson Fittipaldi Br
Mika Häkkinen Fin
Fernando Alonso S
Source: https://www.theguardian.com
