United States Grand Prix: Hamilton claims 50th F1 victory

It has been a long time coming - since July in fact when he stood on the top step of a podium - but Lewis Hamilton finally scored his 50th Formula 1 victory as he dominated the United States Grans Prix doing all that was required of him as he chases his Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg in the championship standings.

The reigning F1 world champion never put a foot wrong all afternoon, powering off the start line from pole position and taking the lead from the moment the red lights went dark, never to be seriously challenged again as he controlled proceedings from the front until the chequered flag waved at the end of 56 laps.

Hamilton said on the podium after the race, "The team did a great job to put us both up there and I am very proud to be up here. Finally my 50th win. All I can do is my best, Nico has been driving fantastically well, so the battle will continue, I will be going for it."

As much as Hamilton did all he was required to do, so did Rosberg by finishing second despite dropping to third as the field roared into Turn 1. He kept his head, tweaked his strategy and was handed some luck with a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) around mid-race and thus limited the damage in the title race with second place.

He leaves Texas with a 26 points lead over Hamilton with three races remaining in the championship.

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo was third, and with a bit of luck might have even split the Mercedes duo. He made a strong start, ambushing Rosberg into Turn 1 and settling into second behind race leader Hamilton.

Rosberg summed up, "I lost out a bit at the start but gave everything to come back. I was going for it flat out until the end."

As much as the VSC helped Rosberg, it ultimately cost the Australian that second place. Ironically the VSC was triggered by his Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen whose car had to be removed by a tractor after he was forced to retire with a gearbox problem.

Ricciardo said, "The race was not that exciting. The start nearly went to plan, it was OK, the plan was to get both Mercedes, we got Nico which was a positive. We were holding second, then it was the virtual safety car and Nico managed to jump me during that period which is frustrating."

It was a shame for Verstappen as he recovered well after a poor start and was running in fourth, catching Ricciardo, before the mishap. He also executed the move of the day, with a ballsy overtake to snatch fourth place from Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari.

After Verstappen's demise Raikkonen looked set to claim fourth, but the Reds botched his final stop and he was forced to stop at the exit of the pit-lane with a loose wheel ending his grand prix.

The two retirements benefited Sebastian Vettel, in the other Ferrari, and gifted the German fourth place on an afternoon where he was lucky to escape unscathed from a first turn melee, caused by him turning into Turn 1 aggressively and forcing Nico Hulkenberg to take avoiding action.

As a result the Force India clattered into Valtteri Bottas' Williams which in turn tagged the other Force India of Sergio Perez. Hulkenberg was forced to retire from the race, while the other two had their races seriously compromised by having to pit early to sort out damage. Vettel, the perpetrator, was lucky and probably remained unaware of his actions until after the race.

Drive of the Day, from where we sat, must go to Fernando Alonso who fought his way from 12th on the grid to claim fifth place for McLaren.

The Spaniard gave a 'Yeehah' whoop of delight as he crossed the line having dispatched first the Williams of Felipe Massa and Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz in the final stages of the race to match the team's best finish of the season when he finished fifth in Monaco. However the FIA race stewards were investigating Alonso's overtake on Massa at time of writing...

Sainz did well to finish sixth, running a set of soft tyres longer than anyone in his final stint. Massa was seventh despite a last lap scare when he was forced to pit with a puncture caused by contact with Alonso as they dueled for sixth place.

Perez recovered from the first lap incident to finish eighth and help keep his team ahead of Williams in the constructors' standings.

McLaren's Jenson Button also did well to claim ninth after staring from 19th on the grid, with Romain Grosjean claiming the final point Haas at their first home grand prix.

At the start, Hamilton made a solid getaway to take the race lead. Rosberg went wide on the right to put pressure on his team-mate and that allowed the fast-starting Ricciardo to pull alongside the German on the inside of Turn One. Ricciardo’s line gave him the advantage through the next corners and he moved into second ahead of Rosberg.

Behind them, Raikkonen passed Verstappen at the start with the Dutchman slipping to fifth ahead of the second Ferrari of Vettel.

Hulkenberg though was going backwards. The Force India driver started in seventh position but in Turn One he was involved in a collision with the Williams of Bottas. The German was sent into a spin and dropped to the rear of the field. He limped back to the pits and was forced to retire from the race. Bottas sustained a puncture. He too pitted and rejoined at the back of the order.

The first stint saw Hamilton begin to build a gap to Ricciardo and by the time the leaders had for the time first cycled through the pits for new tyres, the defending champion had carved out a five-second advantage to the Red Bull man.

While the bulk of the top 10 shed starting supersofts for soft compound tyres in the opening stops, Rosberg, in third, chose a different strategy. The German took on medium tyres and settled in to play a longer game.

Verstappen, meanwhile, was on a march. The Dutchman passed Raikkonen in the first round of stops and then set some blisteringly quick laps to close the gap to Rosberg. The Dutchman was warned to keep an eye on tyre life, however, and after initially insisting “I’m not here to finish fourth”, he settled back into a steady rhythm two seconds behind the championship leader.

Verstappen came unstuck in his second stop, however. The teenager headed for the pits on lap 27 in the belief that the team wanted him to box. There had been no such call, however, and the Red Bull crew had to react rapidly as Verstappen approached.

They managed the pit stop in nine seconds but the delay dropped the Red Bull driver to P9. Moments later he slowed drastically and reported that something was “hitting in the engine”. He tried to limp the car back to the pit lane but he was forced to pull over and retire.

That brought out the Virtual Safety Car, under which both Mercedes drivers made a pit stop. Hamilton and Rosberg took on medium tyres and rejoined in P1 and P2 respectively, with Ricciardo now third ahead of Raikkonen, Vettel, Toro Rosso’s Sainz and Williams’ Massa. Alonso was eighth for McLaren ahead of Force India’s Perez and the second McLaren of Button.

Raikkonen was the next to fall foul of a bungled stop. When the Finn made his third stop, from fourth place, the Ferrari crew failed to attach the rear left correctly and Raikkonen had to pull over at the pit exit. He then reversed down the pit lane, stopped the car and retired from the race.

The race then settled into a steady groove and with five laps remaining Hamilton led Rosberg by 6.6s with Ricciardo a further seven seconds behind. Vettel was fourth ahead of Sainz, who was managing a gap to Williams’ Massa and Alonso. Perez was eighth for Force India and the final points positions were occupied by Jenson in the second McLaren and Haas’ Grosjean.

Alonso wasn’t willing to settle though and on lap 52 he attempted a bold move on Massa. The pair banged wheels and went off track but the Spaniard rejoined in front of the Williams. The move, though, would be investigated after the race. Alonso then chased down Sainz and on the final lap of the race the McLaren driver muscled past his countryman to take fifth place.

And that was how the race ended, with Hamilton taking the 50th win of his career, 4.5s ahead of Rosberg. Ricciardo took third ahead of Vettel and the excellent Alonso. Sainz finished with his best result since Spain earlier this year. Massa, who also suffered a puncture in the clash with Alonso, clung on to seventh place ahead of Perez, Button and Grosjean.