Lewis Hamilton wins third F1 world title with victory at US Grand Prix
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.
Source: The Guardian Photograph: Mike Stone/Reuters
