Lewis Hamilton cruises to US GP win

  • Published on 23 Oct 2016 22:40
  • comments 1
  • By: Dominik Wilde

Lewis Hamilton has taken a dominant win in the United States Grand Prix, leading home Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg to take his fifth win in the United States, equalling Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher's record.

The victory, the 50th of Hamilton's career, moves him to within 26 points of Rosberg in the intense title race between both Silver Arrows.

Daniel Ricciardo was third, after a tyre strategy gamble failed to pay off. The Australian started the race on the faster but less durable super soft tyre in the hope that he would be able to get the better of both Mercedes drivers at the start.

While Hamilton drove off into the distance, Ricciardo got by Rosberg for second at the start, only for a Virtual Safety Car period, brought by Max Verstappen's retirement, to ruin his strategy and give Rosberg a 'free' pitstop in the final round of stops that allowed him to get back the position.

Sebastian Vettel took the fastest lap, but finished way back in fourth, with Fernando Alonso in fifth after a late pass of Carlos Sainz. However, Alonso's final position could be subject to a penalty after an aggressive overtaking move on Felipe Massa which left his former team mate with a puncture.

Massa eventually finished seventh, behind both Sainz and Alonso.

Sergio Perez took a fine eighth position, despite spinning on the opening lap after contact with Daniil Kvyat which dropped him as low as 15th. Perez's Force India team mate Nico Hulkenberg was the biggest casualty of the opening lap, he retired after contact with Valtteri Bottas.

Jenson Button finished in ninth place, giving McLaren their fourth double points finish, while Romain Grosjean gave Haas their first point since July's Austrian Grand Prix in what was the team's first home Grand Prix.

Kevin Magnussen was 11th after a very close battle with Renault team mate Jolyon Palmer as both look to impress an earn another year at the manufacturer team. Magnussen grabbed the position from Daniil Kvyat late on, who ended up splitting both Renault drivers.

Sauber pair Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr, Williams' Valtteri Bottas, and the Manor duo of Pascal Wehrlein and Esteban Ocon rounded out the finishers.

Kimi Raikkonen retired from the race after he left the pits with his right-rear wheel not properly attached during his final stop.

Max Verstappen was another driver who exited the race early. His Grand Prix went downhill on lap 27 when he pitted, although the Red Bull team were not expecting him. A handful of laps later he retired with an apparent transmission problem. He initially kept the car running at low speed, until the team finally gave him the call to pull over and stop the car, a decision which ultimately proved the compromise team mate Ricciardo's strategy.

Haas' Esteban Gutierrez was the other retirement from the race, after encountering an all-too familiar brake issue on lap 16.

F1Grand Prix United States of America - Race

US Circuit of the Americas - 23 October 2016

Replies (1)

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  • A pretty good race, nice to see Haas getting at least one point at their home race, and nice to see McLaren up in 5th and 9th. Its a bit odd to see them perform good at a track like this, when they failed at Suzuka, yet they were expecting a tougher race on this track.

    • + 0
    • Oct 24 2016 - 09:25

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