Lewis Hamilton became the first British driver since Nigel Mansell in 1992 to win five races in a row when he won the United States Grand Prix last night. It extended his lead over Nico Rosberg to 24 points with just two races to go, although the final round in Abu Dhabi carries double points for the drivers.
It was another superb drive by Hamilton, who had conceded a psychological advantage to Rosberg by losing the battle for pole on Saturday. Rosberg, in fact, looked the sharper, more confident driver beforehand, but once Hamilton had gone past Rosberg on lap 24 there looked to be just one winner, and so it proved. In wheel-to-wheel action, Hamilton once again proved himself to be the better man as he won his 10th race of the season and the 32nd of his career, beating Mansell’s British record of 31.
His winning margin over second-placed Rosberg was more than four seconds. And they were followed home, a long way back, by Daniel Ricciardo and the Williams of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas.
By starting on the cleaner side of the grid, Rosberg had an additional advantage over Hamilton worth about four metres. He made the most of it as he made a good start and Hamilton was content to pick up his team-mate’s slipstream. Behind them, the men from Williams swapped places.
Sergio Perez made a bad mistake and collided with Adrian Sutil twice as both cars were put out of the race. It was a sad end for Sutil, who had made the top ten on the grid for the first time this season.
Big disappointment
But the early end to Perez’s race was also a big disappointment for the large number of Mexican fans, who will have their own race to cheer on next year. With a great deal of debris on the track, the safety car came out.
When the racing started again, Rosberg opened up a small lead over Hamilton. Behind them and the Williams cars, Fernando Alonso was surprised by a smart move from Ricciardo, who flew past him to take fifth.
On the sixth lap Rosberg put in the fastest lap of the race to move 1.1 seconds ahead of Hamilton, but the British driver was reassured by his team that he was safe on his fuel level.
Hamilton closed on Rosberg but the German responded to the challenge by extending his lead to a second once more.
By lap 21, Hamilton had picked up his pace once more and was now just 1.4 seconds behind. Two laps later he had moved into the DRS zone, with just 0.8 seconds separating the Silver Arrows. And in the following lap, Hamilton made his move.
Rosberg had gone slightly wide into Turn 12 and when Hamilton came across the front of him, it forced Rosberg to drive off the track. It was a piece of hard driving by Hamilton but perfectly within the rules. It was a move that brought back memories of Hamilton's overtake on then leader Sebastian Vettel here in 2012, the first F1 grand prix at this circuit, which is the 10th track used in the USA.
Pulling away
Hamilton wasted no time in pulling away from Rosberg and was leading by more than a second on the 25th lap. But Rosberg was not in the mood to concede anything and continued to put in fast lap time.
That put Hamilton in the mood to prove that, essentially, he is the faster race driver. On lap 30, he moved two seconds ahead as he put in a lap that was half a second quicker than Rosberg’s times.Hamilton pitted again on lap 33, to be followed by Rosberg on the following lap. With similar strategies, it was difficult for Rosberg to get back.
By lap 35, he had taken his lead up to 3.6 seconds. Hamilton, who was still magically able to use slightly less fuel than Rosberg despite being the faster driver, set the quickest lap of the race on lap 40 to go 2.5 seconds ahead.
An altogether tighter tussle was for ninth place, where Vettel went past Magnussen but was then taken back in turn. Vettel went past Magnussen yet again, this time for good.
Vettel started to remind people that he was not only the four-times world champion but also the champion of this circuit, having won here last year, as he moved up to sixth place. But Hamilton was the only man smiling at the end. Guardian Service
