Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton Wins Austin GP, Closes In On Rosberg

Lewis Hamilton hasn’t been the happiest man on the grid lately, especially after he encountered DNF in the Malaysian GP following a blown engine. However, with his fifth United States Grand Prix win and the 50th win of his career, he is one happy Britt. With the win, Hamilton has also managed to close in on his teammate Nico Rosberg’s – who finished in the second position – 33 points lead, and with three races remaining the battle for the championship title has got all the more spicier. Taking the third place on the podium was the Red Bull driver, Daniel Ricciardo.

Ricciardo chose his tyres wisely, by putting on super-softs at the beginning of the race, which helped him maintain the second position until he pitted on the eighth lap. Speaking of his teammate, Max Verstappen, a probable transmission failure forced him to retire mid-race.

The fourth spot was taken up by Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari, however, his teammate Kimi Raikkonen didn’t finish the race after a miscalculated pit stop. Because of the retirements, Fernando Alonso fought through the order to take up the fifth position for Mclaren and was followed by Carlos Sainz of Toro Rosso at sixth.

Felipe Massa finished seventh and was followed by Force India’s Sergio Perez, Jenson Button and Romain Grosjean in eighth, ninth and tenth position, respectively.

As usual, the race was a great show for Mercedes and especially for Hamilton. He was leading the race right from the beginning and passed Rosberg on the very first turn. The latter, on the other hand, was struggling with the grip at the start with his soft tyres. Ricciardo, whose car was riding on super-softs was in a more comfortable spot and had the better of Rosberg.

The start was as messy as it has become in F1, with Valtteri Bottas and Nico Hulkenberg making contact and ultimately damaging their cars. The former had to retire after the lap, whereas the latter continued the race with a struggling car, eventually finishing at the sixteenth position.

As far as the Raikkonen’s retirement is concerned, his car’s right rear wheel was found loose after his pit stop on lap 38. He rolled back towards the pit as soon as he realised the same after getting out of the pit lane on turn one. Ferrari was penalised by a €5,000 fine for an unsafe release of the car.