21.58 Here is Sue Simpson’s tribute to Lewis Hamilton
It’s Hamiltons year no one can beat him when the car doesn’t let him down.
Best driver by far he will win title.
It was a wonderful drive, Sue, and an exquisite overtaking move. He seems to
have Rosberg’s measure but with the double points available at Abu
Dhabi there are still 75 points available for the German in the last two
races and only a 24 point deficit to bridge.
“I have an incredible team and an incredible car and I had a great
opponent today,” says Hamilton. “It is such a privilege to
represent my country and to be top of the drivers’ standings. The car was
great today.”
21.54 Lewis Hamilton sprays the champagne after the national anthem.
United States Grand Prix result
1 Lewis Hamilton
2 Nico Rosberg
3 Daniel Ricciardo
4 Felipe Massa
5 Valtteri Bottas
6 Fernando Alonso
7 Sebastian Vettel
8 Kevin Magnussen
9 Jean-Eric Vergne
10 Pastor Maldonado
11 Romain Grosjean
12 Jenson Button
13 Kimi Raikkonen
14 Esteban Gutierrez
15 Daniil Kvyat
Here
is Daniel Johnson’s chequered flag report. I’ll update the results
and standings as soon as I can type them in.
That’s the 32nd GP victory of Lewis Hamilton’s career, making him the most
successful British Formula One driver in history. It’s also the 10th
Mercedes one-two of the season, matching Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna for
McLaren in 1988.
Lap 56 It’s a one-two for Mercedes, as Hamilton wins the US Grand
Prix with Nico Rosberg second, Ricciardo third. “Get in there
Lewis, get in there, mate,” says his engineer to salute Hamilton’s
fifth successive victory. “Epic drive, mate, epic.”
Lap 55 Vettel now moves up into ninth. Hamilton preserves his lead,
keeping a 2sec gap.
Lap 54 Maldonado and then Vettel take Button and the last two points
places. Hamilton is told to take things easy as the battles go on behind him
and he laps Grosjean.
Lap 53 Vergne now takes Button, pushing Jenson back into eighth.
Lap 52 Hamilton is 3.39sec ahead of Rosberg as all the action takes
place almost a minute behind between fifth and 11th. Grosjean’s steering is
all over the place.
Lap 51 Grosjean asks for Vergne to be penalised. Massa moves up half a
second on Ricciardo in third.
Lap 50 Drama here – Grosjean feels that Vergne bumps him out of the way
to capture ninth place but it was a very skilful application of the brakes
to then fly up the inside. He’s followed by Maldonado, too, to add insult to
injury.
Lap 49 Button is boxing clever to keep Grosjean and Vergne behind him.
He’s still complaining about his handling and possible damage caused by the
debris from the Perez/Sutil crash. Williams instruct Massa to make his move
on Ricciardo. He’s two seconds back in fourth.
Lap 48 And just as Rosberg attacks to try to close the gap, Hamilton
storms back with a very quyick lap to extend his advantage to 2.3sec.
Lap 47 Hamilton’s radio tells him that there is some astroturf on the
track in turn 19. His lead at the moment is beneath two seconds. Very cat
and mouse between first and second both more than 20sec ahead of Massa who
is edging closer to Ricciardo for third, less than two seconds behind.
Lap 46 It’s the Alonso show as far as the racing is concerned. His
tyres are warming up and he takes Vettel, who is unhappy on the radio about
his handling, for sixth.
Lap 45 Alonso is engaged in a three-way duel with Magnussen and Vettel
in sixth, seventh and eighth. Alonso is 30 odd seconds behind Bottas in
fifth.
Lap 44 Alonso rejoins in seventh place, behind Sebastian Vettel.
Hamilton leads by 2.2sec from Rosberg.
Lap 43 Alonso finally heads into the pits.
Lap 42 Vettel takes Magnussen. He’s been lining him up for a couple of
laps and uses his soft tyres and brakes to run past. Button takes Grosjean,
too.
Lap 41 Jenson Button in 11th is shadow boxing with Romain Grosjean and
just fails to force him wide and take him on the inside.
Lap 40 Hamilton records the quickest lap of the race to push his lead
back out to 2.5sec after Rosberg had begun to make inroads into it. Vettel
attempts to slip by Magnussen but finds his gap blocked.
Lap 39 Maldonado is having one of those days. He’s been penalised with
a 5sec stop-go sanction for speeding in the pit lane.
Lap 38 The two Mercedes drivers trade fastest sector times but hamilton
has the straight-line speed edge which allows him to maintain his lead at
just under three seconds. Fernando Alonso in sixth still hasn’t gone in for
a second pit stop.
Lap 37 Hamilton fights back to restore his lead to 2.85sec. Ricciardo
is almost six seconds behind in third with Massa two seconds behind him.
Lap 36 Remarkably quick lap from Rosberg eats into Hamilton’s lead by a
second, which is instantly relayed to the race leader. Ricciardo is third,
Massa fourth, Bottas fifth, Alonso sixth and Maldonado seventh. Twenty laps
to go.
Lap 35 Rosberg has overtaken Hamilton at Bahrain this season but is
currently almost 3.5sec behind.
Lap 34 In comes Rosberg and surrenders the lead to Hamilton on turn
one. If it’s a two-stop strategy as we expected then this could be it for
one-two.
Lap 33 Hamilton goes in for his second pit stop as Mercedes bring
forward the lead. His earlier pitstop involved a tweak to the wings that
Roisberg decided not to go for. David Croft thinks this has proved vital.
He’s out in 2.88sec, giving Rosberg who has been in only once so far, the
lead for now.
Lap 32 Oh no. I’ve jinxed Massa who is delayed in the pit lane and
allows Ricciardo to take third place. Hamilton’s lead is up t0 2.4sec.
Lap 31 Massa looks comfortable in third, and beginning to close the gap
on Rosberg in second. He’s 4.8sec behind now.
Lap 30 Hamilton draws out the lead to over 2sec now.
Lap 29 Button pits at last and puts on his medium compound tyres.
Hamilton and Rosberg are trading fastest lap times. Hamilton leads by
1.8sec.
Lap 28 At the front Hamilton’s lead is 1.4sec over Rosberg.
Lap 27 Alonso passes Magnussen who decides he needs to pit, which
forces a delay for Button who is sarcasm personified as he’s told his team
have to box him during another lap.
Lap 26 The replay of Hamilton’s overtaking move shows how he took
advantage of a very small gap, forcing Rosberg on to the kerb. Button can’t
hold off Alonso any longer and is getting ready to go back in. Grosjean
speeds past Vettel who is getting very angry on the radio about his
performance.
Lap 25 Red Bull pitted Vettel twice behind the safety car thinking they
could run him to the end on the second set of tyres but he is going to have
to go back in as he has no grip remaining at all.
Lap 24 Going into the hairpin Hamilton brakes very late … and his
nerve allows him to pass Rosberg to move into first place. He has been
applying the pressure for the past four laps and Rosberg has cracked.
Lap 23 Hamilton’s nose is nudging ever closer and Rosberg just manages
to hold him at bay.
Lap 22 It’s noticeable how much quicker Hamilton is now his medium
tyres have warmed up. He has made up more than two seconds in four laps,
cutting Rosberg’s advantage to .54sec.
Lap 21 Hamilton’s speed on the first sector of the lap is making
inroads into Rosberg’s lead. This tyre suits him far more than Rosberg.
Further back Button is holding off Alonso’s battle to take seventh as well
as his seat next season.
Lap 20 Grosjean takes Gutierrez who left him so much room to move up
into 12th and is followed through by Vergne.
Lap 19 Bottas’s straight line speed in fifth is making Ricciardo defend
manfully in fourth. Rosberg leads from Hamilton with Massa still third.
Lap 18 Hulkenburg has ground to a stop on the back straight, making it
a race to forget for Force India are now out. When Hamilton pitted Rosberg’s
advantage was 1.9sec, now it’s up to 2.7sec.
Lap 17 Lewis Hamilton pits and rejoins in second, 2.5sec behind
Rosberg.
Lap 15 Ricciardo takes Bottas on turn one as he exited the pits to move
into fifth.
Lap 14 In goes Ricciardo to pit as Hamilton has a problem with his
front-left tyre which allows Rosberg to drag away to almost 2.5sec ahead.
Those medium tyres are needed sooner rather than later.
Lap 13 Hamilton is experiencing tyre problems too, and drops back to a
second behind Rosberg.
Lap 12 Rosberg announces that his front left tyre is “finished”.
Hamilton continues to close.
Lap 11 Fernando Alonso is told on the radio that his pace is fine given
the traffic despite his concerns about grip. Hamilton closes in on Rosberg
and cuts the deficit to 0.4sec.
Lap 10 The leader preserves a second’s gap to Hamilton.
Lap 9 No further action for Button the stewards decide after the
investigation into his speeding. Gutierrez, Vergne and Maldonado have 5sec
stop-go penalties when they pit. Excellent lap from Rosberg doubles his lead
to a whole second. Hamilton is 4sec ahead of Massa in third.
Lap 8 Rosberg leads from Hamilton, Massa, Bottas Ricciardo, Alonso and
Raikkonen. Hamilton is told he has enough fuel on the radio so not to worry
about saving tactics. He’s still only half a second behind.
Lap 7 Gutierrez, Button and Maldonado are being investigated for
speeding behind the safety car. This sport does make this confusing for the
viewer at trimes. Hamilton now posts the fastest lap of the race to eat into
Rosberg’s lead, nibbling it down to .5sec.
Lap 6 Vettel moves up to 15th in what is now a 16-car race by
overtaking Hulkenberg. Rosberg clocks up the fastest lap so far with
hamilton out of the DRS zone to stretch his lead to 1.1sec.
Lap 5 Ricciardo takes fifth place when Alonso locks up his rear wheels
and is told by his engineers to get after the “Willies”. Ooh er.
Rosberg is .73sec ahead of Hamilton in second, Massa in third.
Lap 4 And we’re off again at last. Fifty-two laps to go.
Lap 3 The safety car is still out there, and will stay until the end of
lap four.
Lap 2 As you were with the safety car still out while Sutil’s Sauber is
lifted off the track and the debris swept up. Both McLarens have pitted.
Button, having driven over the bits of Sauber that were knocked off by
Perez.
Lap 1 Excellent starts from Rosberg and Hamilton to fend off the charge
from Williams. Ricciardo who had a poor start takes Magnussen. Out comes the
safety car after a collision between Perez and Sutil who is out on the first
lap here for the secodn year in succession. The replay shows it was Perez’s
fault. Raikkonen’s Ferrari also suffered collateral damage, a big shunt up
the rear.
20.03 Here they are back at the start and re-forming.
20.01 They’re off on the parade lap with Rosberg stretching the gap to
Hamilton who has been on the radio to say his RPM feels sluggish. Oh dear.
Chris Reynolds has a solution that may lead us to oxygen starvation:
Perhaps Bernie could put his hand deep into his own pocket to redress the
balance his “mistake” has caused – no one hold their breath
though..20.0.
John McEnerney writes on Ecclestone’s stance and the prospects for
tonight:
Greedy Bernie needs to think about the little “men” in the sport
not just the little man he sees in the mirror. A strike would be pointless
unless the big teams show support which may sound strange but it would send
a message to BE anyway his time will soon be up in the sport. As for the
racing I think Nico is a bottler the title is there for Hamilton. I’d
say LH has the cooler head of the two so much experience that he’ll
just close the championship out without too much drama.
19.56 Ted Kravitz thinks it has to be a two-stop rather than a
three-stop strategy, first one between laps 12-16, the second between laps
33-35. Jenson Button certainly mentioned 2-3 stops so we will see. Speaking
of whom, are we enetering the last three races of Jenson’s F1 career?
19.50 Bernie Ecclestone is answering questions about whether he will do
anything to help Lotus, Force India and Sauber. He says it’s up to the
bigger teams, it’s in their interests and he’s sure something will be sorted
but he hasn’t promised anything to anyone.
19.46 One of the great national anthems is being given the X-Factor
emoting treatment. It’s treason, I tells you.
19.44 Gordon Ramsay is on the grid. So is Pamela Anderson. “I love
the noise and the people, just so exciting,” says the latter. “Fast
cars, fast women.” Good lord. Frankie Howerd would be leaning back at
that and pulling a very outraged face. And rightly so.
19.39 Jenson Button says being demoted five places to 12th for changing
his gearbox too frequently is a “bit of a pain” but had it
happened to someone else he “would be loving it”. Not much of a
gridwalk today because, as in Sochi, the drivers have to go to the front for
the national anthems.
19.34 Lewis Hamilton is taken around the circuit in an AC Cobra. he
says he has one of his own. Nico Rosberg was envious of his ride.
19.28 Vijay Mallaya of Force India, the most mutinous of the potential
boycotters, said on Saturday, reminding everyone how vital having a mix of
large manufacturer teams and independents is, to stop the sport being
marooned if boardrooms of multinationals decide to leave the sport if the
investment to reward ratio alters: “When no small teams are left and
you have only four big teams and three of them are getting beat, what
happens then?” Today he is optimistic a deal can be donee with Bernie
Ecclestone and CVC Partners.
19.20 I wonder what American fans, who like the throaty roar of a lion
gargling razor blades, will make of the sound of the (to them) new V6
engines?
19.05 To whet your appetites let’s go back to 2012 and the inaugural
race here, one of the most exciting in many a year. Here is Tom Cary‘s
race report and the winning manoeuvre:
Even
Gordon Ramsey, watching on from the pits at the £250 million Circuit of the
Americas, would have struggled to cook up a better recipe for the race.
They love a star over here and Hamilton is certainly that. If anyone is
going to help Formula One crack this elusive market it is a mixed race 27
year-old, balls-out driver with a Pussycat Doll girlfriend, a chalet in
Colorado, and a million-dollar smile.
Hamilton’s victory not only proved hugely popular here in Texas, it would
also have delighted F1’s paymasters. His relegation of Vettel into second
place with Fernando Alonso third, ensured that the duel for the drivers’
title goes on to the final race of the season in Brazil this weekend.
The Spaniard lies just 13 points behind Vettel heading to the infamously
inclement Interlagos. Anything could happen there and usually does. No
wonder Vettel sounded so down on the team radio after the race.
Red Bull did wrap up their third straight constructors’ crown in the Lone
Star state, an impressive achievement for a team just eight years old, but
it was hard to ignore the sense of disappointment in the German’s voice as
he crossed the line. How he would have loved to have wrapped up the title
here rather than risk Sao Paulo’s caprices.
Vettel will also have in the back of his mind the fact that his team-mate
Mark Webber retired from yesterday’s race with an alternator failure, a
misfortune which has twice befallen Vettel already this year.
The day had begun with a classic bit of 11th hour F1 chicanery.
Ferrari’s decision to break the seal on Felipe Massa’s gearbox, thereby
inducing a five-place grid penalty which lifted his team-mate Alonso up to
seventh and on to the clean side of the grid, a huge advantage at a brand
new circuit which has not yet been “rubbered in”, split the paddock roughly
down the middle.
Ferrari, a team with a clear history of favouring their lead driver,
certainly were not losing any sleep over it, although Massa might.
Already derided by some in Brazil for being Alonso’s patsy, Massa looked
understandably gloomy when asked for his thoughts on the grid pre-race. His
compatriot Rubens Barrichello, now retired from F1, must have felt a pang of
sympathy. Barrichello once played the same role for Michael Schumacher,
becoming so frustrated in the end that he had to leave Maranello.
Massa, by contrast, has just signed up for another season, a decision which
raised some eyebrows in the sport considering his form. As he said himself:
It’s difficult to find a driver like me,” he said.
Either way, Ferrari’s ruse worked perfectly. After a star-spangled pre-race
featuring a full-on marching band and Hollywood stars ranging from Matt
LeBlanc to George Lucas, Alonso got off to a flier and was up to fourth spot
within a couple of corners. His day got even better when Webber retired from
third place on lap 18, just moments after being informed that his KERS unit
was misfiring.
It was the Australian’s first retirement with mechanical failure in 59
races, a run stretching back to Japan 2009, and must have had Vettel’s side
of the garage sweating. The German has already retired twice this year with
alternator failures.
Instead it was Hamilton who posed the greatest threat to Vettel; the pair
engaging in a thrilling race-long game of cat and mouse. Every time Hamilton
closed to within a second or so of Vettel, threatening to get into the
one-second DRS range, the German would respond. From lap 35 onwards,
Hamilton was within range and with a sell-out crowd of 120,000 lapping up
the drama, stuck limpet-like to the back of the Red Bull for lap after lap.
Even the Westboro Baptist Church, who picketed this grand prix in protest
at the “wicked people of this land of vain idolaters”, might have been
persuaded to put down their banners declaring “God hates drunks, sluts and
F1 fags” and lap up the action.
Hamilton’s persistence was finally rewarded on lap 42 when he managed to
pass Vettel down the back straight using DRS.
Thereafter their roles were reversed with Vettel the hunter and Hamilton
the hunted, fending off the German for lap after lap.
Crucially, Vettel was never quite able to get within DRS range.
Hamilton hosted a party on the roof of the Hilton in downtown Austin
following qualifying on Saturday night. Ron Dennis, the man who signed
Hamilton for McLaren as a 13 year-old, guiding him all the way to the world
title in 2008, was a notable absentee but the rest of the team, both sides
of the garage, turned up to bid their driver farewell.
It has been a tempestuous relationship down the years but there has never
been any doubt about Hamilton’s talent. He achieved his American dream in
some style here and reminded McLaren of what they will be missing next year.
America will surely welcome him back with open arms.
19.00 My goodness, doesn’t Austin seem a grand place to live? If it was
good enough for Plonk, it’s good enough for the rest of us.
18.45 Sebastian Vettel starts at the back of the grid as a penalty for
exceeding his seasonal allocation of power units. At the moment he was
photographed an hour ago he seems to have found solace in millinery.
18.35 Just a quick re-cap of the drivers’ standings going into Sunday
night’s race:
1 Lewis Hamilton 291 points
2 Nico Rosberg 274
3 Daniel Ricciardo 199
4 Valtteri Bottas 145
5 Sebastian Vettel 143
6 Fernando Alonso 141
And what is available tonight:
1st place 25 points; 2nd 18 points; 3rd 15 points; 4th
12 points; 5th 10 points; 6th 8 points; 7th 6 points; 8th
4 points; 9th 2 points; 10th 1 point.
18.15 Good evening and welcome to our live coverage of the
antepemultimate race of an absorbing 2014 Formula One season.
Antepenultimate because at the US Grand Prix’s conclusion we still have
Brazil and everyone’s favourite Abu Dhabi, to go, and also because it pays
to increase your wordpower. You’re welcome. Here is how they will start on
the grid at 8pm GMT:
1 Nico Rosberg, Mercedes; 2 Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes; 3
Valtteri Bottas, Williams; 4 Felipe Massa, Williams; 5 Daniel
Ricciardo, Red Bull; 6 Fernando Alonso, Ferrari; 7 Kevin
Magnussen, McLaren; 8 Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari; 9 Adrian Sutil,
Sauber; 10 Pastor Maldonado, Lotus; 11 Sergio Perez, Force
India; 12 Jenson Button, McLaren; 13 Nico Hulkenberg, Force India; 14
Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso; 15 Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber; 16
Romain Grosjean, Lotus, 17 Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso; 18
Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull.
Missing, of course are Marussia’s Max Chilton and Jules Bianchi, and
Caterham’s Kamui Kobayashi and Marcus Ericsson, whose teams are in danger of
liquidation, which brought the world’s press’s but not F1 fans’ attentions
to the strained finances at the back of the grid and the way the
distribution of the sport’s income favours the established teams so
markedly.