Gerard Butler and Daniel Ricciardo are having a love-in on the podium. Butler drinks fizz from his mate’s shoe. Now they are doing accents. It’s like a terrible stag-do, it’s awful. I can’t do this anymore, I’m off. Thanks for reading. Bye!
Lewis Hamilton speaks: “I feel OK. I love being here in the States, it feels like home. The team did a great job this weekend.”
Lewis Hamilton holds the trophy aloft to polite applause from Nico Rosberg by his side. It wasn’t a classic race but the Briton was the fastest driver all weekend. That’s the 50th win of his career.
The podium awaits. Gerard Butler is on interview duty, I hear.
Top 10
1 Hamilton
2 Rosberg
3 Ricciardo
4 Vettel
5 Alonso
6 Sainz
7 Massa
8 Pérez
9 Button
10 Grosjean
Ricciardo finishes third and he will rue the virtual safety car which denied him a chance to challenge for second. Vettel takes fourth, with Alonso clinging to a fine fifth and Sainz taking sixth, an impressive race by the Toro Rosso driver.
Lewis Hamilton wins the US Grand Prix!
Hamilton led from pole to flag and cruises over the line, letting out a “ye-ha!” over team radio. Nico Rosberg finishes second and his championship advantage has been cut to 26 points. Three races to go.
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Final lap Hamilton begins the final lap with a 6sec advantage on Rosberg. “You’ve got a front-left puncture,” Massa is told. Ahead of him, Alonso is desperately trying to take fifth from Sainz and makes it stick with a bold move! Brilliantly done.
Lap 55/56 Vettel pits, just because he can. He’s comfortably fourth.
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Lap 54/56 Bottas overtakes Nasr for the right to finish 15th. The opening-lap puncture really scuppered Bottas’s day.
Lap 53/56 Something just happened! Alonso and Massa go wheel to wheel and the McLaren driver makes it stick. Was there a bit of contact? Hard to tell, but both cars seem to have come out unscathed.
Lap 51/56 Alonso is in DRS territory behind Massa but is struggling to make it count.
Great fight for Alonso and Masa
— Nigel Mansell CBE (@nigelmansell) October 23, 2016
Lap 49/56 This battle between Sainz, Massa and Alonso for fifth, sixth and seventh is the most excitement we can find left on the track with things all but sewn up at the front. Hamilton will surely win this one and Rosberg will settle for second ahead of a grumpy Ricciardo in third. Further back, Jolyon Palmer is passed by his Renault team-mate Kevin Magnussen for 13th.
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Lap 47/56 Sainz and Massa have company with Fernando Alonso’s black McLaren desperately trying to find a route around them. Less than 1.5sec covers the three cars.
Lap 46/56 The various incidents in Austin have played in the hands of Carlos Sainz, who is up in fifth having started 10th on the grid. Massa is close and tries to get past the Toro Rosso but locks up and can’t quite complete the pass.
Lap 44/56 Ricciardo lets off some steam with a sweary tirade on team radio directed towards poor old Nico Rosberg.
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Lap 42/56 Hamilton is cruising to a serene victory here. He remains 9sec ahead of his team-mate Rosberg, who is probably pretty satisfied with second right now given the way he lost that spot at the first corner.
Lap 41/56 The suspicion is that Raikkonen was released from the pits with a wheel gun still attached, and that is why he had to stop.
Lap 40/56 This is an extraordinary way to end a race. Raikkonen makes a pit-stop and returns to the track but is immediately told to stop by the team. He pulls over on the hill towards turn one, and rolls his Ferrari back down into the pits, which seems slightly dangerous to me. He can’t get his car all the way to his mechanics and that’s his race run.
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Lap 38/56 Lewis Hamilton is 10sec clear of Nico Rosberg, who is a further 5sec up on Ricciardo and these three are in total control of the podium places.
Lap 37/56 Raikkonen is closing in on Ricciardo’s rear, though the Ferrari is planning to make one more stop. His team-mate Vettel meanwhile has had a wobble in the S-bends and almost lost control under absolutely no pressure. He manages to regain control but that looked rather concerning.
Lap 36/56 “Can you not help me out a bit here?” growls Jolyon Palmer over team radio. He is stuck behind his Renault team-mate, Kevin Magnussen, in 15th and is not being allowed through.
Lap 35/56 The virtual safety car has metaphorically done one, and it might have done it’s damage to Ricciardo’s afternoon. Red Bull tell him to get after Rosberg up ahead with the gap around 3sec. Here is the top 10 after Verstappen’s retirement, which has seen Jenson Button climb into a points position:
1 Hamilton
2 Rosberg
3 Ricciardo
4 Raikkonen
5 Vettel
6 Sainz
7 Massa
8 Alonso
9 Pérez
10 Button
Lap 34/56 “They got a free pit-stop basically,” bemoans Daniel Ricciardo on team radio after Mercedes took the opportunity to box both of their cars under the virtual safety car. His shot at finishing second may well have been scuppered by his team-mate’s retirement.
Lap 33/56 Mercedes take the opportunity under the virtual safety car to pit Lewis Hamilton. It’s a tidy stop and a moment later Rosberg is in too. They both return on the medium tyres and, barring any incidents, that should be their cue to go to the end of the race.
Lap 32/56 Verstappen’s Red Bull comes to a sorry end on the grass. The virtual safety car is out, virtually speaking.
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Lap 31/56 It won’t matter now because Verstappen is in big trouble! His car is trundling along the side of track as rivals fly past and it seems like he may be suffering an engine failure. This could be the end of his US Grand Prix.
Lap 30/56 That mis-step leaves Verstappen sixth and he may not get those lost places back. We will find out very soon because Ferrari are looking to pit Vettel.
Lap 28/56 Chaos in the Red Bull garage as Max Verstappen goes rogue and pits without a call from the team! The mechanics get their sprint on and manage to change his tyres pretty swiftly, given the circumstances. “What happened Max?” they ask on radio. “Sorry, I thought you called me in.”
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Lap 26/56 Rosberg was just starting to have a look down the inside of Ricciardo’s Red Bull when the Australian came in for a tyre change. He puts on mediums and will go to the end from here.
Lap 25/56 Raikkonen pits and puts on the super soft tyre, which suggests he is going to need to pit once more at some point before the end of this race. Had he put on the medium tyre then he probably wouldn’t have needed to come back in so it is an interesting strategy by Ferrari. He returns in P6 just ahead of Massa, who can’t find a way to sneak past.
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Lap 23/56 Hamilton has extended his lead over Ricciardo to nearly 7sec and is looking extremely comfortable. However he really needs a leg-up from the Australian today to take a serious chunk out of Rosberg’s championship lead. Rosberg is 2sec back from the Red Bull in third.
Lap 21/56 “Max, just make sure you finish this stint,” say Red Bull to Verstappen. “I’m not here to finish fourth,” comes the reply as the teenager continues to put pressure on Rosberg.
Lap 19/56 Hamilton has built up a 5sec advantage over Ricciardo. Rosberg is around 1sec back from the Australian but it is the other Red Bull he has to worry about. Verstappen is all over the back of the championship leader.
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Lap 17/56 Esteban Gutiérrez has a brake issue and his Haas slides off the track. Luckily there is a deep run-off area and he is able to swing back round on to the track before heading to the pits, but it doesn’t look like he will be emerging again. Gutiérrez becomes the second retiree after Hülkenberg.
Lap 15/56 Vettel comes in to put on soft tyres like most of the rest of the field, and returns in P6. Now that everyone who’s anyone has pitted, here is the top 10:
1 Hamilton
2 Ricciardo
3 Rosberg
4 Verstappen
5 Raikkonen
6 Vettel
7 Massa
8 Sainz
9 Kvyat
10 Alonso
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Lap 14/56 Yellow flags in sector one for debris. Meanwhile, Daniil Kvyat has been given a 10-second penalty for causing a collision with Sergio Pérez.
Lap 13/56 Max Verstappen, currently down in 6th, sets a new fastest lap on the soft tyre. He lines up Kimi Raikkonen for a pass through the winding S-bends and clings on brilliantly to take 5th.
Lap 12/56 Hamilton puts on the soft tyres, so he is on an alternative strategy to Rosberg. For now Vettel leads the way but he about to make his first stop.
Lap 11/56 Rosberg is the first Mercedes to come in and he puts on the medium tyre. It’s a pretty smooth stop and Hamilton will be hoping for something similar when he comes in on the next lap.
Lap 9/56 Raikkonen pits too before returning behind Button, but he quickly picks off the McLaren, and a moment later Verstappen does the very same.
Lap 8/56 A couple of collisions from the opening lap are being investigated by the stewards – more if anything comes of it. “Box Daniel, box,” say Red Bull and Ricciardo comes in for the soft tyre.
Lap 6/56 Sergio Pérez finds Daniil Kvyat’s slipstream along the pit straight and attacks at turn one to take 13th.
Lap 5/56 Replays of the start from Ricciardo’s viewpoint show him angle his car in towards the first corner and power inside Nico Rosberg to grab 2nd place, and he hasn’t looked back.
Lap 3/56 In the commotion at the front Kimi Raikkonen managed to sweep around Max Verstappen in the opening couple of corners and has made 4th his. Jenson Button meanwhile is flying, up from 19th on the grid to 10th. Hamilton out in front, with Ricciardo 2nd and Rosberg 3rd.
Lap 1/56 “Puncture, puncture,” says Valtteri Bottas over radio after contact on the opening corner. Nico Hülkenberg is the other big loser from the opening lap and he has retired, having collided with Sebastian Vettel at turn one who was fine to continue.
Lights out!
Hamilton gets away well and behind him Daniel Ricciardo jumps ahead of Nico Rosberg at the first corner!
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The two Mercedes lead the field around the Circuit of the Americas on the formation lap. Lewis Hamilton rolls back on to the pit straight and slots into his position at the front of the grid. It’s race time...
The grid!
1 Lewis Hamilton 2 Nico Rosberg
3 Daniel Ricciardo 4 Max Verstappen
5 Kimi Raikkonen 6 Sebastian Vettel
7 Nico Hülkenberg 8 Valtteri Bottas
9 Felipe Massa 10 Carlos Sainz
11 Sergio Pérez 12 Fernando Alonso
13 Daniil Kvyat 14 Esteban Gutiérrez
15 Jolyon Palmer 16 Marcus Ericsson
17 Romain Grosjean 18 Kevin Magnussen
19 Jenson Button 20 Pascal Wehrlein
21 Felipe Nasr 22 Esteban Ocon
Mercedes big-wig Toto Wolff on Lewis Hamilton’s iffy starts: “We understand why it is. [F1] have changed the regulation last year to make it more complicated and this is what’s happening.”
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The USA national anthem is belted out by a man in military uniform with a stupendous voice. We are nearing showtime.
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This might be the best grid-walk ever witnessed. Brundle talks to skier Lindsey Vonn and angry chef Gordon Ramsey before being totally blanked by Venus Williams, who fully turns her back on him, on live TV. What next? Thrilling drama.
This is unusual. Daniel Ricciardo is having a chinwag with Gerard Butler, and Martin Brundle is commentating on said conversation. “An actor. In some great films, like 300…”
Enough of that. Martin Brundle is on the grid and he’s looking to doorstep... Major Tim Peake. “Occasionally we got the sports sent up to space. I support everybody but I lean to the british drivers, obviously.”
What’s my favourite photo of Lewis Hamilton, you ask?
Daniel Ricciardo speaks: “I’m looking to get a better start than Lewis and Nico and hopefully get into the lead by the end of lap one. Ideally I’d find a horse down the back straight and ride it into the sunset.”
Of course.
Miss qualifying? Fear not:
Preamble
Lewis Hamilton continues to talk the talk when it comes to his championship hopes, but he must know that Nico Rosberg will have one glove on his first world title should the German win in Austin; his current 33-point lead with four races to go is recoverable but a 40+ lead with three left seems more than a stretch. It was vital then that Hamilton secured pole on Saturday at a circuit he so enjoys tearing around. Rosberg will start second with the Red Bull duo of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen on the second row.
Then again, a quick look back through some of this season’s turning points is a reminder that pole position does not always translate to top of the podium, especially when Hamilton is on the front. The technical problems that have dogged his starts are always lurking in the background and should they surface at the Circuit of the Americas, his hopes of a fourth US Grand Prix win will be in serious peril. More importantly, the championship will be Rosberg’s to lose.
Beyond the Mercedes drivers there is a whole field of action and plenty to look out for, most notably Red Bull’s timely late-season surge and Ferrari’s issues which leave Sebastian Vettel sounding a little more fed up with each passing session. Can Jolyon Palmer put on a show for Renault? Will Jenson Button be able to make an impact from the back? Will home-team Haas offer the crowd anything, at all, to cheer? We’ll soon find out.
Lights out: 2pm local time, 8pm BST
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