Lewis Hamilton talks:
Giles Richards’s take on the race in Texas:
Read Tom Dart’s report from the Circuit of the Americas:
Ah, a priceless exchange between Räikkönen and Hamilton in the drivers’ room before stepping out on to the podium a few moments ago. “Did you win the championship?” Räikkönen asks. “No,” comes the riposte. He will doubtless clinch it at the Mexico GP next week, but, we will have to wait and see.
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Where does Hamilton go from here? Well, the title race is just about stll alive and Hamilton must outscore Vettel by five points next Sunday in Mexico City to bag the championship. And the Ferrari must win all three remaining races to have a chance of winning the title, starting at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. Hamilton’s wait for the crown goes on. His Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff has been dissecting the race. “We lacked the pace today,” he admits. “Let’s go to the next one. We have to rethink if there was something we could have done better. We put on a good show all together, and that’s the most important thing.”
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On the podium, the Italian national anthem blares out of the speakers at the Circuit of the Americas as Ferrari celebrate victory in Texas. This was not the kind of party Lewis Hamilton had in mind. He has to settle for third, on a day when, in the end, only victory would have earned the title. Max Verstappen looks the happiest of the lot, delighted at fighting his way back from a five-place penalty and 18th on the grid, to second.
Lewis Hamilton, unable to claim that fifth title, talks and questions how the gap to Räikkönen got to 12 seconds. “Ferrari picked up their game this weekend. Firstly, congratulations to Kimi, he did a great job today and managed it all the way. Verstappen did a great job as well. He was on a slightly better tyre than us at the end, so naturally it was a bit of a struggle. We just have to keep working, keep going until the next race.”
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The race winner, Kimi Räikkönen, speaks. “It has been a great weekend, the car has been pretty good all the time. I got a good start, I needed to push hard and in the end the tyres were not in the best shape. We kept the speed consistent, kept the tyres alive and here we are.” That’s his first victory for 113 races, since the Australian GP in 2013. He doesn’t sound too happy, though. “I’m much happier than finishing second ... I’m happy.”
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Kimi Räikkönen wins US GP!
And Ferrari keep the champagne on ice for Lewis Hamilton, who gets over the line in third, behind the brilliant Verstappen. Toto Wolff looks pretty miserable down in the pits and Mercedes will have to wait until at least Mexico, next weekend, to see if Hamilton can toast a fifth title. “Bit unexpected, starting 18th,” Verstappen says. “I destroyed my shoe, I think I was pushing a bit hard.”
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Lap 55/56: Vettel is up into fourth, as Bottas makes a timely error! The Mercedes goes wide and the Ferrari coolly slips inside. As it stands, third-placed Hamilton would need to win the race to clinch the title. He is going to have to wait until the Mexico GP to get the job done.
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Lap 54/56: Verstappen and Hamilton go wheel-to-wheel ... and the Mercedes, after very nearly twice trumping the Red Bull, skates off the track at turn 18 and loses some precious seconds. Was that the moment that will prevent Hamilton from clinching the title today?
Lap 54/56: Hamilton is an overtake away from his fifth world title – but Verstappen is lightning through the first sector. Can Hamilton conjure up some extra speed to get the job done? Vettel’s still a second behind Bottas.
Lap 53/56: “There’s a whole world of pain ahead,” Red Bull tell Verstappen down the team radio. The Dutchman is the key cog in this race for Hamilton. He’s the difference between the Mercedes wrapping up a fifth title in Austin and not. The gap to him is around 0.8secs. It is nip and tuck, but the Mercedes is closing.
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Lap 52/56: Räikkönen still leads, but Verstappen – who started way down in 18th – is closing. Vettel is becoming increasingly frustrated behind Bottas, with the Ferrari still vying for fourth.
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Lap 51/56: Räikkönen leads Verstappen by 1.2secs, Verstappen leads Hamilton by 09.secs. Bottas is 13secs behind his Mercedes team-mate, who is presumably feeling a little hot and bothered. A gentle reminder that Hamilton needs to outscore Vettel by eight points to clinch the title. Will he? Won’t he?
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Lap 49/56: This is getting a little too close for comfort for Hamilton. He has kept pace with Räikkönen and Verstappen, but has the Mercedes got enough left in the tank to nip in front of the Red Bull? If he can overtake the Dutchman, the title could be his. Vettel is struggling to get past a stubborn Valtteri Bottas. He cannot close that gap to below 1sec. Hamilton needs to bypass Verstappen.
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Lap 47/56: There are only 3.8secs between the front three of Räikkönen, Verstappen and Hamilton. All of those in the frame are driving hard. For the Mercedes, that gap to second place might be the difference between him clinching the title and not. With Vettel in fifth, a second-place finish would seal a fifth championship title.
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Lap 46/56: Will we have a championship winner in 10 laps time?
Lap 45/56: Hamilton is not having it all his own way. “These guys are going pretty quick,” he says, trailing Verstappen by 2.4secs. Räikkönen still leads from the front. Vettel is less than a second behind Bottas now. Can he magic up a late finale?
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Lap 43/56: “We reckon he will catch us in the last three laps of the race,” Ferrari tell Räikkönen down the team radio. Do they mean Hamilton? That doesn’t sound so good. It’s not all bad; Vettel is making ground on Bottas, with the German only a second or so now behind the Mercedes. The pair have just navigated past those pesky back markers, Stroll and Gasly.
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Lap 42/56: “What’s the time difference between me and Verstappen,” Hamilton asks down the Mercedes team radio. When the race engineer replies, the Briton’s riposte is damning: “We left too big a deficit.” And now Ferrari have spotted some Bottas blistering. We’re in for a big finish.
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Lap 41/56: Räikkönen is unimpressed by back marker Brendon Hartley taking his time to get out of the back. With 81km of racing to go, the Ferrari has slowed a little, but remains 2.2secs in front of Verstappen. If Hamilton does his bit, then he could do with Bottas doing his. Vettel has closed the gap to the Mercedes to 3secs.
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Lap 40/56: Hamilton has already revved-up his car; he is a second or so faster than Räikkönen round this Circuit of the Americas. And now he is in the groove – Hamilton’s just set a 1.37.392min – Bottas has allowed his team-mate to bypass him. The race is on in Texas.
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Lap 39/56: Räikkönen leads Verstappen – what a race he has had – by almost 3secs. Bottas is third, Hamilton fourth, 4secs ahead of Vettel. “How did it get to 12 seconds?” Hamilton asks, of the gap to the race leader. The rear-tyre blistering certainly hindered him.
Lap 37/56: Hamilton pits! Mercedes had to do something to help his pace. It’s a slick 2.7secs stop, and he will come out in front of title rival Vettel. Hamilton’s gone from first to fourth, and in some ways, the race restarts. He has to navigate a way past Bottas, Verstappen and Räikkönen to win it. But second might be enough, if Vettel can only take fifth. “We just need everything now,” say Mercedes.
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Lap 35/56: Ferrari’s long-game suddenly looks pretty clever. Vettel has just racked up a new fastest lap of 1.38.462min, as Hamilton’s tyres show more signs of wear and tear. Mercedes will surely have to draft Hamilton in for a second stop, but when? “The rear’s running out,” Hamilton says. Räikkönen and Vettel – for now still down in fifth behind Bottas – are on the charge.
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Lap 34/56: Räikkönen is making a bit of headway, with a little blistering on Hamilton’s soft tyres running the Mercedes into trouble. The Ferrari has closed the gap somewhat, now 12secs off the race leader. Down the team radio, a panicky Hamilton sounds no longer quite so assured. Räikkönen is gaining with every lap.
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Lap 33/56: Ah, Charles Leclerc has been ordered to retire for the second race in a row. That’s a disappointing end to his first US GP. That’s our fourth DNF of the evening, with the Frenchman joining Alonso, Ricciardo and Grosjean on the sidelines in Texas.
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Lap 32/56: Hamilton leads Räikkönen by almost 16secs. Vettel is only just getting started in fifth, setting a new fastest lap. He is most definitely gaining, but still has plenty of work to do to trouble Hamilton’s hopes of landing a fifth world title.
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Lap 30/56: Will Hamilton, who has stopped the once, finish the race on these soft tyres? Pirelli seem to think that Mercedes are teeing up a two-stop strategy, given the way Hamilton is hurtling round the track. Ferrari certainly hope so. Hamilton is fairly steady, a little conservative round the corners, but – other than that first-lap drama – it’s been pretty straightforward so far for the Mercedes.
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Lap 29/56: Vettel sets a new fastest lap of 1.38.715min, so he is not short of pace. But he is a huge 41secs behind the race leader and there is plenty traffic in front of him, namely Bottas in fourth.
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Lap 28/56: At the halfway point, Hamilton is heading for the title. Vettel has to think up a way of shifting beyond Bottas, Verstappen to get on to the podium, with his team-mate Räikkönen still racing in second. That Bottas is sandwiched in between Hamilton and Vettel might yet help Mercedes too.
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Lap 27/56: Vettel comes into the pits, but it is a little bit sluggish. Ferrari throw on the soft tyres and he zooms out into fifth. Can he up the ante with those new wheels on? Hamilton, who leads Räikkönen by in excess of 17 seconds, has been in charge so far.
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Lap 25/56: Räikkönen, now in second, sets another new fastest lap of 1.38.742min. Meanwhile, sixth-placed Pérez pits.
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Lap 24/56: And now Bottas pits. He trundles along and out of the pits, but cannot trump Verstappen into fourth. Meanwhile, on new tyres, Räikkönen records a new fastest lap of 1.38.856min. At the front, it is Lewis Hamilton who leads Vettel by a mammoth 16secs. What are Ferrari going to do? Räikkönen is on far faster tyres. And, right on cue, the Finn breezes past his team-mate.
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Lap 22/56: Verstappen now pits, with a Mercedes one-two currently out in front. The Red Bull has done brilliantly, but comes out behind the Ferrari. He started way down in 18th, but is up to fifth.
Lap 21/56: Hamilton makes another beeline to budge Räikkönen off the front, but the Ferrari stands firm. Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz is given a five-second time penalty after leaving the track and gaining an advantage. And now Räikkönen pits, with that fight turning into a bit of a slog. On go the soft tyres for the Ferrari. A lightning 2.3secs stop. He comes out just behind Sebastian Vettel, who is still to pit of course. “Great job, Kimi, great job,” is the message.
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Lap 19/56: Räikkönen is primed for the pits, and that’s music to the ears of Hamilton who is now just 0.6secs behind the Ferrari. If and when that happens, his Mercedes team-mate Bottas is third, ready to block off any Vettel charge. Räikkönen continues to hold off Hamilton, but he can only do so for so long. “Let’s not do anything stupid,” the Ferrari driver says down the team radio.
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Lap 17/56: Räikkönen has a race on his hands, with Hamilton lurking behind him and whizzing round one second faster per lap. Up in the posh seats, the stewards are still casting their eye over all that red-host first-lap action. They’re investigating Vettel leaving the track, possibly gaining an advantage.
Lap 16/56: Bottas heeds team orders, and Hamilton soars into second place, behind the race leader Räikkönen. The Renaults have made light work of the grid, with Sainz up to a very respectable seventh from 11th and Hülkenberg just in front of him in sixth.
Lap 15/56: Räikkönen leads Hamilton by 5.4secs, but the Mercedes has plenty of zip about it with those fresh soft tyres on. Vettel is in fifth, but trails Max Verstappen, the Red Bull who started down in 18th, by 10secs. Things are looking rosy for Hamilton.
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Lap 13/56: “Lewis is three seconds behind so don’t hold him up,” comes the message by Mercedes to Valtteri Bottas, who has not stopped so is out of sequence with Hamilton on the world champion’s fresh tyres; he is absolutely flying round the track, setting a new fastest lap.
Lap 12/56: Hamilton swerved in very late, after Räikkönen himself had shaped to run in, and comes out behind second-placed Bottas. It seemed the perfect moment for Vettel to come home, but he is still out there and has fifth-placed Hülkenberg in his sights. Ferrari, down the radio, say they are planning a two-stop race.
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Lap 10/56: And the virtual safety car has been deployed! The drivers must decrease their speed by 40% and are forbidden from overtaking. That DNF is good news for Vettel, who is back up to sixth after zooming beyond Carlos Sainz. Sixth! The leaders have an opportune moment to come in and collect new tyres. And Hamilton pits ...
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Lap 9/56: Daniel Ricciardo’s race is over! It seems to be a power failure. His car dies off the exit of turn 11, and it’s another DNF and another bad day at the office for the Red Bull. The Australian, who got in a tangle with Vettel on that first lap, trudges out of the car and towards the pits. He looks truly fed up.
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Lap 8/56: A very lively start in Austin. Toto Wolff is a picture of calm down in the pits but he will be happy enough with Hamilton’s start. The Briton looks to be saving himself a little for later on, as Räikkönen continues to boss things; he leads by 2.1secs.
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Lap 7/56: Vettel is up into the points, into ninth. Suddenly things don’t seem so bad, but still, they could be a lot better. Lance Stroll is now propping up the field after serving that penalty. Räikkönen, meanwhile, seems a little concerned. “Is the right rear OK? There’s massive oversteer,” he says. The Ferrari team radio reply? Get on with it.
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Lap 4/56: Fernando Alonso has been moaning down the team radio after being forced out early on following a collision with Lance Stroll. The latter has been given a drive-through penalty for his part in that clash. Meanwhile, Romain Grosjean’s race is already over too. “I don’t know how much damage I have,” Alonso says. “These guys are impossible to race with.” Well, he won’t have to next year. At the front, Räikkönen leads Hamilton by almost 2secs, with Bottas in third.
Lap 3/56: A chaotic first few laps, then. There is plenty of debris out on track, unsurprising given the early argy-bargy but it seemingly forced Grosjean and Alonso. Vettel is already some way to making amends for that dreadful start and has just flown past Sergey Sirotkin.
Lap 2/56: Vettel flies past Stoffel Vandoorne and Pierre Gasly, and is up into 13th but that squabble with the Red Bull has left him with a mountain to climb in Texas. Räikkönen leads from Hamilton.
Lap 1/56: Vettel has been left in a spin after a clash with Ricciardo! He is down into 15th! The Ferrari, after bypassing Ricciardo into fourth, makes a real mess of things. A disastrous start for Vettel and suddenly Hamilton will be feeling an awful lot better about things.
Lights out!
Hamilton gets away cleanly, but Räikkönen swoops in to cut him out into turn one and the Ferrari takes the lead! An eager Vettel goes very wide, and will have surrendered a bit of ground, but came back on to the track pretty abruptly.
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The cars are zooming round on the formation lap. It is surely only a matter of time before Hamilton takes the title, but will it be today?
Before the off in Texas, a few final thoughts from Hamilton, who has his eyes on a fifth title. “I woke up this morning thinking there’s so much potential for today,” the Mercedes, who starts on pole ahead of Räikkönen, says. “I’m about to give it everything.”
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The cars are being fired up on the grid, post-national anthem. It is not only Hamilton licking his lips as the race approaches, with Red Bull driver Verstappen, relegated to 18th on the grid, feeling as buoyant as ever: “It would always be better to start at the front, but we have to try and go clean through the traffic. We are targeting sixth, but we want more than that.”
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Really, Lewis Hamilton is one of us. “I don’t look in my mirrors a crazy amount,” he says, “but of course at the start you would. I don’t like driving. Anything but the Formula One car, I don’t like driving. Of successfully whizzing round Austin the past four years, he says: “I love the track, but I’ve won at every track now. There are circuits that you find harder to set the car up, but this is a track where an aggressive driving style does track.”
How about this for a stat? From Niki Lauda in 1984 to Räikkönen in 2007, every time there has been a F1 race on this date, 21 October, the championship has been decided. It is unlikely to deter him, but Max Verstappen will serve a five-place penalty after his Red Bull required a new gearbox. “It is not going to change the world,” said the Dutchman, who will start down in 18th. Sebastien Vettel, the Ferrari desperate to prolong Hamilton’s wait for the title, starts from fifth after being issued with a three-place penalty after failing to slow under red-flag conditions on Friday.
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The Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, insists they are not bothered whether Hamilton bags the title in Austin or not, but admits there are some extra jitters around his team’s camp. “What we did is to try and lower our own expectations, and not put too much pressure on us to win it today,” he says. “The constructor championship is still to play for and we want to have a good day, score lots of points and if it’s done today, it will be a great party. If not, we will continue to push.” Asked about the in-house atmosphere, he replies: “You can see the nervousness in the team, the closer it gets to the race, you want to do exceptionally well. We just need to embrace it, there was a heated discussion this morning around strategy – it is what happens.” Of Ferrari’s pace, he adds: “We are a bit vulnerable at the end of the straight, we know that.”
We are an hour away from lights out, but things in Texas are already hotting up. The Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders have been out doing the splits on the grid and there’s a party atmosphere up in the stands. History is very much on Hamilton’s side given he has won this GP six times – more than any other driver – including the past four years in Austin. He simply loves this track.
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Will Hamilton be celebrating a fifth title in a few hours’ time? He won his first driving for McLaren, in Brazil 10 years ago:
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The grid!
1 Hamilton 2 Räikkönen
3 Bottas 4 Ricciardo
5 Vettel 6 Ocon
7 Hülkenberg 8 Grosjean
9 Leclerc 10 Pérez
11 Sainz 12 Magnussen
13 Alonso 14 Sirotkin
15 Stroll 16 Ericsson
17 Vandoorne 18 Verstappen
19 Gasly 20 Hartley
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Preamble
So, will this be the day? Lewis Hamilton can finish what he has started in Austin, with the Mercedes driver on pole and gunning for his fifth world title. Simply, Hamilton must secure eight more points that Vettel in America to wrap up victory. Among the permutations that will see Hamilton clinch it is if he wins the race and Sebastian Vettel, the Ferrari who starts on the third row of the grid, finishes lower than second. In the event Vettel failed to pick up any points round Circuit of the Americas. A 81st pole position puts Hamilton firmly in the driving seat, with the Briton more than capable of controlling the race from the front. But maybe there will be a little queasiness at the role that Kimi Räikkönen may yet play out. The Finn, and Vettel’s team-mate, will start the race from second on ultra-soft tyres, ahead of Valtteri Bottas, the Mercedes. “We’re lacking a bit of straight-line speed and it’s going to be very difficult to defend against the Ferraris. That’s my worry,” Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team principal, said. “I’ve always said you cannot write them off.” For now then, and only now the champagne is firmly on ice, but Hamilton is within touching distance of another crowning glory. For the kid from Stevenage, who these days calls Monte Carlo home, it would be another brick in the empire, another one for the mantelpiece.
Lights out: 7.10pm (BST)
