Hamilton finally achieves a 50th career success

He had announced that he had worked on his departures, Lewis Hamilton did not fail this Sunday when the lights went out in Austin for the United States Grand Prix. The pilot Mercedes made a perfect start while maintaining the advantage over his teammate Nico Rosberg, who was forced to give up a position against the Red Bull de Daniel Ricciardo after the first turn.

A first turn which will cause the loss of Nico Hulkenberg (Force India), victim of contact with the Williams de Valtteri Bottas, who will have to return to the pits following a puncture. A few meters further, contact also takes place between Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso) and Sergio Pérez (Force India), the Mexican being sent into a spin. The Russian will be penalized 10″ for this maneuver

In the lead, Hamilton maintains a margin of just over a second against Ricciardo, pursued by Rosberg, Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) who took the best of Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari).

The positions will not change before the first passages through the pits initiated by Daniel Ricciardo, the only driver in the top 4 on super-soft tires facing the two Mercedes and his teammate's RB12.

A few moments later, Hamilton and Rosberg were called to return to the pits, but the Briton ultimately remained on the track when his teammate stopped to put on the medium tires. A different strategic choice was made by the leader a lap later, who started again on soft tires.

If Vettel will take control of the event for a while by delaying his first passage through the pit lane, Hamilton regains control of the race ahead of Ricciardo and Rosberg, but the order will be upset after the start of the second stops.

Just after his teammate Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen will initially stop, but the Red Bull team was not waiting for its driver, who visibly misunderstood a radio message. A few moments later, the Dutchman was forced to stop at the side of the track following a mechanical problem.

The virtual safety car deployed thus offers a “free” stop to Hamilton and Rosberg, the latter confirming his second place ahead of Ricciardo. The positions for the top 3 will not change until the finish and Hamilton scores a 50th career victory, his fourth in Austin in five years. The Briton thus comes back to 26 points behind Rosberg in the championship.

Sebastian Vettel finished in fourth position, and notably benefited from the setbacks of his teammate Räikkönen, whom Ferrari visibly let get back on track with a loose wheel during his stop at the end of the 38th lap. The Finn stopped just outside the pitlane before sliding into reverse at the end of the pit lane and abandoning.

Fernando Alonso (McLaren) finished 5th under the checkered flag, but the Spaniard was placed under investigation following his contact with Felipe Massa (Williams), when overtaking his former teammate at Ferrari.

The latter will be forced to return to the pits at the very end of the race after a puncture and leaves Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso) take 6th place. Sergio Pérez (Force India), Jenson Button (McLaren) and Romain Grosjean (Haas) who saves a point for his home team, enter the top 10.

Kevin Magnussen place first Renault in 11th position while Esteban Ocon (Manor) finished last ranked in 18th position. In addition to Hülkenberg, Verstappen and Räikkönen, Esteban Gutiérrez (Haas) was forced to retire.

Results United States Grand Prix

Find the full report and analysis of the United States Grand Prix, produced by our special correspondents in Austin, in issue 2086 of AUTOhebdo, available tomorrow evening in digital version, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.