Lewis Hamilton three-time world champion

On his first attempt, Lewis Hamilton won a third world title by winning the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas. The Briton won on American soil ahead of his teammate Nico Rosberg, author of a culpable error at the end of the event which sealed the outcome of the season, while the German was leading a very animated.

Third place in Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) is not enough to prevent Hamilton from joining triple world champions Ayrton Senna, Nelson Piquet, Niki Lauda, ​​Jackie Stewart and Jack Brabham on the list of winners.

Hamilton had the best start when the lights went out on a still wet track, beating his teammate and pole sitter Rosberg at the first corner, despite a slight contact. The German will see both Red Bull overtake him, and will fall for a time behind Sergio Pérez (Force India) in fifth place before recovering his position.

The virtual safety car will be deployed for the first time to remove the debris present at the first turn after several contacts on the first lap, with the main victim being Valtteri Bottas (Williams) who returns to the pits to change his front wing, and tries the bet of slick tires, a bet which will ultimately be a loser at this stage of the race.

Alongside the Mercedes, these are the Red Bulls of Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo which will greatly enliven the start of the event. The Australian even took control of the race on the 15th lap, shortly before the switch to slick tires which would shake up the hierarchy.

The Mercedes then regained their form, Rosberg returning to the lead. The German seems able to thwart his teammate's plans, but after the safety car entered the track after the 43rd lap following Daniil Kvyat's crash, the driver of the No. 44 Mercedes will make a small mistake in the 48th loop, which allows Hamilton to return to the front.

Vettel is then third but the Scuderia Ferrari driver, despite coming back on Rosberg in the final moments, will not be able to move back into second position, which would have deprived Hamilton of the title. Behind the trio, Max Verstappen (Toro Rosso) finished in 4th place ahead of Sergio Pérez (Force India), Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso) (penalized by 5″ on his race time, which falls to seventh position), Jenson Button (McLaren), Pastor Maldonado (Lotus), Felipe Nasr (Sauber) and Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) for the top 10.

Grand Prix to forget for Romain Grosjean (Lotus), forced to retire at the start of the race (problem with the brakes), or for Williams, whose two cars did not see the finish. Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari), who made a mistake in the barriers, also gave up, as did Nico Hulkenberg (Force India) after contact with Daniel Ricciardo, which led to the deployment of a second virtual safety car.

Find the full report and analysis of the United States Grand Prix, produced by our special correspondents in Austin, in issue 2035 of AUTOhebdo, available from tomorrow evening in digital version, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.