Lewis Hamilton passed rival Sebastian Vettel to take a dominant victory in the United States Grand Prix but will have to wait at least one more race if he is to win a fourth world title. The Mercedes driver is 66 points clear of Vettel, who finished second, with 75 available in the remaining three races. It means Hamilton is almost certain to win the title in Mexico next weekend. Vettel has to make up 17 points on Hamilton in Mexico City to take the fight to the next race in Brazil. That is the equivalent of the German winning the race with Hamilton finishing sixth or lower.
Given Hamilton’s rich run of form of five wins and a second place in the last six races, that seems very unlikely, unless the Mercedes has a technical failure, which the Briton’s car has not had all season in a race. Hamilton’s drivers’ title will make a fourth consecutive championship double for Mercedes, who clinched the constructors’ title on Sunday in Austin. Hamilton had to fight for his win – at least at the beginning, after losing the lead to Vettel at the start. He did not have to chase Vettel down to maintain a strong lead in the championship, but he tracked the Ferrari closely for the next five laps and then passed him for the lead at Turn 12 on lap six.
After taking the lead, Hamilton did not look back, clearly with a speed advantage, controlling his pace and doing just enough to manage the race to the end. He questioned his team’s decision in leaving him out for another three laps after Vettel made his first pit stop on lap 16, meaning the German had closed a 4.5-second deficit to nothing by the time Hamilton emerged from the pits. But he soon pulled away again and drove off to his ninth victory in 17 races this season.
As the race moved past half distance, Hamilton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas, with the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen right behind, was closing on Vettel, and Ferrari decided to pit their lead driver to give him fresh tyres for an attack at the end of the race. The decision reflected a recognition that Hamilton was out of reach, and also the pace of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who was driving beautifully after starting 16th and threatening Vettel, Bottas and Raikkonen. Verstappen made a pit stop for fresh tyres on lap 37, meaning he would be closing rapidly in the closing laps, and Ferrari mirrored the move a lap later, ensuring Vettel stayed ahead of the Red Bull and could attack himself.
Vettel dropped down to fourth place, just 1.4 seconds ahead of Verstappen, but on his fresh super-soft tyres the German began to pull away and close on Bottas and Raikkonen ahead.
