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BOGEY MEN

FORMULA ONE US GRAND PRIX Error by over-par Mercedes team muck up Hamilton’s title attempt

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BY FRANK HAYNES LEWIS HAMILTON believes a double bogey performanc­e by his Mercedes team denied him the chance to wrap up a fifth world championsh­ip at the US Grand Prix.

His title coronation will now have to wait at least a week – in Mexico – after he finished only third, with Kimi Raikkonen claiming a first victory in more than five years following a dramatic race in Austin, Texas.

The British driver was handed the championsh­ip initiative when Sebastian Vettel spun on the opening lap, his eighth mistake of the season, after he banged wheels with Daniel Ricciardo, and dropped down the order.

Hamilton was second, after losing the lead to Raikkonen at the start, but seemingly had the speed to beat the veteran Finn in a straight shoot-out.

Yet he lost track position when Mercedes moved him on to a different tyre strategy, bringing him in on lap 11, while his rivals remained on track.

His rubber would not last the course and after emerging from the pits for a second time, 12 seconds behind Raikkonen and 10 down on Max Verstappen, who finished second after starting 18th, his thrill-aminute charge ran out of steam.

Hamilton said: “We just made it so hard for ourselves. I’m not sure about the reasoning for the early stop. It was a difficult day and not our best.

“I didn’t really have any problems but collective­ly as a team we didn’t perform that great which is not something we usually do.

“The decision to come in was a bit of a surprise but you can’t always get it right. We will go back to the drawing board and regroup. This was an over-par display for us. This was a double bogey.”

Despite Hamilton’s failure to win, he extended his lead over the faltering Vettel to 70 points with just 75 remaining. He needs only to finish seventh in Mexico to join Juan Manuel Fangio on a quintet of titles.

At first, Mercedes’ decision to bring him in for an early stop looked an inspired one. But it soon emerged that he would need to come in again.

He delivered fastest lap after fastest lap to reel in both leader Raikkonen and Verstappen. With eight laps to go the top three were covered by a little more than two seconds. At that stage, with Vettel only in fifth, second would have been enough for Hamilton to take the title and he went wheel to wheel with Verstappen in a gripping finale.

But the Dutchman held firm and Hamilton also ran off the road. That was that.

A recovering Vettel then fought his way past Valtteri Bottas, meaning only a win would have been enough for Hamilton to take the spoils. Vettel, starting in fifth, was out of contention for the win after just 13 corners.

He roared past Ricciardo on the back straight only then to go too deep on his brakes at Turn 12 and lose the position.

In a desperate attempt to get back past the Aussie they touched and Vettel spun round, dropping to 15th.

Vettel said: “I have mixed emotions. I’m really happy for Kimi but not happy with my race.”

Raikkonen, who turned 39 last Wednesday, becomes the sport’s oldest winner since Nigel Mansell in 1994. The Finn, who is leaving Ferrari at the end of the year, said. “It’s been a long time but here we are.” DRIVERS 1 Lewis Hamilton (GB) ............. 346pts 2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) ............... 276 3 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) .................. 221 4 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) .................... 217 5 Max Verstappen (Hol) ................. 191 6 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) ............... 146 7 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) .................. 61 8 Kevin Magnussen (Den) ............... 55 9 Sergio Perez (Mex) ...................... 54 10 Esteban Ocon (Fra) ..................... 53 1 Mercedes GP ......................... 563pts 2 Ferrari ........................................ 497 3 Red Bull ...................................... 337 4 Renault ....................................... 106 5 Haas F1 ......................................... 86 6 McLaren ....................................... 58 7 Force India .................................. 48 8 Toro Rosso ................................... 30 9 Sauber-Ferrari ............................. 27 10 Williams ........................................ 7

 ??  ?? TEXAS HOLD ’EM No title triumph yet for Hamilton, inset, as US win goes to Raikkonen
TEXAS HOLD ’EM No title triumph yet for Hamilton, inset, as US win goes to Raikkonen

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