LEWIS KEEPS HOPES ALIVE
Hamilton closes gap on Rosberg after win
AMERICA, often a place of refuge for Lewis Hamilton, was the stage for him to rekindle his self-esteem and flickering title hopes with a dominant victory.
The world champion has cut an agitated figure in recent weeks — blaming his team, the media and Uncle Tom Cobley — but this was vintage front-running from a master driver.
Hamilton’s triumph in the US Grand Prix takes him to within 26 points of his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg with 75 remaining in what may yet prove a nerve-jangling conclusion to Formula One’s longest season.
This was Hamilton’s fifth win in the States, and his fourth at the Circuit of the Americas. More memorably it was the 50th of his career. Only Michael Schumacher (91) and Alain Prost (51) have won more than the 31-year-old Englishman.
‘I completely forgot it would be my 50th,’ said Hamilton. ‘It’s been a long time coming.’ Yes, he had not won since the end of July.
‘It’s surreal there are only three of us to win 50,’ he added. ‘There are a lot of gifted people, and my family, without whom I wouldn’t be here at all.’
Starting on pole, Hamilton led every lap of the race other than for pit stops and never looked in the remotest danger from Rosberg in second place and Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo in third.
It has been a dream few days for Hamilton. He has been on the sofa of chat show queen Ellen DeGeneres and carried out all his duties in Austin with smiles and waves. It shows what he can achieve when he shows up with a clear head.
‘Yee-hah,’ he screamed over the radio on the warm-down lap. The crowd, many bearing Union flags, cheered loudly right around the track. ‘Hammertime,’ read several banners. It had been. Hamilton had cut a relaxed figure as he stood on the grid close to the marine belting out a spine-tingling rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner.
Before the start Bernie Ecclestone had been whispering in Rosberg’s ear and hugging him tightly. We can take an educated guess what was on the agenda: Ecclestone’s comments in Sportsmail on Saturday about the German making a dull world champion. ‘There is nothing to write about him,’ said the boss man.
Mercedes chairman Niki Lauda was unimpressed. ‘This criticism of the possible world champion is excessive,’ he barked. ‘And especially so at such a crucial stage of the world championship. It is very unfair.’
Hugs completed, and in Hamilton’s case after a handshake from Gordon Ramsay, the lights went out. Hamilton, a sticky starter this season, was away cleanly. Phew.
Rosberg, however, lost a place at the first corner to Ricciardo. So a pattern was set. Hamilton, Ricciardo, Rosberg. There has been some first-class action in recent races but this was like watching your Farrow and Ball emulsion dry.
The radio exchanges provided some welcome hue and cry. Rosberg, being told to push by his Mercedes pit wall, snapped back: ‘Pushing hard is not the long game.’
They then put him on to medium tyres, instead of the softs being used by the rest of the leaders. It was a gamble that worked, for when Max Verstappen’s Red Bull gearbox conked out and the virtual safety car was deployed, Rosberg came back into the pits and emerged ahead of Ricciardo, who had already stopped for a second time.
A Mercedes one-two looked a formality from that moment on.
Verstappen’s robust driving style has been clamped down on by the FIA, who have decreed that moving under braking to defend position is not allowed. He said, rightly, that the ruling is hardly likely to induce exciting racing.
Yes, Master Max is a punchy individual and a welcome addition to the Formula One scene. He was at it again over the radio prior to his retirement, telling his engineers: ‘I am not here to come fourth.’ He was then caught out by imagining he had been told to box. Given that the order to come in is usually given submarine-style triplicate — ‘Box, box, box’ — it was a surprising error. His arrival in the pit lane was met with surprise and sent his mechanics scampering.
There was more high tension from Ricciardo over the airwaves when Verstappen, his team-mate of all people, packed up, costing him a place. I’ll save you the expletives.
Let’s hope there is not a swear box at Ferrari either. They are left with a lot to curse these days. This time they released Kimi Raikkonen with a cross-threaded wheel nut. Sensing a problem, he stopped at the pit-lane exit and then rolled back down the strip until he parked up on the side.
His race was over, Ferrari’s faces were as red as their cars. Hamilton’s features were decidedly more content.