Lewis Hamilton wins US Grand Prix and F1 championship title
Lewis Hamilton won the thrilling United States Grand Prix and also secured himself the third Formula 1 championship title. Mercedes driver kept his nerves in a very intensive race and proved domination in 2015 as this was his 10th victory.
This was probably the most exciting and definitely closest race of the season so far, with so many duels, overtaking, mistakes and changes of rhythm which was perfect after two bad days at Circuit of the Americas.
Rain finally stopped before the start of the race so the drivers had better conditions than on Friday and Saturday. Rosberg had pole position for the third time in a row, but he lost it just after the start when Lewis Hamilton forced him to go wide. Rosberg dropped to fourth, while Red Bulls moved up to second and third.
Because a lot of debris all over the track after couple of minor accidents, virtual safety car was deployed. That slowed the race and put tensions down a bit, but after restart Rosberg did a great job overtaking Ricciardo and Kvyat for second position. But, not for long as Ricciardo was the fastest at the moment and he knew how to take advantage of Kvyat’s and Rosberg’s errors to jump on to second place.
Finally, Ricciardo took the lead in lap 15 overtaking Hamilton at Turn 18. Championship leader struggled at the moment and soon he dropped to third losing battle with Rosberg, so he went into the pit and switched to slick tires what was good decision as track became almost dry.
This was a huge battle between Mercedes and Red Bull, with many passings and changes at the leading position. At half of the race, safety car was deployed after Marcus Ericsson stopped on the track. In that moment, Rosberg was on top with Hamilton, Ricciardo, Kvyat and Sebastian Vettel behind.
Ferrari driver continued to progress perfectly as he started from the back end of the grid and soon he was third, but Verstappen was also very good as he was just behind four-time champion, while Ricciardo fell to sixth place and at the end he stayed out of points.
During another virtual safety car, Rosberg went into the pit and lost leading position for a while, but recovered when his teammate also did tires change. But, In lap 49 Rosberg made a mistake which allowed Hamilton to take a lead. Reigning champion saved his place without much effort and clinched victory.
Three Grand Prix before the end of the season, British driver also won second championship title in a row and third in his career, partly helped by Rosberg as his teammate defended well to keep Vettel attacks and finish second.
