Three big talking points from the Formula 1 US grand prix

Sure, he didn’t win the race. But Hamilton’s focused rise to second place – when eighth was all that he needed – spoke volumes about the hunger and deep-rooted ambition that drives this very special sportsman.

Hamilton hits six in style

Hamilton was deflated on Saturday after uncharacteristically lacking the pace to challenge for the front row, especially as it was team-mate Valtteri Bottas who broke Ferrari’s recent stranglehold on pole position. In the circumstances, fifth on the grid was far from a disaster, but Hamilton isn’t wired to accept any weakness, either from his team and certainly not from himself. He was unsettled on Saturday night, but not because of fears about the world championship that was almost within his grasp. Pure and simply, an 84th GP victory had now become a tall order and that bugged him.

But Lewis addressed that shortfall of performance in the best possible fashion on race day, in a manner that stripped any real anxiety from the title-deciding occasion. Hamilton’s composure and determination to go for the win rather than settle for the bare minimum made sure of that.

As he said afterwards, he could have crashed at the first corner and lost all hope of closing out the title on this day. Instead, he calmly chose his line and duly demoted Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari. Then his outside pass on a surprised Sebastian Vettel at Turn 8 was simply sublime.

The single-stop strategy was his pitch for victory and he so very nearly pulled it off. Lewis ran 24 laps on the medium Pirellis, which left him with 32 on the hard compound – and once Bottas had made his second stop, with a team-mate on fresher tyres homing in fast.

Did it really matter? In the context of that sixth world title, not at all. But try telling that to this pure racer. All he wanted in this moment was to win the grand prix. “Give me a target, Bonno,” he’d said to his race engineer Peter Bonnington. “Work with me, man.”

In the end, even Hamilton couldn’t work this miracle. Bottas pulled a DRS-assisted pass with just five laps to go and there was little Lewis could do about it. But now he had two-stopping Max Verstappen to think about as the Red Bull closed in. A yellow flag on the back straight for Kevin Magnussen’s beached Haas helped, and so Hamilton was able to deliver the Mercedes one-two – and only then could he think about the sixth title that moves him clear of Juan Manuel Fangio and just one short of Michael Schumacher’s seven.

Who would bet against him equalling the great man next year?

Ferrari fades with alarming speed

Sebastian Vettel’s magnanimity towards Hamilton after the race did the four-time champion great credit – but the image that sticks most in the mind from Ferrari’s 2019 United States GP was the German’s right-front wheel waggling in the air following an odd suspension failure relatively early in the race. It summed up just how poor this race was for the red team.

By the time the failure occurred, Vettel’s challenge had already faded in alarming fashion. Having started second on the grid, not only was he mugged by Hamilton on lap one, he was also stitched up by his team-mate Leclerc. Lando Norris sneaking a clever pass on him in the McLaren only underlined how out of sorts Vettel appeared to be, in a car that lacked front grip. He was running a lowly seventh when his race ended prematurely.

As for Leclerc, he was uncharacteristically anonymous on his run to fourth place. Never mind Mercedes, he had no hope of even living with Verstappen’s Red Bull.

Why? What had happened in Austin? Speculation swirled that a new technical directive that has effectively outlawed a clever solution to increasing fuel flow through Ferrari’s hybrid turbo engine is behind the slump – and it was a theory Verstappen was happy to describe as fact after the race, to the consternation of the Italian team.

But is this the case? There are two races left, in Brazil and Abu Dhabi, for Ferrari to prove otherwise and rediscover the form that has powered it so convincingly since the Belgium GP. Let’s see if Vettel and Leclerc can prove there is more to Ferrari’s autumn upturn in pace than what Verstappen so mischievously called a “cheat”.

Midfield battle rages on

The world championship might be decided, but there is still all to play for in the F1 midfield, as the drivers vie to grabs attention and teams hustle to win the unofficial ‘class B’ behind the top trio of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.

In Austin, Alex Albon continued to show solid form despite a Turn 1 clash with Carlos Sainz, to deliver another fifth place finish for Red Bull. Daniel Ricciardo showed his class for Renault, rising from ninth on the grid to finish sixth, while Norris beat Sainz to be best of the McLarens in seventh and eighth.

Nico Hülkenberg delivered more points for Renault in ninth, while that wily campaigner Sergio Perez drove from the pitlane to a point in P10. This was a classy effort from the Mexican, who is thriving at a Racing Point team with which he is committed for at least another three years.

The McLaren duo’s consistency has delivered the team 121 points so far, which places it comfortably in that coveted ‘best of the rest’ fourth place in the constructors’ standings. Given the team is 28 clear of Renault, it’s going to take quite a swing for the French manufacturer to overturn its customer in the remaining two races. Meanwhile, just a point separates Racing Point and Toro Rosso for sixth, which emphasises just how important Perez’s Austin contribution really was.

It’s not as significant as Hamilton’s sixth world title, but there are millions of reasons – all beginning with a big fat dollar sign – that makes such battles count with two races to go.

Photography courtesy of Motorsport Images.