Lewis Hamilton took his tenth victory of the season at the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix at Austin, Texas by beating Mercedes teammate and sole title rival Nico Rosberg to extend his lead at the top of the F1 drivers standings.
Having trailed Rosberg by over four seconds, Hamilton put the hammer down after the first round of pitstops and eventually passed the German at turn 12 for the lead of the race.
This victory - his fifth in a row and the 32nd of his career - puts him 24 points ahead of Nico Rosberg in the drivers standings with a maximum of 75 points on offer in the final two rounds of the F1 season in Brazil and Abu Dhabi.
Third place went to Daniel Ricciardo who beat Felipe Massa to the final step on the podium by undercutting the Brazilian in the second round of pitstops, having done the exactly same thing to Massa's Williams teammate Valtteri Bottas during the first stop.
Fernando Alonso finished sixth for Ferrari - a minute and a half behind race winner Lewis Hamilton.
Last year’s winner Sebastian Vettel had a race of two halves. Having complained of lack of pace in the first part, Vettel clawed his pace back up the field with a late stop to finish in seventh place. The defending four-time F1 champion was carrying a low downforce rear wing to aid overtaking.
Kevin Magnussen took eighth for McLaren with the British team not able to replicate its brilliant performance of Sochi. Button, who was once fighting wheel-to-wheel with the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso, struggled for grip in the latter stages of the race, eventually finishing outside of the points in 12th.
Jean Eric Vergne put some great manoeuvres to finish in ninth place with the aim of retaining his seat at Toro Rosso.
Pastor Maldonado took his first points finish of the season with a 10th place result at Austin, despite picking up two separate five second stop-go penalties.
Sauber’s hopes of stealing ninth place in the F1 constructors championship were dashed when their ex-driver Sergio Perez put on an over-opportunistic move over top 10 starter Adrian Sutil, sending both of them out of the race. The incident, which brought out the safety car, will be investigated after the race.
Nico Hulkenberg parked his VJM07 on the back straight to complete a dreadful day for Force India.
Hamilton's win makes him the most successful British driver in terms of race wins as he moved ahead of 1992 F1 champion Nigel Mansell's win tally of 31 with victory in Austin. Hamilton is now tied with Alonso as the fifth winningest driver in F1 history, both of whom are now seven behind Sebastian Vettel's tally of 39.
F1 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX - TOP 10 RESULTS
1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 56 laps
2. Nico Rosberg Mercedes +00m 04.3s
3. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull +00m 25.5s
4. Felipe Massa Williams +00m 26.8s
5. Valtteri Bottas Williams +00m 30.8s
6. Fernando Alonso Ferrari +01m 35.0s
7. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull +01m 35.5s
8. Kevin Magnussen McLaren +01m 40.4s
9. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso +01m 43.5s
10. Pastor Maldonado Lotus +01m 47.5s
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