F1: Hamilton Claims Sixth title in USA as Mercedes Win Again

Irregardless of his public consensus, Lewis Hamilton will go down as one of the greatest Formula 1 drivers in history as the British driver has claimed a sixth Formula 1 World Championship after finishing second to team-mate Valtteri Bottas in the United States GP.

The British driver needed three points to guarantee his third consecutive championship, but after Ferrari lost all speed and another Mercedes masterclass saw him stand on the podium as he soaked in the champagne showers as he continues to rewrite the record books.

But after qualifying, it didn’t look like Hamilton would be on the podium as the British driver only qualified fifth which was his worst starting of the season but after a mega opening lap, he soon made amends for that.

His team-mate Valtteri Bottas started on pole position and got a good getaway to convert that into the lead at the first corner as the two Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc struggling to get heat into their tyres. Vettel plummeted from second to sixth by the end of lap one as his Monegasque team-mate consolidated P4 as both Ferraris’ were already being left for dead by the top three.

Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz Jr and Alexander Albon made contact at the first corner as they were going three-wide with Ferraris Charles Leclerc. They both ran wide on the exit of the corner and damaged their races as a consequence. Albon was forced to make an early pitstop while Sainz re-joined the fun and games well down the order.

While things hadn’t started brilliantly for Vettel and Ferrari, they were about to get a whole lot worse. On lap eight, the German driver’s suspension failed when he ran over the curb at turn nine which put him out of the race in one of Ferrari’s worst races in a long time.

By lap 20, it was pretty clear that just like in Mexico City, Mercedes had put Hamilton on a one-stop strategy which meant he was forced to look after his tyres. His team-mate Bottas and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen were driving flat-out in the hope they could make their conventional two-stop strategy work. Verstappen pitted on lap 15 with the Finn following him into the pitlane on lap 17.

In the midfield, the battle was as ferocious as ever with Renault and McLaren battling it out for top spot and after Sainz’s earlier misdemeanour, he had moved himself up to seventh with Daniel Riccardo occupying fifth with Lando Norris in sixth place.

But despite the best intentions of Renault and McLaren, the recovering Alexander Albon was still able to leapfrog his way into fifth place after a bruising race for the Red Bull driver.

Daniel Riccardo and Lando Norris made an extra pitstop which paid dividens for them, finishing in sixth and seventh with Sainz rounding up eighth ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez who made his way from the pitlane to the points. It was an impressive race from the Mexican, making up for missing the weighbridge in final practice.

The battle for the victory was as ferocious as ever because despite Bottas passing Hamilton prior to his pitstop, the pace from his British team-mate meant that Hamilton regained the lead from Valtteri Bottas on lap 35 and it took until lap 51 for the Finn to hunt him down.

Then after the dress rehearsal on lap 51 with an attempt to go around the outside of turn 12, the Finn nailed Hamilton with a simple DRS overtake the following lap.

Hamilton then had to worry about Verstappen who was rapidly closing on the Briton, but was one lap short to pass the world champion. Hamilton was partly saved by the fact that Kevin Magnussen in the Haas parked up on the exit of turn 12 after his brakes failed on the penultimate lap of the Grand Prix.

So ultimately, Mercedes claimed another 1-2 finish, their eighth of the season, on a day where Hamilton statistically at least took another step forward to writing himself into the F1 history books as one of the greatest drivers of all time.

Giovinazzi Retained for 2020 by Alfa

After the US Grand Prix, Alfa Romeo confirmed that they were keeping Italian driver Antonio Giovinazzi for a second season. The 2016 GP2 vice-champion has scored four points for the team this year, sitting 18th in the Drivers championship.

“We learned a lot this year and I am confident we can make a big step forward next season. I won’t be a rookie anymore so there won’t be any excuses for me: I want to be competitive right from the start of the championship and repay the confidence the team has shown in me.” – Antonio Giovinazzi

He will once again partner 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen, who he is currently trailing in the qualifying battle 10-9, with the Finn having scored 27pts more than him. Giovinazzi’s last points came at Singapore, where he also became the only driver this season, not from the big three teams, to lead a race.