Pictures courtesy Daimler
By winning
the 2015 United States Grand Prix in Austin, Lewis Hamilton has created history
in Formula One. With 3 races still left on the calendar, Hamilton has sealed
the 2015 Driver’s World Championship at the Circuit of the Americas by
finishing ahead of his Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg and Ferrari’s Sebastian
Vettel.
At a
hurricane of a weekend in Austin, quite literally hit by Hurricane Patricia
left the track in pools of water on Friday and Saturday. Free Practice 1 and 2
were drenched in the wet. Similarly on Saturday, Qualifying had to be postponed
to Sunday before the race as conditions were undrivable.
When the
weather relatively cleared on Sunday, Rosberg stood on pole for the race ahead
of Hamilton and Vettel.
Rosberg had
lost the lead as Hamilton aggressively eased him aside in the first corner, but
retaken it from Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo during the pit stops on the 19th
lap and held it through various virtual and real safety car interventions until
the 48th lap.
On lap 49 of
56, Hamilton found his way ahead of team mate Rosberg as he slid wide into turn
12 to take the lead. Hamilton sealed the victory and championship only seconds
ahead of the finish line where Rosberg who was 2.8 seconds behind Hamilton,
came across the line only 0.5 seconds ahead of Sebastian Vettel who was the
only man who could have denied the Brit his championship this weekend if the
German had finished ahead.
Hamilton made
history after his title claim when he became the 2nd British driver
after Jackie Stewart to claim 3 titles and becoming the first ever British
driver to have successfully defended his title. The 3rd championship
crown also brings Hamilton level with Ayrton Senna, his childhood hero.
With a total
of 12 drivers finishing the race, Max Verstappen finished 4th for
Torro Rosso followed by Perez in 5th for Force India, Button in 6th
for McLaren, Sainz who was relegated to 7th with a 5 second penalty
for speeding in the pit lane, Lotus’ Maldonado in 8th ahead of Sauber’s Felipe Nasr in 9th and
Daniel Ricciardo, 10th for Red Bull Racing.
Fernando
Alonso for McLaren and Alexander Rossi for Manor Marussia were the final two
drivers who managed to complete the race in 11th and 12th
place respectively.
As the final
3 races inch closer, the Mexican Grand Prix will take place from October 30-
November 1, 2015 followed by the Brazillian Grand Prix and Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
in the month of November to conclude the season.