Hamilton prises USA victory from Rosberg’s hands

2014 United States Grand Prix summary

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A crucial pass on his team mate put Lewis Hamilton on course for his tenth victory of 2014 at the Circuit of the Americas.

Having run behind Nico Rosberg in the first stint Hamilton dived past his team mate at turn 12, and went on to claim his fifth win in a row. The championship now can only be won by one of the two Mercedes drivers.

The pair were separated by 4.3 seconds at the line. Daniel Ricciardo was over 20 seconds behind in third after passing both Ferraris and jumping the Williams pair through the pits.

Felipe Massa came fourth after getting ahead of Valtteri Bottas at the start. Behind them Fernando Alonso was sixth having prevailed in battles with Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel.

The latter found themselves struggling with tyre wear at the end of the race, and while Button persevered Vettel made a late switch to soft tyres. It left him out of the points with seven laps remaining, but by picking off a string of rivals he regained seventh place and was closing on Alonso when the flag fell.

Button slipped backwards at the end leaving Kevin Magnussen to claim McLaren’s only points with eighth. Behind him was Jean-Eric Vergne, who ended the race under investigation following an aggressive pass on Romain Grosjean which loosened the Lotus driver’s grasp on the top ten.

the other Lotus of Pastor Maldonado took his place, and demoted Vergne on the final lap. However a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pits – his second sanction of the race – will drop him back to tenth unless Vergne is penalised.

2014 United States Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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46 comments on “Hamilton prises USA victory from Rosberg’s hands”

  1. Looking forward to the predictions championship. Not so much to the results but how many people said Hamilton would win.

    1. Got a feeling the winner this week might be decided by the few people who picked Rosberg for pole. Last time I looked, it seemed like 85% had said Hamilton.

      (on a personal note, that’s two top fives right in a row for me – perfect in Sochi, but Ric/Bot wrong way round here).

      1. Decent haul of points for you then @neilosjames

        Totally agree about the nico pole thing. I’m on the wrong end of it, got 4 of top 5 but being punished for not having faith in massa

    2. I did get the top 2 right. I think quite a lot of people predicted a Hamilton win

    3. I got all top 5 right. But Daniel, Felipe and Valtteri messed their positions :(

  2. ColdFly F1 (@)
    2nd November 2014, 22:25

    Where was Raikkonen?
    Very disappointing race by him! (even Maldonado drove better)

    1. maybe he had car damage

    2. Perhaps Renault already running with the Mercedes star on the Renault engines. That should be worth a few tenths.

    3. @coldfly He was crashed into by Perez and his diffuser was probably messed up as a result. Got to remember Perez hit Raikkonen first before Sutil.

      1. Was quite a big hit as well, I was surprised that it didn’t put him out of the race.

  3. sadly for felipe, it could’ve been podium for him

    1. As usual the Williams strategy guy messed up

      1. They got greedy. They wanted to claim 4th also from Ricciardo and ended up losing 3rd aswell.

  4. Nico, say bye to the title, darling…

    *byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!*

    1. Fat lady needs to sing first.

  5. By the way, Alonso should forget about the possibility to get the Mercedes car after such a race from Hamilton.
    Hamilton will not leave. Rosberg will not crash any more into his team-mate’s car. So, the choice is obvious – McLaren-Honda to finish his career without the 3d title.

    1. maybe there is a chance he will stay at Ferrari. after all the Honda Mclaren is an unkown. Better the devil you know. Also Ferrari is due a resurgence at some point. So after Ferraris long slump maybe that resurgence will come soon. Anyway Alonso has a better idea of either teams prospects from inside the f1 circle so im sure he will make an educated choice.

    2. I personally think that Alonso deserves the Merc seat more than Rosberg. Yes, Rosberg has shown to be very good in qualifying. But in the race, he is almost always already behind Hamilton, or gets overtaken by him later on. I don’t understand why Rosberg has poor racecraft. He hasn’t won since Germany, and he only took an easy victory there due to Hamilton’s poor reliability in qualifying. Alonso and Hamilton had a great rivalry back in 2007, with Hamilton coming on top due to his extra 2nd place finish, so I think another Hamilton-Alonso battle would have been much more exciting than a Hamilton-Rosberg battle.

      1. Certainly, Alonso-Hamilton fight would be very good, but, as I expressed in the “next-door” news, there is no reason to replace Nico as he can gain points every race. He is very stable. Mercedes now have a clear leader and good-enough second driver.
        But it is boring.

      2. Yes, Hamilton vs. Alonso was great, and it cost McLaren the driver’s title. I do not think Mercedes would want to repeat this. In fact, if anything, then this season has shown that Rosberg is a very good driver, keeping Hamilton sharp, which is more than can be said of teammates of Alonso or Vettel in the past seasons. For Mercedes this is an ideal situation, Rosberg will keep picking up wins whenever something happens to Hamilton. Moreover, this is the first time Rosberg actually had a winning car in his hands, while Hamilton is an old hand in such a situation, giving the latter an edge. There is a chance that Rosberg will learn from this season and make the next one even closer.

        1. @slava @ph Seems like so many people feel that the championship is over. Am I the only person that’s scared of reliability and double points ruining an epic year of F1?!

          1. Watching the SKY commentators/pundits, I think they’ll all praying for a reliability issue for Hamilton. They were so deflated when Hamilton won, especially after they predicted a Rosberg victory. Contrast it with the way reacted to Rosberg getting pole. You’d think they were all from Monaco or Germany…..

          2. Exactly. One of the two drivers could fail to finish in one of the two remaining races and the championship could swing to either.

          3. I have to agree with that, It seemed from the Sky team that one pole position and suddenly Nico had Lewis beaten etc. I’m also not sure when this Nico is more intelligent than Lewis myth will stop. But Brundle simply will not give that one up. Even if he did have to admit he was wrong about Lewis and how much fuel and tyres he would use this season.

      3. Rosberg deserves that seat, so you are wrong.

    3. ColdFly F1 (@)
      2nd November 2014, 22:45

      Interestingly after COTA Lotus might be the best option for Alonso.
      Outside of Merc/RB/Williams (who have drivers confirmed) they were in the fight for ‘best-next’ in COTA and with Merc engines next year could be the place to go.

      But personally I hope it will be McLaren. Do a ‘Hamilton’ and bet on a team that is determined (and capable) of coming back.

      1. Lotus’s main weakness is finance. Alonso should buy them and drive for them :-).

        1. Alonso couldn’t afford them, no driver on the field could afford to buy a F1 team, Let alone run it.

      2. Not a works team and not a big budget. They are destined to be behind Mercedes.

        Alonso will want a works drive and nothing less.

  6. So it’s a little premature but I’m calling 2015 for Lewis as well. In a straight fight Nico can’t touch Hamilton. It’s a pity as he’s a solid, very capable driver but not on the elite level Hamilton races at.

    If Mercedes dominates next year, so will Hamilton.

    1. It’s not over yet. Reliability issue can still be a problem

    2. Hopefully, 2015 will not be another runaway Mercedes one-horse season.

  7. This is it now. Nico really had to win this race to stay in the hunt, but he’s wilted once again, he doesnt deserve the title. But of course, in professional sport, sometimes, not deserving doesnt necessarily mean that one cant win.

    Nico’s much vaunted “mental strength” seems to have deserted him. Like Alain Prost recently said, the incidents after Spa has definitely had an effect on him. He just appears very subdued, he had been mentally beaten since that day. I hope Im wrong, but Nico has the makings of one of those drivers who get one shot at winning the title, and this year was that chance. I will be surprised if he can recover from the mental brusing that Lewis has dished out for the second half of this year. For the benefit of the competition, I hope he does.

    I think next year will be a the real test for Nico. Can he come out all guns blazing and take the fight to Lewis as he did earlier in the year? Or will he retreat into being a solid number 2 driver? If he already hasnt ? One hopes that it is the former, because otherwise, we are going to have another 2011 on our hands next year. The advantage the Merc has is so significant that I doubt one winter of development will allow anybody to catch them. Of course, there is a chance for someone to surprise, chiefly looking to Red Bull, and hopefully Mclaren.

    Here’s to Nico showing up for a fight next year and the rest of the grid finding a magic formula over the winter!

    1. Has nothing to do with metal strength. That’s just something the journalists make up to “explain” a string of results. Or when the “momentum” (another made up journo buzzword) shifts.

      Rosberg has been slower (and less able to overtake) than Hamilton pretty much all season and Hamilton has been having more technical issues which kept things somewhat level on points.

    2. The thing about that is, and it was shown again in the pre podium room, Nico fears other teams. Nico is worried about other teams catching up and having to race them it would seem. If the grid caught Merc up and the top gets squeezed together I think this would only benefit Hamilton over Rosberg.

  8. Kimberley Barrass
    2nd November 2014, 23:52

    What’s up with Nico?

    I always thought Lewis was more likely to be a better driver, but having been seriously impressed with Nico last year and at the start of this, his second half of the season has left me undecided as to whether he is really not as good as he was showing last year and early this year, or whether Lewis has stepped it up a bit.

    The thing is, I am still really impressed with Nico’s qualifying. That has blown me away this year, but is racecraft is almost clumsy. What’s going on?

    1. I think Lewis is just the better racer. We’ve all heard about how analytical Nico is & seen him make adjustments & beat Hamilton several times in qualifying after the benefit of sitting down & identifying his mistakes, studying data & making sensible setup changes to see where he can improve…
      But a huge part of racing is instinctive, & this is where Hamilton undoubtedly has the edge. He’s more decisive, more adaptable on the fly, settles into his “zone” quicker & is better able to compensate for any deficiencies in his car. Rosberg is a good, solid driver, but seems to overdrive when under pressure in a race & isn’t able to pull that last little bit of pace out of the car like we’ve seen from drivers like Alonso & Lewis (& Vettel in the perfect Red Bull of old, to be honest). He can’t sustain driving at 10/10ths for too long. His race craft just isn’t on the level of Hamilton’s. The wheel to wheel scenario has played out repeatedly this season & Rosberg hasn’t come out on top even once.

    2. By fans standards you are only good as your last race. Oversimplification and overblowness defines all forums…

    3. But you see the first 5 races was 4 – 1 in Hamilton’s favour. Then we began to have lots technical issues and strange events which more often than not, was to Rosberg’s benefit. The reality is that whenever they both had to fight for the win, which has been a rare event, Hamilton has always come out in front.

  9. I think Hamilton has confirmed yet again that he is an intelligent and superlative driver, when it comes to race spec. When there are no mechanical issues or DNF’s he has outwitted and out driven Rosberg on every occasion. Unfortunately the double points situation could stop him winning the WDC, should he experience another DNF. Even Toto Wolff now regrets voting for the double points rule.

  10. I am not a Hamilton fan, i personally like Nico better but I have to hand it to the guy, he drove phenomenal. As much as I would’ve liked to see Rosberg win the title I think Lewis deserves it. Its clear that he has had the upper hand and today’s performance proved that. If Mercedes maintains their supremacy I could see Rosberg as a stronger title contender. Anyways congratulations to Hamilton on his win today, well deserved.

    1. As more of a Rosberg fan I hope that he will be stronger next season…

  11. Look at Rosberg’s wins this season
    Australia-Hamilton Retired
    Monaco-qualifying is all about.blocked hamiltons qualifying
    Germany-Hamiltons Mechanical failiure in qualifying.
    Austria-Only race he won on merit.Spa Rosberg Colided with Hamilton.This is not to criticise Rosberg he is a very good driver he can win the race whenever Hamilton had problems that is more important.

  12. Lewis’ overtake on Nico was like taking candy from a kid who won’t share.

  13. Seriously as much as Hamilton deserves the title, it’s never won untill final race. But for Hamilton good thing is he can finish 2nd in final 2 races and yet win.

    Realistically only reliability can stop him. We have seen it in past when driver finishing 2nd deserved title more than one who won. Like 2005, 2003, 1996 and 1997 are at top of my mind.

    1. Can’t agree on any of those seasons.

      Besides, it has rarely been as clear cut as this season. Like in 2009 when Vettel should have really taken the championship, because the car made that possible. Yet he threw away bucketloads of points with all his crashes (and lack of overtaking). So who is most deserving then?

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