Hamilton wins his fifth consecutive race of 2014 at Austin

Hamilton wins his fifth consecutive race of 2014 at Austin to extend his Championship lead

This evening we saw Lewis Hamilton becoming the most successful British Formula One driver and clinching his fifth consecutive win and also his tenth win of the 2014 season at the United States Grand Prix ahead of his team mate Nico Rosberg in second place and Daniel Ricciardo in third place.

In an action-packed race, we saw at the start of the race both of the Mercedes drivers making good starts as well as Felipe Massa who had a blistering start and was able to pass Valtteri Bottas for position. Daniel Ricciardo had an bad start and lost a few places.

Towards the end of the first lap, an incident between Sergio Perez and Adrian Sutil where Perez went into too deep into the corner, hit the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen and also hit the Sauber of Adrian Sutil which brought out the Safety Car until Lap 5. The stewards announced that there will be investigating the incident between Perez and Sutil after the race.

We did during the course of the race many drivers being investigated for speeding in the pit lane either under the Safety Car or not. With drivers such as Jenson Button, Esteban Guiterrez, Pastor Maldonado and Jean-Eric Vergne. But Pastor Maldonado did receive a five second stop and go penalty for speeding in the pit lane which was added to his race time but still ended up finishing in the points in tenth place.

Throughout the race, we saw many battles going on up and down the field. There were battles between Daniel Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso who for several laps were going wheel to wheel which Ricciardo won and finished ahead of Alonso in a brilliant third place. We also saw Jenson Button especially battling with drivers such as Romain Grosjean, Jean-Eric Vergne, Sebastian Vettel and Pastor Maldonado throughout the race but sadly didn't have the pace to finish in the points and finished the race in twelfth place.

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg had a close battle at the front of the grid with Hamilton after his first pit stop gaining all the time on Rosberg. However, in a cracking move on Lap 24, Hamilton was able to pass Rosberg for the lead of the race and had to keep pushing to keep Rosberg behind him.

Sebastian Vettel had a great race after starting from the pit lane and finished the race in seventh place after battling through the grid in the latter stages of the race with fresher tyres. Also in the latter stages of the race, Jean-Eric Vergne and Pastor Maldonado were battling with each other alongside Jenson Button and Romain Grosjean for the final point positions.

But it was Lewis Hamilton who won the Grand Prix in Austin and extending his championship lead to his team mate and championship rival Nico Rosberg by 24 points heading into Brazil next weekend. This is the first time that Hamilton has won five consecutive Grand Prix for the first time in his career.

Nico Rosberg finished in second place ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in third place who had a brilliant race after using an aggressive strategy was able to undercut the Williams drivers of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas who finished in fourth and fifth places.

Fernando Alonso after battling with the Red Bull drivers in various stages of the race finished in sixth place ahead of Sebastian Vettel in a credible seventh place after a tough weekend. Vettel finished ahead of Kevin Magnussen in eighth place who battled solidly for some much needed points for the McLaren team. Magnussen finished ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne in ninth place and Pastor Maldonado in tenth who scored his first point of the season as a Lotus driver.

Romain Grosjean finished the race in eleventh place one lap down on Hamilton after battling throughout the race with Jenson Button who finished in twelfth one lap down after a promising race who struggled with the rear end of his car during the race. Button finished ahead of Kimi Raikkonen one lap down in thirteenth place, Esteban Guiterrez one lap down in fourteenth place and Daniil Kvyat one lap down in fifteenth place who had collected some damage in the latter stages of the race on his Toro Rosso.

The non finishers of the race was Nico Hulkenberg who retired his car from the race and also his team mate Sergio Perez and Adrian Sutil who both had to retire due to the incident between the pair of them on Lap 1 of the Grand Prix.

The classification of the race at the United States Grand Prix is as follows below:-

Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1.40.04.785
Nico Rosberg Mercedes 4.314s
Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 25.560s
Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 26.924s
Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 30.992s
Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1.35.231s
Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1.35.734s
Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1.40.682s
Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1.43.863s
Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 1.47.870s
Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1 lap
Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1 lap
Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1 lap
Esteban Guiterrez Sauber-Ferrari 1 lap
Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1 lap
Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes DNF
Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes DNF
Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari DNF

[NB: Pastor Maldonado's five second stop and go penalty for speeding in the pitlane during the race has been applied to the race result]

Update on the official result of the US GP

After the United States Grand Prix yesterday, Toro Rosso driver Jean-Eric Vergne has dropped to tenth in the official results for the US GP after being hit with a five-second penalty for hitting Romain Grosjean off the track.

While fighting over the final few points-paying positions at the 56-lap Austin race, Vergne pushed into Grosjean’s Lotus as he made his way past at Turn 1. Grosjean was forced off the track by the incident and finished 11th to the Toro Rosso driver’s P9.

The incident was later investigated with stewards handing Vergne a five-second post-race penalty that drops him to tenth, elevating Grosjean’s team-mate Pastor Maldonado to ninth.

In a statement from the stewards stated the following on the subject:-

'The driver of car 25 (Vergne) is considered to be predominantly at fault for the contact with car 8 (Grosjean) in turn 1 and the consequent forcing of car 8 off the track.'

Vergne was also handed a single penalty point and pushed his tally for the 12 month period to three.
Also, Force India driver Sergio Perez has been slapped with a seven-place grid penalty for the Brazilian GP for “reckless” driving in Sunday’s US race.

Perez was involved in a collision on Lap 2 at the Circuit of the Americas that forced himself and Adrian Sutil into retirement. And although Perez insisted Sutil had “closed the door” on him, the stewards deemed Perez responsible.

The statement issued by the stewards after the race confirmed the following:-

'The driver of car 11 could not reasonably have expected to complete the maneuver. His collision with car 99 was reckless.'

They also handed Perez a seven-place starting grid penalty for this coming Sunday’s Brazilian GP.

Overall, it is clear that the stewards believed that Vergne and Perez were to blame for their incidents in the race yesterday and the stewards have punished them in the manner that they feel is necessary. Even though I do agree with both punishments that Vergne and especially Perez have been issued from the stewards, all both drivers can do is take the penalties, learn from their mistakes and ensure that it doesn't happen again for the remainder of the season.

Report Sarah Jones

In race commentary Ben Stevens