Lewis Hamilton got his championship challenge back on track in the United States - and he did it in record-breaking style…
- With victory in Austin, Lewis Hamilton became the third driver in F1 history to reach 50 career wins, following in the wheel tracks of Alain Prost (51) and Michael Schumacher (91).
- Prost and Schumacher weren’t the only legends that Hamilton emulated in Austin – he also matched his hero Ayrton Senna’s record of wins from pole position (29) and wins in the United States (5).
- Hamilton, who has seven wins this season, has now won four of the five races held at the Circuit of The Americas to date (and five of the last six in the USA). Sebastian Vettel remains the only other driver to have won in Austin.
Lewis Hamilton has won four of the five races held at the Circuit of the Americas to date. © Sutton Images
- Nico Rosberg came home second to secure a fifth one-two of the year for Mercedes. The Silver Arrows finished first and second with their drivers in the same positions in Austin last year.
- Daniel Ricciardo’s third place finish gave him his seventh podium of the year, which means he is now just one rostrum finish away from equalling his personal best haul for a single season of eight, set in 2014.
- Sebastian Vettel extended his run without a podium to four races, and has now scored just one rostrum in his last ten Grands Prix, continuing his worst run of form since his first full season in F1 with Toro Rosso in 2008.
- Vettel did however leapfrog team mate Kimi Raikkonen for fourth in the drivers’ standings, and the Ferrari man also recorded the fastest lap for the 27th time in his career.
- Vettel’s fastest lap of 1m 39.877s was a full 1.964s faster than the next best in the race, which was Kimi Raikkonen’s 1m 41.841s.
Carlos Sainz equalled his best ever F1 finish with sixth. © Sutton Images
- McLaren recorded their second double points finish in three races, and fourth overall this season. Fernando Alonso’s fifth place equalled his best result of the year from Monaco.
- Fellow Spaniard Carlos Sainz meanwhile also equalled his best result of the year with sixth, the same result he achieved on home soil in Spain (which also happened to be his best ever F1 finish). The Toro Rosso ace now has 38 points – exactly 20 more than he scored last season.
- Williams closed the gap to Force India in the constructors’ standings by two points as Felipe Massa finished seventh to Sergio Perez’s eighth. For Massa it was his best result since round four in Russia when he came fifth.
- Haas celebrated their first ever race on home soil with their first point-scoring finish in nine races; Romain Grosjean crossing the line in tenth place for his fifth top ten finish of the year.
