After four consecutive wins at Monza, Singapore, Suzuka and Sochi, Lewis Hamilton looked to be the favourite for round 17 of this thrilling 2014 World Championship. The Mercedes drivers were separated by just 17 points heading to the Circuit of the Americas.
That excellent form certainly continued into FP1 at the COTA in which he was nearly three tenths faster than his team mate – Nico Rosberg. Lewis carried the momentum into FP2 to go fastest once again, however, this time Nico was much closer losing out to his team mate by three thousandths of a second. In FP3 the German encountered braking issues and traffic impeding his hot laps meaning he was over eight tenths of a second slower than the Brit at the end of the final practice session.
Mercedes United States GP Review: Hamilton Edges Towards Title
Rosberg languished in fourth place at the end of the first qualifying session while Hamilton was over half a second quicker than anyone else – things were not looking good for the man who needs the momentum back in the championship fight. Q2 saw the German’s return to form as he went just under a second quicker than his team mate. The Silver Arrows took their tenth front row lockout of the season and their sixth in a row in Q3 headed by Nico Rosberg, his team mate struggled three tenths behind in second.
Both Mercedes drivers made good starts and remained in their respective qualifying positions through the first lap, in the safety car period and until lap 16 when Nico made his first pit stop. Lewis pitted a lap later and re-joined 2 seconds behind his team mate.
Just before the halfway point on lap 24 Hamilton made the spectacular race winning move down the inside of turn 12, he then held the gap to Rosberg at around two seconds. Then came the last round of pit stops for the Silver Arrows on laps 34 and 35, in which Lewis had track position and therefore stopped first. After the stops, the gap remained at around four seconds until lap 37 when Nico took a second out of Lewis’ lead setting the fastest lap of the race in the process.
The Mercedes pair were then at a stalemate, separated by between two and three seconds until the final lap when they had to make their way through the battling back markers. This opened up the gap to four seconds giving Hamilton a comfortable lead to weave in celebration up to the chequered flag. This meant that he extended his championship lead to 24 points and became the most successful British F1 driver in history with 32 race wins across his eight year career.
With two rounds of the championship to go and 75 points available, only the two Mercedes drivers remain in the title fight. A DNF for Hamilton and a win for Rosberg at Interlagos would give the German a single point lead over the Brit heading to Abu Dahbi, which would mean whoever finished first on track would take the title. However, if the Silver Arrows were to finish in the same positions at Interlagos as they did at the COTA, Nico would have to win the final race of the season and Lewis would have to finish sixth or lower for Rosberg to win the championship.
It’s still all to play for but Hamilton looks to be in control heading to the penultimate round of the 2014 world championship.
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