US GP: ten talking points from a weekend of F1

Lewis Hamilton secured his third world championship crown on Sunday, as an extraordinary race provided a fitting backdrop for the 30-year-old to draw level with the likes of racing legends Jackie Stewart and Ayrton Senna.

The Briton took the lead from his teammate in the first corner immediately after lights out, but lost it later on as the Red Bulls of Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo shone in the wet conditions.

Hamilton struggled during the middle part of the grand prix as Nico Rosberg regained the lead on a drying circuit, but he eventually found himself in a winning position after the German made a mistake eight laps from the end.

An emotional Lewis hailed it “the greatest moment of my life” as he failed to hold back the tears over the team radio, later saying: “Remembering my first British Championship, when my dad and me drove home singing 'We Are the Champions', thinking about how much my family sacrificed...

“This team has been so amazing. I feel incredibly thankful.”

Lewis’s victory was somewhat overshadowed by the lack of love between the two Mercedes drivers, no doubt fuelled by the fact that Hamilton’s pass on the first lap saw the teammates make contact in Turn 1.

It caused Rosberg to fall from first to fifth, with the German later saying: “He didn't leave enough space and drove into me, which was one step too far because I was leading in the middle of the corner.”

Hamilton responded after the race: "Of course, there are always those comments that come up, but I would never intentionally do something like that to my teammate."

Toto Wolff confirmed that the situation would be discussed within the team at a later date.

Things got worse in the drivers room after the race, where Hamilton (a tad inconsiderately) chucked the second place baseball cap into Nico’s lap. The runner-up reacted by lobbing it back at his rival, and refrained from taking part in the champagne celebrations minutes later.

Think Mark Webber and the ‘Multi 21’ stand-off, but much, much more uncomfortable.

All of the action in Austin was crammed into the final day of the race weekend, as the outskirts of Hurricane Patricia made the Circuit of the Americas almost completely undriveable through Friday and Saturday.

Organisers took the rare measure of postponing quali until Sunday morning, although they only got as far as Q2 before another downpour forced them to cancel the top-ten showdown.

Several drivers voiced concerns that even the second session was a stretch too far, with Lotus's Romain Grosjean observing: “I told my engineers this is getting really bad. Even five seconds behind the car in front, you couldn't see anything.”

The rain did eventually ease enough for the race to take place, and ironically it was the changing conditions that gave the fans the barnstorming race they deserved for their incredible patience over the course of the weekend.

With very little happening out on track on Saturday, there was at least plenty of action in the pit lane as the teams tried to distract themselves from the repeated postponement of sessions.

Bowling, rowing, juggling, breakdancing, football and tub racing all featured, while Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat managed to catch up on their “weekly dancing lessons” outside the Red Bull garage.

Good news followed for the fans as well, as the pit lane was opened to compensate for the lack of running while the supporters endured hours of wind and rain.

One spectator from New York said in a TV interview that just “hanging out in the crowd with all these amazing fans” had made the journey worthwhile. “Look at this view here,” said the enthusiastic fan. “We get to see the cars, the drivers have been out here, it’s been amazing!”

#blessed

The four time constructors champions provided a reminder of their glory days in the early part of the grand prix as their chassis excelled in the wet conditions.

Daniil Kvyat was all over the back of Lewis Hamilton moments before Daniel Ricciardo got past and into the lead, and for a short while it looked like the Aussie was on for a win, until the surface dried and scuppered their hopes of victory.

“To see the Mercs not getting away from us was awesome,” said Ricciardo after eventually finishing tenth. “In the lead we were quite quick for a few laps and it felt like old times. That obviously didn’t last long and once we put the slicks on we just didn’t have the pace.”

Meanwhile Red Bull appear increasingly desperate to find a power unit for next season, with struggling manufacturers Honda reportedly the focus of their latest discussions.

A decision on their future is thought to be due at the end of the month, although McLaren racing director Eric Boullier has said the Woking team “don’t want to share” their engine partner with a rival.

The Red Bull sister team produced another remarkable result in Texas at the weekend, with Max Verstappen matching their season’s best of fourth in Hungary a few months ago.

The teenager had been running in the final podium position nine laps from the finish, but was unable to keep the superior Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel behind him.

Carlos Sainz also did an excellent job by coming home in sixth having crashed in qualifying earlier in the day, but was later demoted to seventh after receiving a five second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

Team principal Franz Tost later congratulated both drivers on a “great job”, and also praised the engineers for repairing the Spaniard’s car in time for the start of the grand prix.

The young drivers’ exploits feature among the highlights of the season, and the paddock would surely be a poorer place without them should Dietrich Mateschitz pull the plug in the coming weeks.

F1’s tyre supplier has announced that it will be introducing a new compound next season in order to give teams more flexibility over their strategy in 2016.

The ‘ultrasoft’ tyre will join the iterations currently on offer, and Pirelli have invited fans to vote on the colour used to mark out the compound on each of the tyres’ sidewalls.

The poll closes after the next race in Mexico City, with the result due sometime after that.

Silver and purple are the two options on offer, with the latter seeming to be the most popular as things stand.

As the saying goes, try and try again.

Kimi Raikkonen was forced to do exactly that after his race was seemingly ended by a visit to the barriers on lap 20, causing damage at the front of his car.

It transpired that the Ferrari was well enough to get back to the pits, but “then I got stuck to that advertising board, so I had to try to work with the steering wheel to get the board,” said the Finn.

Kimi eventually broke free and limped back to the garage, although he only managed a further six laps before retiring from the race.

His teammate Vettel meanwhile avoided any such mishaps to finish on the podium after a ten-place grid penalty had left him struggling to keep the championship race alive.

In the event, Seb came close to winning the race, but a late Safety Car in the final stages allowed Lewis Hamilton to pit for the set of new tyres which eventually carried him to victory.

If the wanton objectification wasn’t enough, the weather in Austin revealed another tough aspect of pit girls’ lives which sometimes goes unnoticed.

As the grid lined up at the Circuit of the Americas, the rain continued to pour down with everyone in the paddock donning all kinds of waterproof gear to keep the elements at bay.

Except, that is, for the models, who were left exposed to Hurricane Patricia in what can broadly be described as ‘inadequate’ attire for the conditions in Texas.

Surely a supply of umbrellas wouldn’t be too much of a stretch for F1’s budget?

The beleaguered Woking outfit came agonisingly close to getting both drivers in the points for only the second time this season, but a late engine problem ruined what Fernando Alonso otherwise described as “one of the best races of my career".

"We were one minute behind the penultimate car on lap two, then we were fifth 10 laps from the end and the pace was really strong," said the Spaniard. "It would have been a little miracle what nearly happened today... So the feeling now is a little more sad than happy."

Jenson Button, though, was disappointed with his pace despite finishing sixth, having previously stated he’d hoped to be “annihilated” by an upgrade only afforded to his teammate in Texas.

The veteran crossed the line behind an impressive Sergio Perez, who stretched his lead over Force India teammate Nico Hulkenberg to 26 points after the German DNFed for the third time in four races.

Perez’s home grand prix takes place in Mexico this weekend. Bring it on.