MOTORSPORT: 50th GP win for Mercedes man Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton is small in stature but he's huge in Texas, even more so today after having won the United States Grand Prix in the state's capital, Austin, for the fourth time in five years.

Hamilton has narrowed Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg's Formula 1 World Championship lead to 26 points with three races remaining – in Mexico next Monday morning, Australian time, then Sao Paulo in Brazil on November 13 and Abu Dhabi in the Middle East on November 27.

This was Hamilton's third straight US GP victory – and his fifth in total, having won the last at Indianapolis in 2007 – but his first in recent months since the German race at Hockenheim at the end of July.

It was also the 50th win of Hamilton's F1 career, just one short now of the great Frenchman Alain Prost but still well short of German Michael Schumacher's 91.

All of Hamilton's victories have come with Mercedes power – the first 21 of them in McLaren cars, the 29 since 2013 with the Mercedes factory team.

If he wins the last three GPs this season, Rosberg – second in today's race – only needs second places at most to be world champion for the first time – something Hamilton has already done three times, firstly with McLaren in 2008 and the past two seasons with Mercedes in the era of the V6 hybrids.

If Rosberg fails to finish any of the remaining races, Hamilton could pounce on a fourth title.

Australia's Daniel Ricciardo was third in Austin, but somewhat frustrated after running second early in the race, having started on supersoft tyres.

A virtual safety car period after Ricciardo's Red Bull Racing teammate Max Verstappen's transmission failed and he parked his car beside a gravel trap, requiring a crane to lift it out of the way, dealt the Mercedes pair "free" pitstops for tyre changes.

While Ricciardo may have found himself running second deep into the race without that, the reality was that the Mercs were going to finish first and second barring failures.

Apart from Verstappen, the other notable retirement was Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, whose right rear wheel was not properly attached as he left the pits after a tyre change.

Raikkonen came to a halt in the pit exit, then rolled back into the pit lane and, without any sign of Ferrari crew rushing to lend assistance, got out disconsolately.

Sebastian Vettel, the only other driver to have won the GP in Texas, finished fourth in the other Ferrari today and thought that was as much as was possible.

While Mercedes continues to dominate (it had already clinched the constructors' championship in Japan) and Renault-powered Red Bull confirms itself as the main challenger to the three-pointed star, the often-so-mighty Ferrari is a team in disarray.

Luca Baldisserri, former chief track engineer for the most successful and revered team in the sport's history, has told Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport: "They are no longer a team, but a group of scared people.

"Unfortunately, neither Marchionne [Fiat and Ferrari chief Sergio Marchionne] nor Arrivabene [Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene] have experience in racing – a culture that the scuderia [team] of today has lost.

"There is a climate of fear. The boys [in the crew] don't take risks for fear of being fired in disgrace."

McLaren had a poor race on the Suzuka 'home ground' of its Japanese power unit partner Honda two weeks ago, but the combination was mightily impressive in Austin, courtesy of two experienced ace drivers, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button.

Alonso's overtakes of Felipe Massa's Williams and the Ferrari-powered Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz Junior in the closing laps to finish fifth were a reminder of the Spanish two-time world champion's genius, aggression and racecraft.

Button, another world champion, came through the field from 19th to ninth in a car still clearly not in the league of the Mercs, Red Bulls, Ferraris or the Mercedes-powered Williams and Force Indias.

Sainz was unlucky to lose a spot at the end to his Spanish compatriot and childhood hero after a sterling drive that again marked him as a young man deserving equipment better than a Toro Rosso with a year-old Ferrari power unit.

And the first-year American team Haas was back in the points after its recent dry run, Frenchman Romain Grosjean picking up one for 10th place in another car with 2015 Ferrari power.

Compared with some other outfits that have appeared in F1 over the years, Haas has been a fine example of how to go about it, with 29 points to its credit now.

Formula 1 World Championship driver standings after 18 of 21 rounds – 1. Nico Rosberg (Germany, Mercedes) 331 points; 2. Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain, Mercedes) 305; 3. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia, Red Bull-Renault) 227; 4. Sebastian Vettel (Germany, Ferrari) 177; 5. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland, Ferrari) 170; 6. Max Verstappen (Netherlands, Red Bull-Renault) 165; 7. Sergio Perez (Mexico, Force India-Mercedes) 84; 8. Valtteri Bottas (Finland, Williams-Mercedes) 81; 9. Nico Hulkenberg (Germany, Force India-Mercedes) 54; 10. Fernando Alonso (Spain, McLaren-Honda) 52; 11. Felipe Massa (Brazil, Williams-Mercedes) 49; 12. Carlos Sainz Junior (Spain, Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 38; 13. Romain Grosjean (France, Haas-Ferrari) 29; 14. Daniil Kvyat (Russia, Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 25; 15. Jenson Button (GB, McLaren-Honda) 21; 16. Kevin Magnussen (Denmark, Renault) 7; 17. Jolyon Palmer (GB, Renault) 1; 18. Pascal Wehrlein (Germany, Manor-Mercedes) 1; 19. Stoffel Vandoorne (Belgium, McLaren-Honda) 1.

F1 constructor standings – 1. Mercedes 636 points; 2. Red Bull-Renault 400; 3. Ferrari 347; 4. Force India-Mercedes 138; 5. Williams-Mercedes 130; 6. McLaren-Honda 74; 7.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari 55; 8. Haas-Ferrari 29; 9. Renault 8; 10. Manor-Mercedes 1.

F4 crucible for drivers on the way up
For two years Formula 4 has been Australia's category for young race drivers with aspirations of competing overseas or in Supercars at home – and both times the F4 title has been won by a racer from Toowoomba, also home-town to IndyCar star Will Power.

The latest to emerge is Will Brown, 18, who has won this season's six-round series after taking rookie of the year honours last season with third place.

The inaugural winner was Jordan Lloyd. He and Brown both became champions driving for Team BRM (Bronte Rundle Motorsport).

Lloyd used his prize to compete in this year's US Formula 2000 series, in which he finished fourth. Another Australian, Anthony Martin, from Kalgoorlie, won the US F2000 title with 394 points to Lloyd's 276.

The Australian F4 rookie of the year in the season that concluded at the Gold Coast at the weekend was Victorian teenager Simon Fallon with DREAM Motorsport.