MOTORSPORT: Hamilton higher than cloud nine

Lewis Hamilton is Formula 1’s world champion for the sixth time and is feeling higher than cloud nine.

While well-worn tyres after just one stop in the United States Grand Prix prevented him holding off Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas on fresher rubber after two stops, second place was enough for Hamilton to overtake Juan-Manuel Fangio’s five world titles.

He’s now just one title behind Michael Schumacher, eight race victories behind Schumi’s record 91 GP wins, and just five short of another of the German’s records – 156 podiums.

And the bad news for his rivals is that Hamilton, still only 34, is feeling “as fresh as can be” and has vowed he won’t be letting up in the remaining two races this season – in Brazil in two weeks and then Abu Dhabi – let alone next year.

After a qualifying session in which the fastest Mercedes (Bottas), Ferrari (Sebastian Vettel) and Red Bull-Honda (Max Verstappen) were within a tenth of a second around the Circuit of the Americas in Texas, the Ferraris were never a threat in the race.

They struggled to get their tyres up to temperature at the start, Vettel was an early retirement with a rear suspension failure and Charles Leclerc finished more than 52 seconds behind victor Bottas – and more than 47 behind third-placed Verstappen.

Daniel Ricciardo was fifth for much of the race in his Renault but lost a place late to Red Bull’s flying Alex Albon, who was on fresh rubber after three stops.

But, most importantly, the carsales.com.au global ambassador was ahead of the Renault-powered McLarens of Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz Junior, helping to narrow the gap between the customer and the factory teams for fourth place in the constructors’ championship to 38 points (121-83).

It was Ricciardo’s first finish in the US since 2016 and his sixth place matched Renault’s best result at the Austin circuit, while teammate Nico Hulkenberg finished ninth.

Ricciardo started from ninth but was sixth by the end of lap two and fifth by lap eight.

He pitted on laps 21 for the hard-compound tyre – his only stop in the 56-lap race.

“We’ve had a lot of fun races this year and this one is certainly up there,” Ricciardo said.

“The one-stop was the plan and it looked like others on the two-stop would get close at the end, which made things a bit nervy.

“We reached our target of beating both McLarens, so that’s really pleasing.

“It was a strong race and we showed good pace.

“I enjoyed the battle with Lando as I passed him and he passed me back a couple of times at the start and then put some pressure on towards the end.

“We held on for sixth, so it’s solid points for the team with Nico in the top 10 as well.”

Renault announced over the weekend it has recruited highly-regarded engineer and strategist Pat Fry and aerodynamicist Matt de Beer for next season.

While Bottas has now won four GPs this year – his most in a season – his latest victory was overshadowed by Hamilton, who has had 10 wins this season but started only fifth in Austin, going 67 points clear to seal his fifth crown in six years.

Hamilton paid tribute to Niki Lauda, the Austrian triple world champion driver who, as the Mercedes team’s executive chairman until his death in May, lured the Brit away from McLaren, where he had won his first world title in 2008.

He also sent a cheerio to Ron Dennis, the former McLaren chief who gave him his start in F1 after being pestered for years by the upstart karter.

“Right now it’s hard to understand what I’m feeling – just pure happiness,” Hamilton said.

“Cloud nine doesn’t even get close to where I am – I’m somewhere far above that. This has been the hardest year that I can remember. It’s been so challenging.”

Hamilton alluded to “ups and downs outside the sport” as much as the greater competitiveness of Ferrari and Red Bull in the second half of the season.

“It’s really hard for people probably to fully appreciate that,” he said.