MOTORSPORT: Ricciardo out front, Hamilton triple champ

Daniel Ricciardo led a Grand Prix for the first time this year in Texas today before Lewis Hamilton clinched the Formula 1 world championship – his third and becoming the first Englishman to take back-to-back F1 titles.

Ricciardo called it “a crazy race” in the aftermath of the drenching rain from Hurricane Patricia which produced several race leaders and multiple safety car and virtual safety car interventions.

Fortune favoured Hamilton when it was others who needed the luck, particularly his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel to have kept the drivers’ championship alive.

Mercedes had already won the constructors’ championship for the second straight season of his V6 hybrid era.

Rosberg was squeezed wide at the first corner by Hamilton and lost the advantage of his pole position, but late in the race he was leading and seemingly headed for victory when he made a mistake – which he attributed to mysterious wheelspin – and Hamilton pounced.

Ferrari’s strategy with Vettel looked right mid-race but a later safety car swung the pendulum back the way of Mercedes.  

Rosberg and Vettel crossed the finish line close behind Hamilton, while Max Verstappen was a brilliant fourth less than a month after turning 18 and his Toro Rosso-Renault teammate Carlos Sainz Junior, just three years older, sixth – which became seventh with a five-second penalty – after starting from the back of the field.

Ricciardo and his Red Bull-Renault teammate Daniil Kyvat mixed it with the Mercs early while the track was wet and intermediate tyres in use, but they struggled as it dried and slick tyres came into play.

Ricciardo said it initially had “felt like old times” - he won three GPs with Red Bull last year – but he slipped to 10th at the finish while Kyvat crashed – and almost took out the Aussie in the process.

Red Bull’s engine supply is still not resolved for next season, but McLaren chief Ron Dennis is adamant it not get Honda’s power unit and Mercedes and Ferrari won’t want to give it latest-specification equipment.

The energy drink company’s tycoon Dietrich Mateschitz’s deadline is looming this week ahead of the reborn Mexican GP.

The Renault power disadvantage was neutralised in the damp conditions during the first half of today’s race at the Circuit of the Americas and Red Bull team principal Christian Horner called the performance of his cars “really encouraging”.

“We were very competitive on the intermediate tyres, which allowed Ricciardo to take the lead and build on it, before we made a double stop, bringing both cars in together,” Horner said.

“We looked in good shape at that point, but unfortunately our pace on the dry tyres was simply not as competitive as the Mercedes and the Ferrari.

“In particular, we struggled to get the tyres up to temperature at the re-starts, especially after the second safety car period.

“After that our race unraveled with Daniil’s accident, which caused the final safety car (and the Russian admitted he had driven beyond his limits).

“Daniel was involved in a collision with Sainz and that meant he needed a further pit stop, after which he fought back to grab the last available point on the last lap.

“So a disappointing finish after a strong start.”

Fun for a while but in the end just one point

Seven laps in the lead of the United States GP at his favourite track had Daniel Ricciardo smiling broadly under his helmet, even if it didn’t end up being any seventh heaven.

“The beginning was really fun between both Mercs and both Red Bulls,” Ricciardo said.

Rosberg and Hamilton started on the front row and Ricciardo and Kyvat on the second after an abbreviated qualifying session in the wet, while Vettel’s 10-place penalty for Ferrari’s engine upgrades left him 13th on the grid.

“It was a good four-way battle early,” Ricciardo said.

“To see the Mercs not getting away from us was awesome.
“I was enjoying that.

“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.

“We struggled to warm up the tyres and also struggled a lot with braking.

“It was so tricky in the dry and then there were the collisions with [Nico] Hulkenberg (of Force India-Mercedes) and Carlos [Sainz].

“It went downhill from then on.

“Even though we were on slicks it was never really dry out there.

“The kerbs were slippery and there was still a bit of a puddle through turns nine and 10, so it was definitely tricky.

“Dany [Kyvat] spun off just in front of me on to the Astroturf and into the wall.

“It was a crazy race … quite action-packed.”

Formula 1 drivers’ championship standings after 16 of 19 rounds – 1. Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain, Mercedes) 327 points; 2. Sebastian Vettel (Germany, Ferrari) 251; 3. Nico Rosberg (Germany, Mercedes) 247; 4. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland, Ferrari) 123; 5. Valtteri Bottas (Finland, Williams-Mercedes) 111; 6. Felipe Massa (Brazil, Williams-Mercedes) 109; 7. Daniil Kvyat (Russia, Red Bull-Renault) 76; 8. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia, Red Bull-Renault) 74; 9. Sergio Perez (Mexico, Force India-Mercedes) 64; 10. Max Verstappen (Netherlands, Toro Rosso-Renault) 45; 11. Romain Grosjean (France, Lotus-Mercedes) 44; 12. Nico Hulkenberg (Germany, Force India-Mercedes) 38; 13. Felipe Nasr (Brazil, Sauber-Ferrari) 27; 14. Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela, Lotus-Mercedes) 26; 15. Carlos Sainz Junior (Spain, Toro Rosso-Renault) 18; 16. Jenson Button (GB, McLaren-Honda) 16; 17. Fernando Alonso (Spain, McLaren-Honda) 11; 18. Marcus Ericsson (Sweden, Sauber-Ferrari) 9.      

F1 constructors’ championship – 1. Mercedes 574 points; 2. Ferrari 374; 3. Williams-Mercedes 220; 4. Red Bull-Renault 150; 5. Force India-Mercedes 102; 6. Lotus-Mercedes 70; 7. Toro Rosso-Renault 63; 8. Sauber-Ferrari 36; 9. McLaren-Honda 27.