Facebook Tweet Pinterest Email Lewis Hamilton hit a home run in Saturday’s Formula 1 US Grand Prix but will have to wait at least one more week for the title as his rival Sebastian Vettel took second.

Having topped every session of the weekend, Hamilton suffered a minor setback when Vettel passed the Mercedes into turn one on the start but the situation was quickly rectified when – on lap six and with his tires well into their working window – Hamilton made the most of a DRS advantage to retake the position.

“We had a beautiful day today, I love this track – I think this track is now my favorite to be honest,” said Hamilton. “I just honestly loved the swing of the corners today. I think because the wind was going that way (a tail-wind down the main straight) it gave us the best platform to work with.

Although he didn’t manage to clinch the drivers’ crown at the Circuit of The Americas, Hamilton heads to Mexico in just one weeks’ time with a 66-point advantage – meaning that even if Vettel takes the race win, fifth place would be good enough to take the big prize home.

“It’s been an incredible year so far,” said Hamilton. “I really enjoy driving the car. I was not expecting us to have the pace we had over Sebastian today but the car felt fantastic. They go the right balance at the start but there’s still three to go and three to win.”

Vettel, his championship hopes now hanging by a thread, drove the wheels off his Ferrari on an alternative two stop strategy to recover second place ahead of teammate Kimi Raikkonen.

“At the start it was looking good,” said Vettel. “Obviously we got past Lewis but then, fairly quickly, we had to realize that we couldn’t go at his pace today so well done to him.

“Then I think we were in no man’s land. It was close after the first stop again but then stuck again. Towards the end we decided to pit again – fit a fresh set of tires and which was a bit more exciting the last couple of laps especially but overall not the result we wanted.”

While Max Verstappen initially crossed the line in third place, the race stewards wasted no time in handing the place back to Raikkonen after they judged that Verstappen’s pass had been made by leaving the racetrack to gain an unfair advantage.

Valtteri Bottas completed the top five on a day which saw Mercedes take the constructors’ crown for the fourth season running – a run stretching back to 2014 and the beginning of the V6 hybrid era.