Hamilton wins 3rd World Title in Austin thriller - US Grand Prix 2015

Lewis Hamilton has been crowned the 2015 Formula 1 World Champion after he took victory at the 2015 US Grand Prix. Nico Rosberg (2nd) and Sebastian Vettel (3rd) did not manage to score enough points to mathematically stay in the championship for the last 3 rounds.

Lewis Hamilton is the 2015 World Drivers Champion!

The race started off in intermediate conditions with Rosberg leading from pole with Hamilton behind in 2nd. Going up to Turn 1 Lewis Hamilton pulled a very risky and arrogant move up the inside by not turning the wheel fully which in turn led his team mate to run wide, dropping him (Rosberg) down to 4th.

However during the first part of the race run in intermediate conditions Mercedes were not the dominant team and Nico Rosberg was dominating Lewis Hamilton. Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo briefly led the race and pulled out a huge 9 second lead over the Mercedes. It wasn't to be though as once the switch over to slicks was made on lap 18-19 and Mercedes completely began to dominate to the end.

Red Bull were the strongest in the rain.

Even though when the slicks were on the Mercedes were the fastest on paper, 2 safety cars and 2 Virtual safety cars threatened to ruin the Constructor Champions day. During the first safety car period for Ericsson on lap 24, Sebastian Vettel pitted for mediums to go to the end, whilst Mercedes opted to stay out on softs and do a two stop race to the end. At this point it looked like Ferrari were best suited to win the race, but a VSC period laps later saw Rosberg get a free pit stop and get back ahead of Vettel. Had safety cars and VSC not played a part in pit stops Mercedes would still likely have won, but had only 1 safety car been deployed, Ferrari would have been in the hot seat to win.

There was 8 DNF's throughout the race with crashes and reliability problems. First to retire was Will Stevens on the first few laps and Valtteri Bottas following just laps later, both due to first corner incidents. Grosjean and Raikkonen retired with brake problems whilst Felipe Massa pulled up for an unknown reason. Marcus Ericsson called a safety car out when he lost power on the start of the back straight. Hulkenberg collided with Ricciardo taking him out of the race whilst Daniil Kvyat spun into the wall at the penultimate corner completing the 8 DNF's.

Force India's Nico Hulkenberg retired after colliding with Ricciardo.

The strongest race for me was by far run by Max Verstappen after making smart moves and staying patient. Mistakes from other cars allowed him to move up to a strong 4th place, equaling his best finish in Formula 1. Results like this will only reinforce that fact that Verstappen deserves a drive next season as it looks more likely that Toro Rosso won't exist in 2016.

Also another mention to Sergio Perez who had another strong finish with 5th place for Force India. He took his tires many laps and showed true skill in keeping the car out of trouble and waiting for the perfect time to pass Fernando Alonso for 5th. Perez is definately a driver to watch in 2016 as the new b spec Force India seems to suit Perez more than Hulkenberg.

The start of the race.

Lastly Jenson Button drove a typical Jenson race as he continued to fight and took home a strong and unexpected 6th place finish for McLaren-Honda. The Honda power unit seemed to hold up well on the long straights at COTA and it definately it proved reliable which was the main reason McLaren did so well today. Unlucky for Fernando Alonso to miss out on points.

Here is the order:

1) Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
2) Nico Rosberg - Mercedes
3) Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari
4) Max Verstappen - Toro Rosso-Renault
5) Sergio Perez - Force India-Mercedes
6) Jenson Button - McLaren-Honda
7) Carlos Sainz - Toro Rosso-Renault
8) Pastor Maldonado - Lotus-Mercedes
9) Felipe Nasr - Sauber-Ferrari
10) Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull Racing-Renault
11) Fernando Alonso - McLaren-Honda
12) Alex Rossi - Manor-Ferrari
13) Daniil Kvyat - Red Bull Racing-Renault (DNF)
14) Nico Hulkenberg - Force India-Mercedes (DNF)
15) Marcus Ericsson - Sauber-Ferrari (DNF)
16) Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari (DNF)
17) Felipe Massa - Williams (DNF)
18) Romain Grosjean - Lotus-Mercedes (DNF)
19) Valtteri Bottas - Williams-Mercedes (DNF)
20) Will Stevens - Manor-Ferrari (DNF)

So Lewis Hamilton is the World Champion and Mercedes are Constructors Champions leaving the mid field teams to be the most important ones in the championship now. McLaren v Sauber v Toro Rosso and Force India v Red Bull? It was a great race to watch today in the US and every team and driver had ups and downs. The next race will be run in Mexico and its a circuit that will favor a strong power unit. More to follow.

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Rain and Thunderstorms disrupt any suitable running in Texas - Practice 1 and 2 Analysis

Heavy thunderstorms and rain have severely disrupted Friday's practice session's for the 2015 US Grand Prix. Practice 1 saw limited running with the best times being set on intermediate tires. Unfortunately Practice 2 was abandoned as the weather worsened into a full blown thunderstorm.

Thunderstorms stopped FP2 from being run.

From the running we did have in practice 1, Nico Rosberg appeared to be the king of the conditions. He was 1.2 seconds up on the next best time from Daniil Kvyat in the Red Bull. Kvyat's team mate Daniel Ricciardo, finished 3rd just 3 tenths behind his team mate, rounding off a decent session for the Milton-Keynes based unit.

So what have we learned? Not much really. This running can't be a 100% representative of what we will see on Sunday, but it can't be 0% either as it appears the thunderstorm isn't going to stop any time soon.

Championship leader, Lewis Hamilton.

The teams which impressed from practice 1 were definitely both Renault powered teams, Red Bull and Toro Rosso. They finished 2nd and 3rd as well as 4th and 7th respectively. Daniil Kvyat led Ricciardo whilst Carlos Sainz led young gun Max Verstappen. These results are very out of place and the worsening conditions seem to favor the strong chassis both teams possess. Both teams will be one to watch if qualifying and the race are held in wet/intermediate condtions.

Renault aside, Williams looked relatively strong in there car which comes as a massive surprise given there cars track record with rain and there common strategy of running heavy fuel in practice. However we can't be sure if Williams opted to run the heavy fuel today which leaves the result a little in the dark on whether there is any more pace to find. Another team to watch on Sunday.

The team which didn't impress in practice 1 were Force India. They had a weak session with both cars outside the top 10. Sergio Perez led Nico Hulkenberg in 12th and 14th respectively. However I wouldn't be too worried if I was them as both drivers did only set 4 laps. Barely enough to make a judgment that they are weak here.

Force India didn't get much running in FP1.

Honestly there isn't too much to say about the on track action from FP1 and the endless walking around waiting for FP2 to never start. Off track news coming out of the US Grand Prix is that Jolyon Palmer has been selected to drive along Pastor Maldonado at Lotus next year. This is positive for Palmer himself who has appeared in countless practice sessions for the team this year. I hope he has a strong debut in 2016.

Jolyon Palmer has been confirmed to drive for Lotus in 2016.

So with limited Friday running, the teams all now focus on FP3 and pray to the weather gods that it can clear it, even though it likely won't. It should be a very interesting and exciting qualifying and race to follow. Can Mercedes stay on top in the changeable conditions, its all theres too lose and the conditions don't do anyone favors. More to follow.

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The Championship battle WON'T be the most important at the US Grand Prix.

The US Grand Prix is coming up this weekend and the most important battle won't be for the lead. It is almost certain that Lewis Hamilton will win the championship either this round or the next. If he outscores Nico Rosberg by two points, the German won't be a mathematical chance, and if he outscores Sebastian Vettel by 11 points he too will be out of mathematical contention. This means fights between Force India, Lotus, Toro Rosso and Sauber become the most important as finishing higher in the championship pays out more money to said team.

Current World Championship leader, Lewis Hamilton.

The battles taking place range from Force India in 5th down to McLaren in 9th. The biggest gap between two teams between 5th and 9th is 26 points and the lowest being just 9. The maximum points a team can score in 1 weekend is 42. However the battles this year will be easier to defend with the removal of double points for the last race. I think this is a good thing as it could have seen a team lose it all in the last race after being strong and consistent throughout. Retirements due to car problems had a bigger impact and it just didn't really work for Formula 1.

Here are battles playing out in Austin:

Force India v Lotus 

Force India and Lotus are 5th and 6th respectively in the Constructors Championship and separated by only 26 points. At this stage of the season a strong result for each team could see Lotus really in reach, or Force India far out in front.

The track realistically suits the Force India car much better as Lotus appear to not quite have the same aerodynamic efficiently. On straightaways both teams should find themselves relatively equal as they both run the same Mercedes power unit. But as mentioned earlier the Force India will be much stronger through high speed corners such as the Esses through sector 1 and the Multi Apex corners of Turn 17 and 18. Force India also have the advantage of general reliability as Lotus have struggled this season with Maldonado recording 8 retirements in 15 races. Force India also dominate Lotus in terms of confidence after Force India recorded only there 3rd podium in the teams 8 year history, meaning they'll be very bright and chirpy coming to Austin.

If Lotus can shrink the gap to Force India ahead, I'd be very surprised. All of us know the talent that Romain Grosjean has and all it takes is another first lap incident from Hulkenberg to see Lotus ahead. This will be a battle to watch.

Sergio Perez will be feeling confident after a strong 3rd in Russia.

Toro Rosso v Sauber v McLaren

Toro Rosso currently find themselves in 7th place in the Constructors Championship after they have struggled for reliability all season. 11 points behind them is Swiss outfit Sauber, and they look hungry for the positions to change.

Sauber could really do something this weekend as the power demanding circuit will strain the Renault engine in the back of the Toro Rosso. Sauber have a Ferrari engine in the back of there car and have proved they can have the pace. They'll take confidence into this weekend after Felipe Nasr scored himself a well driven 6th place finish last time out in Russia (which you can read more about here). Sauber have been quiet assassins this year by taking strong results when nobody expected (Australia, 5th and 3 consecutive points finishes from Marcus Ericsson). However there is no denying the aerodynamic efficiency of the Toro Rosso as it has proved all season that it is a strong chassis with results such as 4th in Hungary. Toro Rosso will be at there strongest through the Esses in sector 1 and the Multi Apex corner of Turns 17 and 18. This could see a strong qualifying for the team, but weak race performance as other teams (for instance Sauber) dwill take advantage on the straights.

Toro Rosso v Sauber will most likely be the best battle in Austin and its almost too close to call. Sauber have always got points when least expected and this weekend is no different. The real question is: Will Toro Rosso's straight line speed deficit be overcome by there strength through the corners?

But wait, where do McLaren drop into all this? They are 9th in the Constructors Championship and 15 points behind Sauber. As mentioned above, you cannot always rely on Sauber to fire, and if they don't in Austin, a surprise shock result that McLaren keep producing could see them jump in front. If McLaren's claim of having one of the strongest chassis on the grid is true, then this is a track to show it at.

McLaren pit stop for Fernando Alonso.

Overall it's shaping up to be a good weekend. Personally I would love to see a retirement to Hamilton, to just throw a curve ball into the championship fight. Sadly I think even a retirement won't push Lewis Hamilton away from crown.

Force India will fight Lotus, Sauber will take it Toro Rosso. Which one though will be the more interesting? Its up to you. Ask yourself, who's side are you on?

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