Triple triumph for the F1 champion

Lewis Hamilton joined the elite group of triple Formula One world champions on Sunday after winning a thrilling US Grand Prix that kept the crowd on tenterhooks right to the very end.

“That’s the greatest moment of my life,” he gasped over the team radio, choking back the tears, after crossing the line 2.8 seconds ahead of German team mate Nico Rosberg who had led before a late mistake.

The first British driver to win back-to-back titles, Hamilton realised a lifelong ambition to equal the tally of his boyhood idol Ayrton Senna, the Brazilian triple champion who died in 1994.

Ferrari’s four-times champion Sebastian Vettel finished third, after starting 13th and fighting back to chase Rosberg nose-to-tail over the final lap with the crowd on the edge of their seats on a cold and blustery afternoon after morning rain.

Had Vettel passed Rosberg, the celebrations for the ‘double double’ – with Mercedes retaining their constructors’ title two weeks ago in Russia – would have remained on hold.

“I’m just overwhelmed,” said Hamilton, who had needed to beat Vettel by nine points and Rosberg by two to take the crown with three races to spare. “There were so many times when I thought I had lost the race.”

Interviewed on the podium by pop’s very own ‘rocket man’, British pop singer Elton John, Hamilton sprayed the champagne with abandon while Rosberg looked shell-shocked and barely reacted.

Before the podium ceremony, Hamilton tossed his teammate a cap to wear. The German threw it back in disgust. No words were necessary.

“I don’t know what happened,” he said later when asked about his slip. “It was my race to win, but with some strange mistake that has never happened to me that was really disappointing. It’s unbelievable. That was really, really tough at the time, to lose the win.”

The victory, on a rollercoaster afternoon of enthralling racing, was Hamilton’s third in four held in Austin and made the 30-year-old the first driver to win 10 or more races in successive seasons.

He was also only the second Briton since Jackie Stewart in 1973 to win three titles.

But for much of the race, on a drying track after torrential rain forced qualifying to be postponed from Saturday to Sunday morning, it had looked as if Hamilton would be kept waiting to realise his dream.

He had seized the lead at the start from second place on the grid, banging wheels with Rosberg at the first corner and forcing his team mate wide and down to fourth place.

Hamilton could not pull away from the chasing Red Bulls, however, with Australian Daniel Ricciardo taking the lead with 15 laps gone and before drivers pitted from intermediate to slick tyres.

The Briton then dropped down to fourth place, with Rosberg back in the lead after 22 laps following the pitstops, but the first of two safety car deployments brought everything back into play.

Rosberg was heading for victory when, seven laps from the end, he made an unforced error, ran wide at turn 12, and Hamilton – on fresher tyres after a later pitstop – seized his opportunity.

Ricciardo had dropped back by then after colliding with the Force India of Nico Hulkenberg on a rare afternoon of mayhem with just 12 finishers.

One of them was American Alexander Rossi, the first home driver to compete in a US Grand Prix since 2007, in last place for Manor Marussia.

There was also early carnage when the two Saubers collided in the Swiss team’s 400th race while the Williams of Felipe Massa spun after a coming together with Fernando Alonso’s McLaren.

Russian Daniil Kvyat, who had also challenged for the lead in the early stages, brought out the crucial second safety car when he lost control and slewed across the track and into the barriers on the 43rd lap.

That gave Hamilton the chance to close right up and pounce when Rosberg erred.

Dutch teenage rookie Max Verstappen was fourth for Toro Rosso after a lively battle against both Ferrari drivers and Mexican Sergio Perez, whose country returns to the calendar for the first time in 23 years next weekend, was fifth for Force India.

Britain’s Jenson Button produced some much-needed points for McLaren, partly-owned by Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat, in sixth.

Congratulations to Hamilton have been flooding in from all over the globe and Bahrain International Circuit quickly posted a message on social media. “Third world title locked and sealed with three races to go in the season!” said Fayez Ramzy Fayez, the circuit’s operations director.

Hamilton won at the kingdom’s Sakhir circuit back in April.

Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa, BIC chief operating officer, said: “On behalf of the Bahrain International Circuit board, its management and staff, I would like to congratulate Lewis for once again winning the drivers’ world championship.

“Only a handful have reached the pinnacle of the sport and won this prestigious title multiple times, let alone twice in a row. His special achievement certainly cements his place amongst the greatest ever in the sport, with still a long career remaining.

“I wish him all the best for the remainder of the season and we look forward to welcoming him back here in Bahrain in the near future.”

***

* Born: Stevenage, England. January 7, 1985.
* Hamilton’s paternal grandfather emigrated to England from the Caribbean island of Grenada and worked for the London Underground transport system. His full name is Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton. The name Davidson was taken from his grandfather, who drove a school bus in Grenada.
* His parents divorced when he was two. Father Anthony worked for the railways while mother Carmen worked for the local council. He first sat in a go-kart on a family holiday in Ibiza when he was three. He started karting seriously when he was eight.
* Hamilton was a winner in every category of karting, taking his first British title by the age of 10, and joined McLaren’s young driver programme in 1998. He was European Formula A kart champion in 2000, with current Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg runner-up.
* The Briton won the 2003 Formula Renault UK title with 10 race wins, the 2005 Formula Three Euro series with 15 wins and the 2006 GP2 championship, following on from Rosberg.
* Hamilton made a sensational F1 debut with McLaren in 2007, aged 22. In his opening race in Australia he finished third, was second in the next four races and then won the sixth and seventh races in Canada and the United States.
* His run of 2007 podiums ended after nine in a row and he ended the season second overall with four wins, one point behind champion Kimi Raikkonen.
* In 2008, Hamilton won the title, aged 23 years and 301 days. At the time he was the youngest ever world champion and he took the title in thrilling style with an overtaking move on the last corner of the last lap of the last race in Brazil.
* In 2009, Hamilton finished fifth overall. He was fourth in 2010, fifth in 2011 and fourth in 2012. He then moved to Mercedes for the 2013 season on a three-year contract.
* Hamilton won 11 races in 2014 to Rosberg’s five, becoming the most successful British driver of all time in terms of race wins.
* In 2015, he won the opening race in Australia and has led ever since. Along the way, he passed his boyhood hero Ayrton Senna’s career tally of 41 wins and has now equalled the late Brazilian’s haul of three titles. He is the first British driver to win back-to-back F1 titles.