Hamilton makes history with sixth title win

Lewis Hamilton has become the second most successful driver in Formula One history, after winning his sixth title.

A second-place finish at the United States Grand Prix was all that was required for Lewis Hamilton to win his sixth Formula One world title, putting him only one behind Michael Schumacher.

His teammate Valtteri Bottas had to win the race to stand any chance of denying the Brit the famous title win, and he did what he needed but with Hamilton scoring more than four points, the lead is now unassailable.

Following a disappointing qualifying of only fifth, a result he claimed was his ‘worst for a while’, Hamilton needed to make up positions quickly from the start and he did just that, disposing of the slow starting Ferrari’s on lap one.

The race was another strategic game of chess between the teams, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen challenging the leader Valtteri Bottas; forcing Mercedes to split strategies; Bottas on a two-stop with Hamilton on an ambitious one-stop.

Hamilton fended off his Finnish teammate until lap 52 and managed to keep second place from the pouncing Max Verstappen with the help of a yellow flag after Kevin Magnussen’s brake failure on the back straight.

Meanwhile, Ferrari had a belated Halloween horror show as both drivers made terrible starts, with Sebastian Vettel dropping behind Lando Norris’ McLaren and Daniel Ricciardo’s Renault before retiring through suspension failure on lap seven.

The evening wasn’t any better for his Monegasque teammate Charles Leclerc who finished 52 seconds behind the leader, the type of form unheard of in this renaissance for the prancing horse since the Summer break.

There was more last lap drama for Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat who was penalised for a dangerous manoeuvre for the second time in a week, this time on Racing Point’s Sergio Perez, who secured tenth place and one point after starting from the pit lane.

Full Race Result

Pos	#	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Gap
1	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	56	1hr 33 55.653s
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	56	4.148
3	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	56	5.002
4	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	56	52.239
5	23	Alexander Albon	Red Bull	56	78.038
6	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	56	90.366
7	4	Lando Norris	McLaren	56	90.764
8	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	McLaren	55	1 lap
9	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	55	1 lap
10	11	Sergio Perez	Racing Point	55	1 lap
11	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo	55	1 lap
12	26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	55	1 lap
13	18	Lance Stroll	Racing Point	55	1 lap
14	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	55	1 lap
15	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas	55	1 lap
16	10	Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso	54	2 laps
17	63	George Russell	Williams	54	2 laps
18	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	52	4 laps
19	88	Robert Kubica	Williams	DNF	DNF
20	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	DNF	DNF