Hamilton wins a very special US GP

Hamilton wins the United States Grand Prix in a breath taking fashion after a race long chase with Red Bull´s Sebastien Vettel only to overtake the latter with 14laps to go.

The McLaren driver Hamilton shadowed Vettel all through the weekend and even came close to grab pole but finally out shinned the German to win the first ever US GP at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, a purpose built F1 track first time in America.
 
Overwhelming spectator turnout proved the inaugural race at the new venue a huge hit and the fantastic layout of the track gave spectacular racing action from start to finish.

At the lights pole man Vettel took away cleanly and Hamilton who too had a perfect launch but as on the dirty side of the track had to concede to Webber on turn 1. Vettel managed to flyaway at the front but Hamilton slowly started to gain on Webber as he warmed up his tyres while championship contender Fernando Alonso slotted himself in 4th place with a great start form 7th on the grid. By Lap 3 Hamilton made a move on Webber only to loose it due to overshooting the braking point and going wide on the exit but manged to stick a move on the very next lap. From then on Hamilton increased his paced and started to catch up on the leader, Vettel. The Brit came close to the leader by lap 10 with almost under 1sec and within DRS zone but decided to pace out the gap inorder to save the tyres and decided for a late attack. The top 4 cars were spaced out evenly while the action was so close and intense with the rest of the pack behind.

The mid field battle between Schumacher, Button, Raikonnen, Hulkenberg, Grosjean, Massa and Senna was an entertainer with cars going all over the track to make a move on each other, a scene long lost in modern F1 history. The drivers made and lost places in following corners and the track layout gave room for varied racing lines and overtaking opportunities with the track sliding on the non racing lines

Webber who managed to hang on to third behind Vettel and Hamilton was cautioned over the radio of KERS failure by Lap17 and instantaneously the Red Bull came to halt due to a mechanical failure thus ending the race for the Australian. This moved Alonso to 3rd. Another McLaren driver, Jenson Button who started from 12th after a throttle issue in qualifying, trade places and moved upto 5th with series of fastest laps and aggressive overtaking.

Lewis kept Vettel in sight without getting too close in the corners to avoid tyre degradition, finally came into the pits and got out with a great stop and so followed Alonso who only to loose 3seconds as his rear right wheel got jammed during the change. Hamilton joined behind Raikonnen while Alonso just managed to come in front of Button. Vettel too pitted in the following lap and got back to his lead just in front of Raikonnen while Hamilton managed to get ahead of the Lotus within the next few laps. Raikonnen too had a rear right wheel stuck up issue at the pits and lost few seconds and joined right at the neck of Alonso who managed to pip the Lotus on pit exit.

Hamilton managed to close in on the race leader Vettel and was between 1sec for almost the next 10laps while not able to get too close or make a move stick. By lap 50 the action was heating up again with Hamilton on the tail of the Red Bull but Vettel looked hard to give up. By Lap 52 Hamilton made move stick using DRS but it looked as if Vettel missed a gear or pace. Vettel immediately rued on the radio that he missed the KERS after spotting the slow HRT of Narain in front of him which enabled Hamilton to make a move.

Meanwhile at the back lot of action continued while Alonso was safely third. Hamilton made a lead of 1.2secs over Vettel but looked as if could not break away from the German. The Red Bull driver made attempts to close on to Hamilton but the Brit maintained the pace and managed to get out of the DRS zone.

Hamilton eventually won the race with a 1.4secs lead and Vettel made last lap charge to clock the fastest lap of the race but could not attack the McLaren driver.

Alonso came in third and said his "third place is as satisfying as a victory" after a bad qualifying.

The winner Hamilton said the "track was fantastic but the fans were more cheering all through the weekend" and its also a consecutive US win for the Brit as he won the last US GP in 2007 at Indianapolis. 

Vettel increased his lead to 13points over Alonso with just one race to go in Brazil and felt "in terms of the Championship it´s looking a bit better after the race today" while he was very happy as Red Bull Racing grabbed their 3rd consecutive constructor´s title.

The overwhelming success of the United States Grand Prix with extra ordinary crowd turn out all three days with amazing on track racing action and as Mario Andretti said "Amazing inaugural US GP and we are definitely here to stay"

The drivers championship is going to the wire till Brazil, the grand finale to the 2012 Formula 1 world championships next week. Alonso or Vettel who ever is brave to withstand the pressure and come out with an extraordinary performance will take the title.