2014 United States GP: Hamilton passes Rosberg and breaks Mansell's record

Lewis Hamilton won the 2014 United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas ahead of his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg. Daniel Ricciardo finished third for Red Bull. The decisive moment came on lap 24: Hamilton dived down the inside of Rosberg under braking into the Turn 12 hairpin and only gave up the lead briefly after that, during his second pit stop. His fifth win in a row stretched his championship lead to 24 points.

The field was already smaller than usual before the start. Marussia and Caterham were missing because of their financial troubles, and Marussia had already gone into administration. That left only 18 cars on the starting grid. Sebastian Vettel started from the pit lane because Red Bull had fitted his sixth power unit of the season. Jenson Button took a five-place grid penalty after a gearbox change.

Rosberg, starting from pole position, kept the lead ahead of Hamilton at the start. There was a crash before the first lap was over: Sergio Pérez in the Force India tried an ill-judged overtaking move at Turn 16. He hit the rear of Kimi Räikkönen's Ferrari and the Sauber of Adrian Sutil. Sutil's race ended on the spot. According to formula1.com, he was running in the top 10 at the time and could have scored Sauber's first points of the season. Pérez retired with collision damage after one lap.

The stewards blamed Pérez and called his move reckless. He received two penalty points and a seven-place grid penalty for the next race, the Brazilian GP.

The Safety Car came out, and several drivers used the neutralisation to make an early stop. They included Kevin Magnussen, Button, Esteban Gutiérrez and Nico Hülkenberg. Vettel ran over debris, picked up a puncture and had to pit on laps 1 and 2. According to grandprix.com, racing resumed on lap 5.

Rosberg had everything under control in the first stint. He came in for his first tyre change on lap 15, and Hamilton followed a lap later. That put Hamilton in front for one lap before Rosberg led again. On the second set of tyres, though, Hamilton was quicker. According to formula1.com, his deficit shrank from 2.5 to 0.7 seconds within a few laps.

On lap 24 he made his move. He launched it from a long way back, dived up the inside at Turn 12 and took the lead. Rosberg barely fought back. According to Motor Sport Magazine, he had picked the wrong switch for the extra boost.

From then on, Hamilton controlled the race. In the second round of stops he pitted on lap 33 and Rosberg on lap 34. Hamilton was back in front a lap later and stayed there to the flag despite lapped traffic. According to formula1.com, he won by 4.314 seconds. Rosberg admitted he had only found his rhythm once his team-mate was already past.

Behind the Mercedes, Ricciardo produced what Motor Sport Magazine called „probably the drive of the race“. After a slow start, he worked his way up from fifth past Fernando Alonso and both Williams cars. He passed Valtteri Bottas after the first stops. He got ahead of Felipe Massa in the second round of stops: Ricciardo pitted on lap 31, Massa a lap later.

A front wheel stuck during Massa's stop, and that cost him the podium. According to formula1.com, Massa finished fourth, 1.4 seconds behind Ricciardo. Bottas, who had started third, came home fifth and lost two places.

The winner of the day in the field was Vettel. He started 18th from the pit lane, made four pit stops, finished seventh and gained eleven places. He also set the fastest lap. His last stop on lap 48 gave him fresh soft tyres, and he used them to pass plenty of rivals in the closing stages. He only just missed out on Alonso's sixth place. According to formula1.com, he finished just half a second behind the Spaniard.

Other results from the midfield:

• Magnussen finished eighth in the McLaren.
• Pastor Maldonado took ninth to score his first points of the season in the Lotus. According to grandprix.com, he only passed Jean-Éric Vergne in the Toro Rosso on the final lap. Vergne was left with one point for tenth.
• Romain Grosjean gained five places to finish eleventh.

The losers included:

• Sutil, who lost nine places, and Pérez, who lost six, both on the opening lap.
• Räikkönen, who could only finish 13th after being hit by Pérez, a lap down and five places behind his grid position.
• Button, who fell back to 12th on heavily worn rear tyres.

Hülkenberg retired with an engine failure after 16 laps. It was the third and last retirement. Daniil Kvyat finished 15th, which made him the last classified driver.

In the standings, Hamilton now led on 316 points, ahead of Rosberg on 292. According to formula1.com, two second places behind Rosberg in the last two races would be enough for him to take the title. Ricciardo stayed third on 214 points but was mathematically out of the title fight. Behind him were Bottas on 155 points, with Vettel and Alonso on 149 each. Massa moved up to eighth, ahead of Hülkenberg. In the constructors' standings, Mercedes were well clear on 608 points ahead of Red Bull (363), Williams (238) and Ferrari (196). Sauber were still without a point.

Austin was a record-breaking race for Hamilton. It was his fifth win in a row, his tenth of the season and the 32nd of his career. That took him past Nigel Mansell, who had been the most successful British Grand Prix winner until then with 31 wins. The win also came on the sixth anniversary of his first world title, to the day.

At the same time, the smallest field in years showed how badly the small teams were struggling financially. You can find all the results and data on our race page.