The Red Team were in trouble already at the start. Pole-setter Bottas kept shining at the lights out; the Finn held firmly on his lead. Aggressive Verstappen took a splendid start, making his way to second. The most impressive start was taken by Hamilton, who made it look easy to jump from P5 to third. Sebastian had something wrong; even teammate Charles made it past Sebastian. On the second lap Sebastian lost his fifth place to McLaren's Norris, and reported on the team radio about massive under steer. He felt like there was something wrong with his Lina, although he hadn't had contact with anyone that far. A lap later also Renault's Ricciardo made a successful overtaking move on Sebastian. Meanwhile, also Charles in P4 was missing pace badly. The gap to Hamilton in third had already increased into over six seconds.
Kimi, who had started to the race from modest P17, made an excellent job on the opening laps. Alfa Romeo had provided the Iceman with a genius strategy, with Kimi having started to the race on the soft compound. On lap 7 Kimi was pushing immense pressure on Haas' Magnussen, challenging the Dane for P10. But what a bitter turn Sebastian's race saw on lap 8! All of a sudden, Lina's rear suspension failed completely, Sebastian having hit the kerb! This kind of a complete suspension failure isn't often seen. Sebastian was cruelly out of the race! One's misfortune is another's fortune; Sebastian's DNF benefited Kimi, who had been able to pass Magnussen, claiming P9 already.
Race leader Bottas had increased the gap to Verstappen into three seconds. Hamilton, on the other hand, was right at the very tail of the Dutch Red Bull ace. Red Bull opted for the undercut strategy, calling Max in on lap 14. The Dutchman switched to the hard Pirellis, re-joining the track in P4. Mercedes reacted to Red Bull's strategy and called race leader Bottas in on the sequential lap. Mercedes pit crew made a perfect job, and the Finn re-joined the track ahead of Verstappen. Bottas' pace was outstanding; the Finn had no difficulties to pass Charles, moving to second. Valtteri kept storming, banging the fastest lap time in the race. Charles pitted on lap 21, but the pit stop didn't go to plan at all. The pit crew had difficulties to get one of the tyres attached, and the pit stop took 7.7 seconds! A podium finish was slipping through the Monegasque's fingers...
By lap 24 Bottas had closed the gap to his teammate, who hadn't stopped yet. The team gave Valtteri a permission to attack, and, with DRS open, he moved past the champion-to-be, claiming his lead back. Hamilton, who was on a different strategy to his teammate, stopped on the following lap. The Briton re-joined the track in P3, with Bottas and Verstappen ahead of him. He was to drive a long second stint on the hard tyres. He faced a true challenge; on one hand, he should set extremely competitive lap times to challenge Verstappen and Bottas for the victory, but on the other hand, he was advised to save tyres. Would it be an impossible equation?
Hamilton kept decreasing the gap to his race-leading teammate. On lap 32 there were only 15 seconds separating the Silver Arrows. They were split by Verstappen, who was some seven seconds behind the Finn. Lap 36 was a turning point in the race; Bottas pitted for the second time, opting for another set of medium rubber. He re-joined the track 8.8 seconds behind his teammate, who wasn't to stop anymore. But the Finn had victory glowing in his eyes, and he started a hungry and determined chase. Valtteri banged a new track record, and in no time he was already within 5 seconds from his teammate. Hamilton seemed a bit uncertain, whether his tyres were going to last till the end. Nevertheless, the Briton decided to stay out.
Charles, who was driving in secured P4, set the fastest lap time on a fresh set of soft Pirellis. Hamilton was racing against time on his worn tyres; it was only a matter of time, until Bottas had made it within DRS distance. They were tormenting laps for the ambitious Briton... Hamilton could hear his teammate's heavy breath in his neck, and the Finn was definitely "blood-thirsty"! With five laps to go, Bottas already made it alongside his teammate, but Hamilton made a brash move on Valtteri, forcing him off track. But giving up was no option for the determined Finn, who just waited for another chance to attack. And he didn't have to wait long; he smelled his chance on the following lap already. Hamilton had no chance to defend his lead with his dying tyres, so the lead was Valtteri's to take. Verstappen smelled his chance, too and started to chase down Hamilton.
On the second last lap Haas' Magnussen went off due to a brake failure, getting stuck on the gravel. Yellow flags were out in sector two, and this effected crucially the battle between Verstappen and Hamilton. Verstappen wasn't allowed to use DRS at the back straight on the penultimate lap, which helped Hamilton significantly in terms of fighting Max.
Fantastic Valtteri converted his pole into victory, which was his first on Texan soil. Hamilton made it a 1-2 for Mercedes, clinching also his sixth world championship title, which is an incredible achievement indeed. Even P8 or P9 + the fastest lap time would have been enough to secure the title, but now he did it in style. Verstappen completed the podium. Ferrari's race pace left many question marks, as Charles in fourth was over 50 seconds down on the race winner! I couldn't help wondering, where the Red Team's race pace had suddenly disappeared. Albon finished 5th for Red Bull and Ricciardo sixth for Renault. Once again both McLarens made it in the points, with Norris 7th and Sainz 8th. Hulkenberg (Renault) was 9th and Kvyat (Toro Rosso) 10th. Unfortunately Kimi didn't make it in the points after all, in spite of his stunning first stint on the soft tyres.
But where has Ferrari's pace mystically disappeared? Have they made use of a loophole in the rules in terms of engine performance, which has recently been clogged by FIA? Such allegations have been thrown in the air by rival teams. Let's see, how things will emerge in Brazil... I'm looking forward to the next round and more speculation with huge interest!
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