Don’t worry, that little excitement there was in the last Formula One race where some race entrants other than Mercedes got onto the podium did not happen again at the 2016 USA Grand Prix where – as usual over the past couple years – Mercedes locked up the top two spots in Austin, Texas. This time it was Lewis Hamilton doing the honors with his teammate, Nico Rosberg, coming in second and Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo taking the obligatory third place since Mercedes is only allowed to have two cars entered in the race.
There was not much drama for first place as Hamilton started on the pole position and easily finished the race in that slot, however, Rosberg had to fend off Ricciardo for his second place position, but eventually did so without much drama either and even Ricciardo’s position was not put under much pressure as the fourth-place Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel was too distant to cause him concern. Only six cars finished on the lead lap.
With the victory, Hamilton inches closer to Rosberg in the 2016 driver’s standings, but Rosberg maintains a 26-point cushion with 331 points to Hamilton’s 305 points with just three races remaining. Ricciardo sits comfortably in third with 227 points.
2016 United States Grand Prix – Circuit of the Americas – 56 laps
1 Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes 25 1:38:12.618
2 Nico Rosberg – Mercedes 18 +4.520
3 Daniel Ricciardo – Red Bull 15 +19.692
4 Sebastian Vettel – Ferrari 12 +43.134
5 Fernando Alonso – McLaren 10 +1:33.953
6 Carlos Sainz Jr. – Toro Rosso 8 +1:36.124
7 Felipe Massa – Williams 6
8 Sergio Perez – Force India 4
9 Jenson Button – McLaren 2
10 Romain Grosjean – Haas 1
11 Kevin Magnussen – Renault
12 Daniil Kvyat – Toro Rosso
13 Jolyon Palmer – Renault
14 Marcus Ericsson – Sauber
15 Felipe Nasr – Sauber
16 Valtteri Bottas – Williams
17 Pascal Wehrlein – Manor
18 Esteban Ocon – Manor
19 Kimi Raikkonen – Ferrari
20 Max Verstappen – Red Bull
21 Esteban Gutierrez – Haas
22 Nico Hulkenberg – Force India