Can Lewis Hamilton hold off Nico Rosberg? Based on how he dominated his Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 teammate at the United States Grand Prix, the answer is: he most certainly can.
Hamilton was fairly outpaced by Rosberg during the qualifying session for the race, but the Brit had no problems taking care of the race proper. He took the chequered flag 4.3 seconds ahead of his teammate, and more than 25 seconds ahead of third-placer Daniel Ricciardo. This fourth-straight win allowed Hamilton, who has 316 points now, to extend his lead to 24 over Rosberg, who has 292. Every point counts as we head to the final two races, the second of which counts for double the championship points.
This marks Hamilton’s 32nd career F1 race win, which makes him the all-time wins leader among all British F1 drivers in history. In addition, Mercedes takes its tenth one-two finish of the season, a total that matches the 1988 performance of the magnificent McLaren team featuring Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna.
By no means is that 24-point lead a safe margin, obviously, but with the way Hamilton has been racing, Rosberg needs a minor miracle in order to pull of an upset. Even if he wins the next two races, all Hamilton has to do is finish no worse than second in both races in order to keep the lead. Barring any retirements or some other setback, it will indeed be a Herculean task for the German.
The more exciting battles took place down the standings, after Felipe Massa (fourth place) and Valtteri Bottas (fifth). Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso (sixth) emerged victorious over the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel (seventh) and the McLaren of Kevin Magnussen (eighth). The last two spots were hotly contested, with Jean-Eric Vergne taking ninth and Pastor Maldonado finishing tenth ahead of an upset Romain Grosjean.
The next race is next weekend at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo for the 2014 Brazilian Grand Prix.
