• Opinion: Hamilton is pure contradiction, by Antonio Lobato
  • Narration: that's how we live the race
  • World Cup. Here's the ranking

He wanted to be crowned in style and was used until the end with the ambition of always. He could not conquer the triumph, but Lewis Hamilton demonstrated in Austin the immense conditions of a champion of legend. Not wanting to know anything about the calculators, he threw himself to machete for glory. He was second in the finish line, behind Valtteri Bottas, but his nth show of audacity gave even more luster to his sixth world title. Only one of Michael Schumacher, who in 2003 wore his sixth crown also at 34. That October 12 in Suzuka, The Kaiser could only finish eighth. Yesterday, in the Circuit of the Americas, Hamilton was dealing with the degradation of his tires to ascend to Olympus from the second place on the podium, just ahead of Max Verstappen. [Narration and classification of the US GP] [World Cup]

The show of the last laps gives even more merit to the feat of Stevenage's genius, which repelled an attack by Bottas at the end of the back straight. A turn later, almost in the same area, could no longer contain his loyal squire, shot for his fourth victory of the year. The nerves in Mercedes' box were not going to end there, since Verstappen pressed the knife between his teeth. Fortune, in the form of the yellow flags after a track run by Kevin Magnussen, smiled in time at Lewis. "World champion. And you did it in style," they sang on the radio.

And that in the previous hours he had warned that he was not pursuing "any miracle" from fifth place on the grid. One more argument, because Hamilton's staging was as aggressive as usual. On the climb to curve 1, Charles Leclerc gained ground to benefit following the friction between Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel. Installed in third place after the first step by goal, its near horizon could not be more pleasant. He led Bottas, although it soon became clear that Lewis's greed reached a little further.

They didn't even seem to intimidate the potholes, a genuine hallmark of the Circuit of the Americas. On one of them, on the way to turn 9, Vettel stumbled with fatal consequences for the rear suspension of his Ferrari. The abandonment in the eighth lap was a snap following the disastrous season of the German. If until a year ago he had the strength to fight with Hamilton for a hole in history, his present fate is reduced to that of a second sword in Maranello. It will not be easy for him to stay in the wake of Leclerc, who must not be very satisfied with the flagrant dismissals of his mechanics, who yesterday failed at the first stop, adjusting the left rear wheel badly.

Ferrari's weaknesses contrast with that aura of infallibility of Mercedes, able to optimize its resources even in the most adverse conditions. Toto Wolff engineers always find a way to square their accounts. Yesterday, in search of their eighth double of the year, they opted for two different strategies. Same as last week in Mexico. "With this pace you can fight for the win. We just need you to keep the tires until the end of the race," said Pete Bonnington, Hamilton's most trusted man, who returned to the wall earlier than expected. The inseparable 'Bono' was not going to allow a medical discharge to prevent him from participating in the hexacampeonato. Hamilton, in the lead since lap 36, when Bottas went on to mount the yellow tires for the second time, had to measure every effort to endure with the hard compound, every meter more degraded, the last onslaught of his partner.

No sign of the equality of the qualifying session, with the first three in a tenth. Neither Verstappen's anxieties, nor Leclerc's professionalism, almost a minute, tickled Mercedes. With a lost lap, Carlos Sainz beat the copper behind Daniel Ricciardo, holding Lando Norris until his strength lasted. A twisted Sunday from the initial touch with Alexander Albon. An eighth, once again, of remarkable merit.

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