Max Verstappen may have been awarded the Driver of the Day trophy but it was Fernando Alonso who really starred in Austin...
Monday 24 October 2016 18:55, UK
So often the 2016 F1 story has been all about Lewis Hamilton, and it was no different in Austin.
The correlation between Hamilton's off-track demeanour and behaviour with his performances where it counts was particularly striking in Japan and America, a reminder that for all the physical skills required F1 is also a sport which can be won and lost in the mind too.
Hamilton, you felt, was destined to win this weekend from the moment he delivered a tour de force in Thursday's press conference to win back Fleet Street. He was just as good on track too. Lewis was consistently two tenths quicker than Rosberg throughout the weekend, laying down the foundations for a comfortable victory with his ninth pole of the year. And on Sunday, he made it look easy.
The surprise, then, was to hear Hamilton afterwards admit to being "petrified" in the car as he agonised whether his W07 would finish the race. The scars of Malaysia are still raw but it is to Hamilton's credit that they were only exposed when the fighting had stopped. The title battle, meanwhile, may only just be restarting.
Rating out of ten: 9.5
Hamilton never gave him a sniff of victory, but the reality is that it's one down for Nico Rosberg on his four-stop route to his first world title.
Three more runner-up finishes to the sister Mercedes, or even one third, remain enough for the 26-point championship leader, but if that's the way it pans out over the next month then the final throes of the title battle will be far nervier for Nico than he would ideally choose.
Rosberg can win title in Mexico
In Austin, after being beaten to pole by two tenths of a second, Rosberg was stuck on the outside of Hamilton at Turn One - he's been there before - and lost second to Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo. In truth, the Australian may not had relinquished that position either had an untimely Virtual Safety Car, triggered by his team-mate parking up in the gravel, not afforded Rosberg a time-saving final pitstop.
Lucky? Probably, and despite still having the mathematical permutations stacked in his favour, you suspect Rosberg would much rather be leading from the front in Mexico to put the pressure firmly on Hamilton that way.
Rating out of ten: 8
Starting on supersoft tyres, Daniel Ricciardo did exactly what he had to do at the start to make the strategy work. Both Mercedes cars made great getaways, but the Australian stayed with them and took second place with a brave move around the outside of Rosberg at Turn Two.
Ricciardo then maintained the position against the much quicker car of Rosberg and looked on course for second place until a Virtual Safety Car, ironically caused by his team-mate, allowed the German to pit 'for free'.
A podium was arguably less than his performance deserved on another day where Ricciardo proved himself to be one of F1's top talents.
Rating out of ten: 9
Austin wasn't vintage Sebastian Vettel, but a fourth-place finish was ultimately the limit of underperforming Ferrari's ambitions on a weekend in which their position as F1's third-fastest team became glaringly obvious.
Unusually for a driver who has achieved the fourth-highest tally of poles in history, qualifying has caused Vettel problems recently and his 5-2 deficit on Saturdays to Kimi Raikkonen since Hungary is a total turnaround from the previous 18 months.
In the race, things were better though. Vettel ran a longer first stint than anyone on the supersofts and reeled in the sister Ferrari at a rapid rate of knots when on new softs, before Raikkonen pitted and headed for a three-stopper that was never completed. It looks as though Vettel would have beaten Kimi anyway and, in the umpteenth change of position in the standings, he's now seven points ahead of his team-mate. But any hope of ending 2016 with at least one win looks a pipe dream now.
Rating out of ten: 7
On a day of radio tantrums and arguments, Fernando Alonso's "yee-haw" as he passed Carlos Sainz on the final lap was perhaps the most pleasing sound of the day. That the Spaniard started the afternoon by bemoaning he was "behind the Renaults, being lapped" and sighed "what a disaster", shows you how much can change over a couple of hours in Formula 1.
Alonso was helped out massively by the Virtual Safety Car, jumping up to eighth in the process, but the rest of his positional gains were all down to him. Charging in on Felipe Massa late on, Alonso went for the kill, barging his former Ferrari team-mate off the track in the process.
"I think that was very, very opportunistic from Fernando and bang on, frankly!" said Sky F1's Martin Brundle, and Alonso subsequently avoided further action from the stewards.
Sainz was then a sitting duck for his racing idol and Alonso will head to Mexico a happy man, having equalled McLaren-Honda's best finish since renewing their partnership last year. Now, how did Max Verstappen get Driver of the Day again?
Rating out of ten: 9.5
Any wonder Renault tried their best to prise Carlos Sainz out of his 2017 Toro Rosso contract when the Spaniard puts in stunning performances like this?
Making Q3 at the expense of Sergio Perez's Force India was impressive enough, but a strong start on Sunday set the Spaniard up for his first points since the summer break. From there his day just got better and better. Gaining positions thanks to Verstappen and Raikkonen's retirements, he then jumped Massa at the final stops courtesy of the Virtual Safety Car.
On fast-wearing soft tyres and with a straight-line speed deficit, he faced double trouble in the final stages in the form of the Williams and Fernando Alonso's McLaren. While he successfully held off Massa, Alonso, as shown by the way he swatted the Williams out of the way several laps earlier, was always going to have a go and he passed the Toro Rosso with two laps to go.
But that couldn't take the shine off Sainz rightly described as a "top, top, TOP result". How long before he lands a 'top' drive?
Rating out of ten: 9
Five words, attributed to Felipe Massa in Williams' post-race press release, summed up the veteran's United States GP: "It should have been more."
With a handful of laps to go, Massa looked bound for fifth place as he closed in on Sainz in a faster car and on fresher tyres.
But after failing to find a way past the youngster, another Spaniard, Fernando Alonso, then mugged his old team-mate and a potential fifth ended up being a decidedly modest seventh. An opportunity missed for team and driver.
Rating out of ten: 6
Following the announcement Sergio Perez was staying with Force India and Nico Hulkenberg was leaving the team for Renault, the Mexican needed to stamp his authority on this weekend.
Instead, he disappointed in qualifying, missing out on Q3 after setting a time seven tenths slower than his team-mate in Q2.
Perez's race was then heavily compromised at the start when he was punted off the track by Daniil Kvyat, but he recovered to finish eighth and limit the damage by Williams in the fight for fourth in the Constructors' Championship.
Rating out of ten: 6
Oh what might have been for Jenson Button had he had a clean lap in qualifying. A banker lap on soft tyres was, with hindsight, not the greatest of strategies as the McLaren driver encountered a number of cars in the closing corners on his flying lap on the supersofts. Jolyon Palmer, in particular, felt the wrath of his compatriot for being on the racing line in the final corner as Button completed his lap and the end result was a lowly grid spot of 19th.
In the race, a stunning first lap saw Button fly through the pack and cross the line in 11th spot. Had the Virtual Safety Car been kinder in its timing, a ninth place finish could have been even better for the 2009 world champion. Nevertheless, it was his first points finish since before the summer break.
Rating out of ten: 8.5
While the US GP failed to spark, there were a few stand-out moments, not least Romain Grosjean's early-race surge in which he overtook four cars in a blink. The charge was capped by his pass round Esteban Gutierrez, a move which will have done his team-mate's hopes of being retained for 2017 no good whatsoever.
There was luck involved in Grosjean making it into the top ten, a feat ultimately achieved by the retirements of Raikkonen and Verstappen, but the tangible reward of a point-scoring finish was deserved too - and an achievement not to be begrudged at Haas' home race.
Rating out of ten: 8
For Daniil Kvyat, the US GP weekend was instantly enshrined as a 10/10 event, and one of the most important moments of his career, when Toro Rosso announced on Saturday morning he would be staying on for 2017. The rest of the weekend had a lot to live up to…and didn't.
Instead, it all fell rather flat: beaten by three tenths by Sainz in qualifying, Kvyat then crashed into Perez on the first lap, earning a penalty and instantly falling out of contention for points scoring. But with a 2017 contract under his belt, Daniil will have departed Austin with a spring in his step regardless.
Rating out of ten: 5
You know it's been a trying year when Kevin Magnussen described his 13 laps spent on supersoft tyres at the end of the race "the most fun I've had in the car all season" - particularly when all it yielded was 12th place.
Qualifying certainly hadn't been a bundle of fun after Magnussen dropped out in Q1 while team-mate Palmer progressed, but the Dane then jumped the Englishman on the race's second lap. An intended one-stop strategy then morphed into two and finally a three as Renault tried to salvage something, anything, from the weekend.
Magnussen did actually get up to 11th, but suffered a post-race time penalty for passing Kvyat off the track. The Dane appears more likely than Palmer to stay on for 2017, but could do with putting a bit more daylight between them on the timesheet than has been the case recently.
Rating out of ten: 7
Seemingly set for the exit door, Jolyon Palmer provided a timely reminder of his pace by out-qualifying team-mate Magnussen by nearly three tenths of a second. The Briton was the only Renault to make it out of Q1.
The two Renaults found themselves together for much of the race, suggesting both drivers were getting the maximum out of their cars, with Palmer calling for team orders to let him past early in the race.
The roles were reversed in the closing laps when on fresher tyres Magnussen was able to get past with ease and put a car between himself and Palmer at the chequered flag. Not the result Palmer needed if he was to receive a last-minute reprieve at Renault.
Rating out of ten: 7
Another hugely impressive performance from Marcus Ericsson given the tools he was armed with - so much so that it is perhaps harsh it's his team-mate, not he, who is linked with bigger drives. Sauber's Swede made it into Q2 on Saturday and a day later and found himself as high as 11th at the halfway point after a fantastic start.
He slipped down the field slightly after a long second stint on the medium tyre, but he looks the more likely of the Sauber duo to score the team's first points of the season.
Rating out of ten: 9
There was no harm in trying. Sauber attempted something different with Felipe Nasr on race day, running the Brazilian on medium tyres for the longest opening stint of the race and, although the strategy failed to work wonders, it was worth a go. Only something absolutely extraordinary could have propelled Felipe into the points on a weekend when, rather contradictorily, it was revealed he is poised to join Force India for 2016 and was once again soundly beaten by his team-mate.
Incredibly, after Ericsson produced what he labelled "one of the laps of my career", Nasr lost out by over half a second in Qualifying One - a margin which must have caused some consternation both in his side of the Sauber garage and in the Force India motorhome.
Rating out of ten: 5
A nightmare afternoon for Valtteri Bottas. The Finn will have been pleased to have made it into Q3, ahead of his team-mate no less, but a collision with Hulkenberg at Turn One both ended the Force India's afternoon and his own.
He didn't retire from the race but in truth, he may as well have. Finishing only above of the two Manors, beaten in a wheel-to-wheel battle by a Sauber, this isn't the day Bottas will have dreamed of on a weekend where his Williams stay took another step towards being confirmed.
Rating out of ten: 7
After struggling for running time heading into qualifying, Pascal Wehrlein will be pleased that he out-performed his team-mate here. After all, that may be the most a Manor driver can hope for at the moment.
The German was consistent throughout, qualifying in 20th ahead of a Sauber, and any beating of Esteban Ocon could be crucial as we head towards the end of the season with both youngsters seemingly after the same 2017 seats.
Rating out of ten: 7
There were good and bad parts to Esteban Ocon's first visit to COTA, but in the end he finished slowest in qualifying and then last of the 18 race finishers
Not for the first time, the Frenchman made good initial ground off the line, moving ahead of team-mate Wehrlein, but was ahead of only the recovering Williams of Bottas by lap eight and thereafter sustained some car damage which compromised his Manor's handling.
Rating out of ten: 6
Did not finish: Kimi Raikkonen, Max Verstappen, Esteban Gutierrez, Nico Hulkenberg
Don't miss The F1 Report's review of the United States GP on Sky Sports F1 at 8.30pm on Wednesday evening with Natalie Pinkham, Marc Priestley and Dave Richards
