5 things we learned from the United States Grand Prix

1. Mercedes gamble backfires for Hamilton

Hamilton hasn’t always been considered a good loser, but the Briton was magnanimous in defeat on Sunday despite now being made to wait for his championship coronation. Could he have won in Austin without the early pit stop? We will never know, but what we can say is that he would have stood a better chance had he matched Raikkonen’s one-stop strategy. Given his rival Vettel was running down the order, it seemed odd that Mercedes would risk Hamilton’s second place (at that stage it would have been enough to win the championship) to go for the victory. Like their lead driver, the Silver Arrows have been on point for the second half of this year, but they got this one wrong. And, for once, Ferrari, confident throughout that Hamilton’s tyres wouldn’t last the distance, didn’t. That said, Hamilton need only finish seventh in Mexico City this weekend to seal the deal, and the odds are firmly stacked in his favour: Hamilton has finished all but one of the 18 races this year, and he has never been lower than fifth.

2. Raikkonen’s a popular winner

“F****** finally,” was Raikkonen’s verdict as he crossed the line to win his first race in almost six years, a streak of 113 grands prix, and at 39, one which makes him the sport’s oldest winner since Nigel Mansell triumphed at the season-ending Australian race in 1994. It is somewhat ironic that the popular Finn is being moved on by the Italian team at the end of the year, given that this has been his most competitive season since he re-joined them in 2014. As for Vettel, the German will be looking forward to the end of what has turned into an unbearable year. He made his seventh and eighth mistakes of the season here, failing to slow under red flags in practice, and hit with a three-place grid penalty, before colliding with Daniel Ricciardo on the opening lap. David Coulthard, the 13-time winner, summed up his malaise in commentary for Channel 4. “Sebastian is a four-time world champion, but he has just made two mistakes in two corners,” he said after the Ferrari driver lost position to Ricciardo at Turn 12, and then spun at the following corner.

3. Verstappen proves his class… but there’s more misery for Ricciardo

Max Verstappen broke his rear suspension after running over the kerbs in qualifying, and following a gearbox change, started the race a lowly 18th. Yet, the Dutchman claimed his fourth podium finish in five races following another supreme drive. The 21-year-old gained nine places on the opening lap, and was up to fourth by the end of lap eight. Later in the race, he then went toe-to-toe with Hamilton in one of the racing highlights of this season as they battled for second. The Red Bull driver went through a troubling patch at the start of the year, but he has come out the other side to prove his world-class credentials. Ricciardo’s Red Bull career is fizzling out with a woeful whimper following yet another DNF. The Renault-bound Australian looked to the heavens after grinding to a halt on lap nine, his seventh retirement of the season.

4. F1 boss courts criticism for Hamilton faux pas

Chase Carey, F1’s American CEO came under fire from fans on social media after an embarrassing pre-race Channel 4 interview in which he revealed he did not know whether Hamilton was on the brink of winning his fifth or sixth championship. Hamilton is the biggest star in F1, and you would think that Carey, who has been running the sport for two years, might have been aware of that statistic. It was hardly as if he had been asked how many starts Romain Grosjean has made in F1. (For the record, it is 140.)

5. Enthusiastic fan gets up close and personal

An over-exuberant fan provided some early-race fun/annoyance for TV viewers when his imitations of car noises were played out on the global feed. His roars of “neoooow” as the cars went past were picked up by Sky Sports commentator David Croft. “Someone is doing some great impressions of Formula One cars there,” he said with more than a hint of sarcasm.

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