Bottas Wins USA Grand Prix With A Faultless Drive

6 years ago - Sportingbase

Bottas has produced a perfect drive to win the USA Grand Prix but it wasn’t enough to stop Hamilton claiming a sixth world title.

It all went according to plan for Bottas who was faultless from the start. He was able to hold off a fast Max Verstappen on the first lap and slowly built a gap to take Verstappen out of DRS range.

From that point it was down to business for the Fin and in typical style he hit apex after apex while others battled for position behind him.

It was the complete opposite for Sebastian Vettel who lost second spot before the first turn.

He continued to struggle for grip on the first three laps which saw him drop five places to seventh spot behind Daniel Ricciardo.

Things went from bad to catostrophic for Vettel as he suffered suspension failure on Lap 8 which ended his race.

Bottas was forced into an early stop after Red Bull brought Max Verstappen in from second at the end of Lap 13, prompting Mercedes to react one lap later and move him onto a two-stop strategy.

It was at that point that Hamilton took the lead and looked to hold that by taking a one-stop stratergy.

Bottas was able to wear away at Hamilton and eventually reclaim the lead which forced Hamilton to make his first stop.

Verstappen and Bottas were forced to make their second stop on laps 34 and 35 respectively which saw Hamilton take the lead once again.

Bottas made early inroads before chipping away at Hamilton’s lead heading into the final 10 laps, getting within one second with seven laps to go.

A first attempt to pass for the lead on Lap 51 saw Bottas swing his car around the outside at Turn 12, only for Hamilton to shut the door and force his teammate wide to defend his position.

Bottas got closer coming out of the hairpin at Turn 10 on the next lap before using DRS to pass Hamilton with ease halfway down the back straight, grabbing the lead.

With Hamilton’s tyres long past their best, he was unable to try and claw his way back into the lead, leaving Bottas to cross the line four seconds clear and record his fourth win of the year, clinching P2 in the drivers’ championship in the process.

It may have been a Bottas victory but it was Hamilton’s day as he claimed his sixth world title which has him only one title away from the great Michael Schumacher.