Race Analysis: The story behind the win that Hamilton needed

In Austin, we were once again denied a straight head-to-head battle between Hamilton and Rosberg. On many occasions this year one or the other has had a bad launch, started from the back of the grid, or been delayed by first corner contact.

This time both men got away well, but an opportunistic Daniel Ricciardo inserted himself between the Mercedes pair in brilliant style. As Hamilton made his escape, the focus switched instead to how Rosberg would find a way past the fast-starting Red Bull driver.

And then what should have been a superb conclusion to the battle for second was then spoiled when a Virtual Safety Car ensured that Rosberg lost the minimal amount of time with his final pitstop, allowing him to jump Ricciardo without having to fight his way past on the track.

For a second time on the same afternoon we were robbed of what could have been a real highlight.

This was not the most exciting race we’ve seen in 2016, although there was some good action further down the field – not to mention the unusual sight of Kimi Raikkonen coasting backwards down the hill from the pit exit.

But the lack of tension at the front should not detract from a faultless performance from Hamilton, who didn’t put a foot wrong all weekend and bounced back in the best possible style after the frustrations of Suzuka.

“There’s really not much to say about his race,” Paddy Lowe told Motorsport.com. “Because it was perfectly executed, and he was managing his pace really in periods of the race. When he has the margin he just keeps the gap, so he’s maintaining more tyre life than the people behind.

“So it was a perfect race on Lewis’s side. And he had a nice start.”

Ricciardo’s fast start gives Hamilton hope

Hamilton was clearly in an upbeat mood after the race, but his day would have been even better if Ricciardo had hung onto that second place and robbed Rosberg of an extra three points.

Red Bull’s good form has been a feature of the latter part of this season, and the Milton Keynes team has kept Mercedes honest. Sometimes it has tried different strategies to do so, and that was the case in Austin.

Both Mercedes drivers managed to get through Q2 on the soft tyre, meaning that they could use it for the start. But as was the case in Spa Red Bull split its options, with Max Verstappen joining the Mercs on the soft, and Ricciardo going for the supersoft.

When the dark blue cars lined up third and fourth – with Ricciardo enjoying the potential to make a better start on the softer tyre – it gave Mercedes plenty to think about.

“We discussed it in the briefing,” said Christian Horner after qualifying. “From the team point of view we’re happy to support both strategies, because tactically sitting here now it’s not obvious which is better or worse.

“From a team position tactically it’s the right thing to have done, and the drivers both expressed a desire to start the race on the tyres they are on. Daniel could get the better start, and it could be worth one or two places.

“Obviously our primary objective is to beat Ferrari, but we’re not just looking behind us, we’re looking for opportunities ahead. We had good race pace on Friday, hopefully we can put that to good effect in the race. Mercedes can’t cover both options, so let’s see...”

In the event, it worked. For once both Mercedes drivers got away well, but Ricciardo found just enough grip to take the tight line into Turn 1 and accelerate out of it ahead of Rosberg.

“I think the actual launch itself didn’t seem that much stronger than the Mercedes on the soft tyres,” said Ricciardo. “So I was hoping it would go a bit better.

"But then Nico opted to go to the outside, so I had some room on the inside there. I got one at least. I was obviously hoping to get two, but that was better than nothing...”

“I got away really well,” Rosberg said. “Not quite enough to give it a go down the inside, Lewis would just have closed, so no point in trying that, so I just went round the outside. All was looking good, actually, I just struggled for a bit of grip then out of the corner, and Daniel had that extra grip, and that’s it.”

“Nico got a nice start as well,” confirmed Lowe. “But it looked to me in his intent to try and attack Lewis he left the door open to Daniel behind! So he lost that place. We had considered that eventuality in advance, so we had lots of strategy options to cover it.”

Ricciardo was always going to be the first of the frontrunners to stop offload his supersofts, but in the end he wasn’t that much offset from his rivals. He came in on Lap 8, just one lap before soft runner Verstappen, and two before Rosberg.

“The key for us with Daniel was to make sure that we cleared the gaggle of traffic,” Horner explained. “There was a whole group of them. As soon as we cleared that gap, we pulled the trigger on Lap 8.”

Rosberg goes another way

The intriguing aspect of the first round of stops was that Rosberg was put onto mediums, the idea being that there was no point in following what Ricciardo was doing by going to softs. On the mediums he could run long, and have more options if anything unexpected occurred like a Safety Car.

If all went to plan, he would make a relatively late stop for softs and have the pace in the final stint with which to pass Ricciardo on track.

“He could use his pace and run much longer on the medium,” said Lowe. “And then we would have gone for a soft at the end.”

“That was the plan,” said Rosberg. “We were going long, for sure I would have had a great shot at the end of the race, and we think the delta would have been enough to pass. Of course I believe that I could do it. I wasn’t racing Lewis at the time, I was trying to get past Ricciardo.”

Soon after the stop there was some interesting radio traffic when Rosberg was told to push, and he seemed a little hesitant about doing so.

“It just wasn’t clear,” he admitted. “It was push, but we were going long, when you go long you shouldn’t be pushing so much! But we’ve clarified that now. It was clarified even at the time, pretty quickly.”

Through that middle stint Rosberg sat 1.3-1.4s behind Ricciardo, showing good speed given that he was on the slower tyre and had to try to conserve it. Ricciardo then pitted on Lap 25, taking on the mediums that would use for the remaining 31 laps to the flag.

“We went as early as we dared on to the medium to run until the end of the race,” said Horner. “Which would have again guaranteed him track position on Nico, who would probably have gone to Lap 36-37.”

Rosberg duly stayed out, banging in the laps and stretching the middle stint to give himself that planned short sprint to the flag on the softs at the end.

VSC kills the intrigue

Then came the game changer of the Virtual Safety Car, created somewhat unfortunately by Ricciardo’s own teammate. In an instant Mercedes called in both Hamilton and Rosberg, saving them valuable seconds as their rivals were running on track at restricted pace.

The team knew that Nico would jump Ricciardo in the process – so he was given mediums, as the stop had been brought forward, and in any case he wouldn’t need the advantage of softs to make a pass on Ricciardo.

“The strategy was unfolding reasonably well,” said Lowe. “And then we had the Virtual Safety Car, which really sort of put it in our lap at that stage. It’s quite nice to think it wasn’t just luck – it was Verstappen, so in a way it was self-inflicted!

“The only thing is, it was a slight shame for the fans, that they were denied a bit more of a battle, because I think we would have seen Nico in a big fight with Daniel, trying to overtake on the softs. That’s how it would have gone.

“So the fans were denied that excitement, unfortunately. But you take what you’re given. We were able to seal the 1-2 positions at the VSC, and then it was a case of just managing it to the end.”

The way things unfolded was hugely frustrating for Ricciardo and his team.

“I guess Lewis was probably controlling it at the front but we seemed at that stage to be able to hold on to second,” said the Australian. “And then the VSC, I think we lost 10 seconds it worked out to be, with Nico. I believe after the pit stops we would have had about five seconds on him.”

Hamilton maintains control

After the action resumed Rosberg edged closer to Hamilton, but he was never going to threaten the leader.

“I lost three seconds on the VSC restart from Pascal [Wehrlein],” said Rosberg. “Because I was stuck behind him, he was just going too slow. So I lost three seconds. I was pushing like crazy, but not enough. I was excited, I thought this is looking good as I was coming closer all the time.”

However, mindful of engine life and so on, Lewis was just pacing himself, and he had it all under control.

“Every single lap I was thinking something might happen,” said Lewis. “Honestly, when I get on that back straight I’m petrified. It has a beautiful ring to it, but it had a beautiful ring in Malaysia and it just lost power. I was just haunted by that and dreading that would happen. I’m so grateful it didn’t.

“It wasn’t until I crossed the line that I was like, thank you, I was rubbing the cockpit, thanks for getting me there.”

In the end it all played out well for both drivers, and the Mercedes management could breathe a sigh of relief.

As Lowe explained, the big fear everyone shares is that a technical gremlin will prove to be critical: “Our one wish is to get through this closing part of the drivers’ competition without affecting it mechanically...”