Lewis Hamilton won his 6th career F1 championship as he finished the US Grand Prix with 2nd place, just 0.292 seconds after Valtteri Bottas. Lewis Hamilton did not have to push it so hard and come second to win the championship but he wanted to go all in.
34 year old Lewis Hamilton from UK is just 1 championship title behind the Legend Michael Schumacher from Germany who has got 7 titles under his belt. However, for Lewis Hamilton the icing on the cake is that he won this championship with 2 more races left in the season.
As he completed the race, Hamilton shouted ‘Still we rise!’ to his team using the car’s radio. As he parked, he climbed up his car held his head with both his hands being full of emotions and surprise that he has won the championship.
Winning his 6th championship brings him on the second position on the list of people with most championships, over taking Manuel Fangio of Argentina who is also called the ‘Godfather’ of F1, as he won 5 titles in 1950s.
After winning, Hamilton said ‘It’s an honour to be up here with these (past) greats’.
Since the inauguration of the ‘Circuit of the Americas’ in the year 2012, Hamilton has secured 5 wins here, but this time due to his slow qualifying time he started the race from the 3rd row, he said only a ‘miracle’ can help him win this race.
As the race began, Hamilton kept his cool and as the race cars raced uphill into what was a blind left side turn he gave way to Max Verstappen driving for Red Bull and Leclerc who was driving for Ferrari just to avoid collision and make the circuit into a wreck fest.
Later in the first lap, Hamilton showed his conviction in the first lap itself when he took hold of the third position. This lead sealed the championship for Hamilton as he only needed to be 8th to win the championship.
But Hamilton had made up his mind, and did not want to settle for anything less. In 2015, at the same track he finished the race at the 1st position, but sadly in the subsequent years 2017 and 2018, though he won the championships he could not make it to the podium of the races he won the championship from. This made him determined to get in top 3 and stand on the podium.
Hamilton said, ‘My dad taught me when I was like 6 or 7 years old to never give up. That’s our family motto. That’s all I was thinking all day, how could I win this race?’
Valtteri Bottas, was in the race for the championship, for that he had to not only make sure he finishes 1st, but also the Hamilton should finish in the worst position of the year, however the latter did not happen.
Bottas said, ‘Winning it was the only thing I could do to try to maintain the title hopes. I did my part but Lewis was still strong, as he always is’.
The Circuit of the Americas had a parking spot for the championship winning car next to the podium. Hamilton’s 2nd place did not only confirm that place to be filled with the silver Mercedes with Number 44 on it, but also secured his position on the podium for the race.
Hamilton was later heard saying ‘I remember watching this sport when I was younger. It’s beyond surreal to think that this journey, that my life journey has brought me to this point’.
