Lewis Hamilton beats Sebastian Vettel in US Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton, has won his first victory since Monza in September, robbing Sebastian Vettel of the win in the US Grand Prix.

In a thrilling race-long battle with Red Bull’s championship leader Sebastian Vettel, Hamilton prevailed by just 0.6 seconds in the final reckoning.

Vettel now leads the drivers’ race by 13 points, having gained another three here, as the circus moves to Brazil, where rain is expected and anything can happen.

After so many frustrations this season, Hamilton fully deserved his 21st win and it was an excellent day for McLaren, with Jenson Button working his way from 12th to fifth with a committed and sometimes vivid drive.

There was controversy beforehand when Ferrari broke the seal on Felipe Massa’s gearbox. That gave him a five-place grid penalty, promoting team-mate Alonso to seventh place and, more importantly, to the cleaner side of the track.

This was only the second time this season he had been placed ahead of Alonso on the grid and the cynical move evoked memories of the German Grand Prix in 2010, when the Brazilian was instructed by his race engineer to step aside for Alonso.

A disgusted-looking Damon Hill said on Sky: “It’s a very strange sport where you can gain an advantage by sabotaging a team member.” But it worked for Alonso. He got a flying start and made his way up to fourth place when the lights went out and the action started.

Vettel made his customary fast breakaway but there was frustration for Hamilton who, starting on the dirty side of the track, quickly lost his second place to Mark Webber.

But by lap four, Hamilton had got some heat into his tyres and started to produce some of the thrilling speed that had seen him get to within 0.1 seconds of Vettel in qualifying. He was particularly fast in sector one and regained his second place by passing Webber before closing on Vettel. He soon cut the time between himself and the German to just 2.1 seconds, and started to view DRS country.

“This is excellent, Lewis,” he was told over the team radio. On lap 17 something excellent happened to Alonso. Mark Webber dropped out of the race with a Kers issue. This promoted the Spaniard to third and Kimi Raikkonen, who drove with something of his Abu Dhabi form, to fourth, though he was then slowed by a poor pit-stop.

Hamilton put in a slow lap and fell back to over three seconds behind Vettel. It was no surprise when he came in at the end of lap 20 for fresh rubber and it was a fast change too. Alonso then pitted, and it was a tardy stop, with a problem with the right rear wheel. The Spaniard had another problem: Button, who was charging through the field on his long-lasting hard tyres, was putting him under pressure to keep his place.

At the sharp end, Hamilton once again narrowed the gap between himself and Vettel and finally, on the 42nd lap, he made a DRS-assisted pass to take the lead on the long straight.

The champion took the inside line only to see Hamilton take the long way round, shooting through on the outside before braking late to secure his advantage.