Lewis came home in P3, racing to the 15th podium at a US Grand Prix for Mercedes-Benz Power. Valtteri finished today's race in P5, securing ten points for the Constructors' Championship.
Lewis (346 points) leads the Drivers' Championship by 70 points from Sebastian Vettel (276 points) with Valtteri (217 points) in P4 and with 75 points left to be scored in the season.
Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport (563 points) lead Ferrari (497 points) by 66 points in the Constructors' Championship with 129 points remaining to be scored in the 2018 season.
Toto Wolff: First of all, congratulations to Kimi on his win today - it has been a long time since we saw him on the top step and it was great for Formula One to have him up there. This was a day of fantastic racing, and a great show for the American fans with lots of wheel-to-wheel battles, but it wasn't a good day for us at Mercedes. All week, we have heard people talking us up, talking Ferrari down and talking as if this season is a foregone conclusion; but that narrative doesn't fit the reality of Formula One. We have been wary and respectful of Ferrari at every race this year and we knew they would come here to fight back hard - and so they did. It wasn't a surprise against competitors of such strength. On our side, the story of the race wasn't really one of strategy; we didn't have the balance of speed and tyre management that we would have needed to win this afternoon. When we were running second with Lewis and the VSC came out, we took the opportunity to off-set ourselves in order to go for the win - because it was going to be very tough to win by mirroring Kimi ahead. This looked pretty good for a while but we knew it would mean coming back through other cars in the final laps - and it didn't work out. He managed to close the gap but we gave him too big a mountain to climb, and the tyres no longer had the pace advantage he needed to pass in the final laps, in spite of giving it a pretty spectacular go against Max. For Valtteri, though, we tried a one-stop strategy like the top two - and couldn't make the tyres last either. So we need to learn the lessons from today, take strength from the pain of having been out-performed here and move on to Mexico determined to get closer to our potential in terms of the race performance. Nothing can, and nothing will, be taken for granted by any single member of the team.
James Allison: That wasn't the race we were hoping for, but I guess we always knew that we might face a tricky time at the start with Kimi on the softer compound and with a strong run up the hill as a result. However, we did think that we would have the pace one way or another to impose ourselves on the race. It didn't work out that way. The absolute pace of the car remained strong, but we consumed our tyres quicker than the others and that left us with a weak hand to play over the distance of the race. You could see that both in the two-stop that Lewis did, aided by a Virtual Safety Car, and in the one-stop that we chose for Valtteri; both drivers started brightly enough in their stints but their challenge faded as the tyres went off. We normally get the car in a happier place than this, but with Friday being washed out we were blind to the problems we experienced today. They were cruelly exposed today and they led to the disappointing outcome. We look forward to Mexico next weekend, and we are determined to put on a better performance than we managed today.
Maurizio Arrivabene: "Today's win came courtesy of Kimi who drove a great race and the team, which at such a tricky time, showed great courage in taking a step back, fighting our closest rivals on equal terms. Seb was unfortunate and had to fight his way back up the order after the collision on the opening lap. In the championship, the numbers are against us, but we will knuckle down and fight all the way to the end, just as we did today."
Christian Horner, Team Principal: "A stunning drive from Max again today starting 18th and finishing the first lap in ninth. He started on the Soft tyre and quickly made his way through the field. We then picked the right moment to undercut Bottas and go onto the Supersoft. At that point we thought it would be a two-stop race but we then converted to a one-stop as Max was doing such a great job of managing his tyres. It then became all about the last ten laps as he closed in on Kimi and Lewis who was on a two-stop strategy had much faster pace was able to close in on the two lead cars. A good and fair fight between Max and Lewis over the last couple of laps gave Kimi the breathing space to take a well-deserved win and Max a fantastic second place. For Daniel, having started the race strongly and looking so competitive it was hugely frustrating to lose him so early on with what looks like a repeat issue of Bahrain, where the engine energy store is suspected to have failed terminally. Thankfully we have one in more our allocation that we introduced in Sochi, meaning we should avoid a penalty in Mexico next weekend. The whole team feels for Daniel as we just want to see him finish on a high in the remaining races with us and for reasons beyond our control, in recent races, that hasn't been possible."
Racing Point Force scored five points in today's United States Grand Prix in Austin.
Otmar Szafnauer: "Getting both cars home inside the points is an important result, but we certainly hoped to come away with a few more points today. We lost out against the Renaults on lap one and never managed to recover the lost ground. The strategy options were pretty limited with most drivers only stopping once and we had to settle for P8 and P10."
Sergey Sirotkin finished 15th and Lance Stroll 16th in the United States Grand Prix. Both drivers started the race on the supersoft Pirelli tyre, with Sergey P14 and Lance P15 on the grid.
Both cars suffered damage after each making contact with a different McLaren on the opening lap, with Lance receiving a drive-through penalty for causing a collision as a result.
Lance immediately pitted for a nose change and swapped to the soft tyre, and came back out in P18, before pitting again on lap 38 for the ultrasoft tyre.
Sergey ran as high as P11 in his opening stint before the Virtual Safety Car was deployed after Ricciardo stopped on track, prompting Sergey to pit for the soft tyre. He made his second and final stop on lap 29 for the supersoft tyre.
Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer: It was a tough day. The race could have been quite promising but it all went wrong for Lance in the first few corners where he had contact with Alonso from which we had to change his front-wing. He subsequently received a drive-through penalty for this incident. The car was also damaged beyond the front-wing, so Lance ran a fairly lonely race out on his own at the back of the field. In Sergey's case, he also had damage after contact with Vandoorne in turn 11 of the first lap which lost him a significant amount of downforce. Although his position looked quite promising through the first stint, we took the opportunity to stop under the Virtual Safety Car which should have been a good strategy but nothing worked today because the pace of the car was not there to compete. That said, we did get both cars home so well done to all the crew for another good job operationally. These aren't the finishing positions we hoped for today and so we look forward to a better result in Mexico.
Renault Sport Formula One Team scored its best result of the season where Nico Hulkenberg finished sixth and Carlos Sainz took seventh at the Pirelli United States Grand Prix.
Both drivers made strong starts and ran to a one-stop strategy with the only cloud on an otherwise sunny day a five-second penalty for Carlos exceeding the track limits and being judged to have gained an advantage. Today's result sees the team remain in fourth position in the Constructors' Championship, now 22 points ahead of the fifth placed team.
Nico started from P7 on scrubbed Pirelli Ultrasoft (purple) tyres, pitting on lap 23 for a new set of Soft (yellow) tyres. Carlos started from P11 on new Supersoft (red) tyres, pitting on lap 24 for a new set of Soft tyres.
Cyril Abiteboul, Team Principal: "Today showed us what can be achieved if we all pull together as a team. After a difficult weekend for all because of the track conditions we were able to show strong race pace with Nico and Carlos delivering exactly as desired. Today's result puts us in a better championship position heading to the final three races of the season and it gives a lot of confidence to the team and our drivers. Congratulations also to Max Verstappen and Red Bull for their second place, just 1.2 seconds away from the race win."
Franz Tost (Team Principal): "Taking into consideration we had to start from the back of the grid, we ended up with a good result by finishing ninth. Brendon had a good race as he saved the tyres and defended his position well against Ericsson. Pierre went straight at Turn 5 on the first lap to prevent a collision with the cars that crashed in front of him, and unfortunately damaged the floor. As a consequence, his car lost downforce and was quite unstable under braking, so he could not be able to catch up to the rest of the field. Nevertheless, he finished the race in P12. With these two points added to our tally, we now head to Mexico for next week's race."
Toyoharu Tanabe (Honda F1 Technical Director): "Another difficult weekend. Our pace was respectable in qualifying, but we were unable to reproduce it in race conditions. Brendon had a good race going from the back row of the grid to eleventh, after which, thanks to the decisions from the Stewards we have scored two points. However, we must keep working to improve our performance."
It was a difficult homecoming for Haas F1 Team in the United States Grand Prix Sunday at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas. The only American outfit competing in the FIA Formula One World Championship left the Lone Star State empty-handed after Kevin Magnussen's ninth-place finish was disqualified while teammate Romain Grosjean suffered a DNF (Did Not Finish) stemming from a collision on the opening lap.
FIA Stewards determined that Magnussen's Haas VF-18 consumed more than the maximum allotment of 105 kilograms of fuel during the 56-lap race around the 5.513-kilometer (3.426-mile), 20-turn track. This resulted in the disqualification.
It was incredibly unfortunate, as Magnussen kept his car clean during a chaotic first lap that saw a handful of incidents where numerous drivers banged wheels and spun off course. Among them was Grosjean, who made contact with the Sauber of Charles Leclerc at the entry to turn 12, damaging his front suspension so much that he was forced to retire from the race after only two laps.
After starting 12th, Magnussen was 11th when the field returned to the mainstraight for the second lap. He picked up 10th on lap nine when the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo came to a stop just past turn 11, its engine silent.
By qualifying outside the top-10, Magnussen had the benefit of choosing his tire compound for the race, whereas those in the top-10 had to start the race on the tire they used in qualifying. Magnussen went with the slightly more durable Pirelli P Zero Red supersoft tire while most of those ahead of him had the grippier Purple ultrasoft tire. The ultrasofts, however, degraded at a faster rate, and as those ahead of Magnussen began to pit, he stayed out, rising to sixth by lap 26.
Magnussen held that position until he made his scheduled pit stop on lap 30, jettisoning the supersoft tires for a new set of Yellow softs that would carry him to the finish. He emerged from the pits in ninth place.
With 25 laps remaining, Magnussen was sandwiched between the Force Indias of eighth-place Esteban Ocon and 10th-place Sergio Perez. Magnussen's margins between the two drivers stayed healthy, allowing him to handily hold onto ninth place through the checkered flag. While that's what was seen by onlookers, the record books will show otherwise, with the letters DQ listed instead.
Eighteen rounds into the 21-race Formula One schedule, Haas F1 Team remains fifth in the constructors' standings with 84 points, but is now 22 points behind fourth-place Renault after the manufacturer placed both its drivers - Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz Jr. - in the top-10, with the duo finishing sixth and seventh, respectively. Haas F1 Team did, however, maintain its 26-point margin over sixth-place McLaren.
Magnussen is ninth in the driver's championship with 53 points and Grosjean is 13th with 31 points.
The next event on the Formula One schedule is the Mexican Grand Prix Oct. 28 at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City.
Guenther Steiner: "It wasn't a good event for us. Grosjean's collision with Leclerc on the opening lap - he ended up getting a penalty for the next race, so we're penalized for that already. We get a three-place grid penalty for him. Kevin finished ninth, but has been disqualified because we used too much fuel. In the end, that's our responsibility to control the fuel amount, but I still disagree with Formula One having to run on these rules. I hope next year, with having 110 kilograms, this will change, but we change another rule and put a big front wing on, so maybe this will be the same. One day we'll get to have a good show, but at the moment it isn't."
Only one McLaren finished the United States Grand Prix, after a dramatic start in which Fernando retired at the end of the first lap after sustaining irreparable damage during an incident with another car.
Stoffel, meanwhile, starting in 16th, was lucky to weave his way through the melee without significant damage, despite being hit more than once on the first lap. The team opted for an ambitious two-stop strategy and he made his first pit-stop early during a Virtual Safety Car period. He showed strong pace in the final stages to finish 13th after closing up to the pack in front, although wasn't able to make any overtakes stick.
Gil de Ferran, Sporting Director: "It's never a good feeling when one car retires at the end of the first lap and we come away from a grand prix empty-handed.
"It's really sad and unfortunate that Fernando was hit just after the start and incurred too much damage for us to continue, particularly given the decent pace that Stoffel showed.
"We put Stoffel on an aggressive two-stop strategy and tried to profit from the preferable tyre allocation we had going into the race. However, not only did we lose too much time early on with traffic, despite the significant pace advantage we had in the closing stages, overtaking proved to be very difficult.
"We say goodbye to Austin with a sense of disappointment, but also encouraged by the positives we can take away from this weekend."
The Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team headed into the United States Grand Prix motivated to fight for the points, with Charles Leclerc starting from P9, and Marcus Ericsson from P17. However, a collision on the opening lap compromised Charles Leclerc's whole race by causing damage to his car. The team was forced to bring him into the pits immediately to fit a fresh set of tyres and a new nose to his car. The Monegasque driver gave his all to close the gap to the competitors ahead, however, due to residual damage to his car he finally had to retire from the race.
Marcus Ericsson, on the other hand, had a strong start from P17, advancing to the midfield with a consistent performance throughout the race. The Swedish driver did a very good job of managing his tyres and keeping up a consistent pace, finishing in P12 on a track that he credits as being one of his favourites. As two other drivers were disqualified after the race, Marcus Ericsson was promoted to P10, adding an additional point to the team's tally.
The Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team currently holds 9th place in the Constructors' Championship. Charles Leclerc is in 15th (21 points), and Marcus Ericsson in 17th (7 points) place in the Drivers' Championship.
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal: "It was another tough race for Charles. He had a great start and fought well for positions. Unfortunately, he was caught up in an incident on the first lap and was hit by a competitor, which damaged his car. He came in for a change of tyres and had a new nose fitted onto his car, however, had to retire from the race due to the remaining damage on his car. Marcus had a good race. After a tough qualifying, he started from the lower midfield. He gave a solid performance and worked his way up the ranks, ultimately finishing in P12 (the position was promoted to P10 after the race due to two other drivers being disqualified). The pace was there and both drivers made the best of their difficult situations. We head to Mexico feeling positive and will fight for good results next weekend."
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen won an action-packed Pirelli United States Grand Prix, with the top three covered by less than three seconds and using three very different tyre strategies.
While Raikkonen won the race from second on the grid, using an ultrasoft-soft strategy, Lewis Hamilton was the only one of the frontrunners to use a two-stopper. Having started the race on supersoft from pole, the Mercedes driver made an early stop on lap 11 under a virtual safety car for soft tyres. But after pushing hard to regain the lead, he was forced to stop again for another set of softs with 20 laps to go, which dropped him out of championship-winning range.
Yet another strategy was used by Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who started from 18th on the grid but worked his way up to second at the finish. This was also thanks to an opening stint on the soft tyre, before he switched to the faster supersoft for a longer stint close to the finish.
Mario Isola: "Congratulations to Kimi Raikkonen for a brilliant win, after controlling one of the most tightly-fought grands prix of recent years, where tyre strategy played an important role. There were four different strategies in the top four, with the race also influenced by Lewis Hamilton's early stop under the virtual safety car, as his team opted to take the opposite approach to Raikkonen, who stayed out. This put Hamilton on a very different strategy to those around him, which culminated in an extremely exciting finish. With limited dry running on Friday, the teams didn't have the full picture on tyre wear and degradation, which undoubtedly contributed to the excitement and unpredictability today. Despite this handicap, all three compounds performed strongly and very consistently."
