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From left, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, of the Netherlands, Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen, of Finland, and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, of Britain, celebrate after the Formula One U.S. Grand Prix auto race at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas on Sun. Oct. 21. (AP/PTI)[/caption]
Austin (Texas), Oct. 22 (IANS): Finland's Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) won Sunday's Formula 1 Grand Prix in the US, surpassing Dutch driver Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and dethroning Great Britain's Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) who fell to the third spot.
To secure his fifth Grand Prix victory, Hamilton needed to beat runner-up Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) by eight points but ended up defeating the German by only three, reports Efe news.
The Englishman is 70 points above Vettel, which means that he needs to finish seventh at next week's race in Mexico to win the tournament for the fifth time and take his place alongside legendary Argentine driver Juan Manuel Fangio.
Raikkonen claimed his 21st Formula 1 victory, the first one since 2013, when he won the Australian Grand Prix.
Spain's Carlos Sainz (Renault) finished seventh after starting 11th, despite a five-minute time-out.
His countryman, Fernando Alonso (Mercedes), had to leave the competition following a collision with Canada's Lance Stroll (Williams) during the first of the 56 laps.
Mexico's Sergio Perez (Force India) finished 10th.
