Hello and welcome to ESPN's live coverage of the U.S. Grand Prix.

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14:02: Hamilton lines up on pole and waits for the rest of the field to filter in. Here we go...

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14:01: Real sense of anticipation before this one. Will there be another decisive moment in this afternoon's race?

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14:00: Decent launch for both Mercedes drivers on the formation lap, but it's their next launch that will be all-important.

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13:59: Outside the top ten, Perez, Grosjean and Button on the super-soft. Nasr and Ocon, on the back row on the medium. The rest on softs -- the same tyre being used by Hamilton, Rosberg and Verstappen.

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13:57: Excited yet? You should be. It's nearly time for lights out in Austin.

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13:53: Vettel gets a pre-race hug from team boss Maurizio Arrivabene. Their relationship still under the microscope in recent weeks. Ferrari badly in need of a strong result as the season nears its conclusion.

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All rise for the American national anthem #USGP #F1 #WeAreRacing pic.twitter.com/GvdhkZQm44

— WILLIAMS RACING (@WilliamsRacing) October 23, 2016

13:51: Here's what strategy Pirelli suggests for today.

QUICKEST Two-stopper: 1 stint on supersoft (14 laps on new tyres) + 2 stints on soft of 21 laps (new tyres)

SECOND-QUICKEST Three-stopper: 1 stint on supersoft (10 laps on used tyres) + 3 stint on soft of 15-16 laps

SLOWEST Two-stopper: 2 stints on soft (16 + 20 laps considering the first set used) + 1 20-lap stint on medium

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13:50: Ten minutes until lights out!

Lap 1

Great start from both Mercedes drivers and Hamilton leads into Turn 1. Ricciardo jumps Rosberg into Turn 1 and they do well to keep their wheels away from each other, great stuff from Ricciardo.

Raikkonen up to fourth.

Hulkenberg has gone down to last.

Perez and Kvyat spin at Turn 7! Drama on the opening lap.

Verstappen gets past Vettel at Turn 14.

Bottas pits with a puncture.

Lap 2

Hamilton crosses eight tenths up on Ricciardo, Rosberg 1.6s behind his teammate but will be able to go longer than the Red Bull ahead of him.

Palmer and Grosjean dicing for 14th up the hill into Turn 1.

Bottas and Hulkenberg pit. How unlucky is Hulkenberg?

Lap 3

Hamilton sets a fastest lap, a 1:44.292 - not a surprise as he's leading the pack. He's pulled clear of DRS range.

Button and Gutierrez fight through Turn 1. The Briton has to yield the position as it appears Gutierrez kicks up some debris through the Esses.

Hulkenberg is out of the car and has retired. Such a shame.

Button passes Gutierrez at Turn 12 after the long back straight.

Lap 4

Rosberg now has Raikkonen for close company, the Ferrari just 0.4s behind the Mercedes driver.

Some interesting strategy calls to come now.

Replays of the start show Hulkenberg get squeezed by both Williams drivers at the top of the hill, tapping one and then being pitched into the other one.

Onboard with Rosberg shows him wheel to wheel with Ricciardo coming out of Turn 1, but had a little wobbly moment through 2 which let Ricciardo take the position.

Lap 5

Hulkenberg was just a passenger in his incident, really - nothing he could have done.

Replays also show Perez moving across to block Kvyat coming into Turn 11. Perez gets spun around, not happy about it on the radio.

"What an idiot... What a f--ing idiot!!!" the Force India driver complained.

Lap 6

Rosberg is back within DRS range of Ricciardo, just about. He will probably be happy sitting back behind the Red Bull for the time being, given the fact he has the longer-lasting tyre.

Perez finally gets past Kvyat, his first-lap tormentor, at the end of the backstraight.

Stewards confirm they are investigating the Bottas/Hulkenberg incident from Turn 1.

Lap 7

Raikkonen keeping pace with Rosberg, still, he's just within DRS range of the championship leader. But, like Rosberg, he might be happy to sit back for a few laps and see how strategies of the leaders unfold.

Grosjean out-brakes Gutierrez at Turn 11, narrowly avoiding contact with his teammate. Grosjean is flying, he's gaining positions at a ferocious rate.

Lap 8

Perez hunts down his compatriot Gutierrez, but the Haas driver takes a very defensive inside line. Perez sticks to the driving line and is able to swing past the Haas driver - lovely move.

Perez and Sainz collision to be investigated by the stewards. Correction from earlier: I thought it had been Kvyat, unless there was another incident.

Lap 9

Ricciardo and Raikkonen pit. Both drivers take a new set of soft tyres. How will Mercedes respond? And will they think Rosberg is under pressure from the undercut?

Ricciardo gets out between the McLarens in eighth. Raikkonen gets stuck behind old teammate Alonso.

Stewards confirm no further action warranted between Hulkenberg and Bottas.

Radio exchange at Mercedes. "Ok, we're going for the long game now, Nico... So push hard," Tony Ross says. "Pushing hard is not the long game," Rosberg replies.

Lap 10

Hello there. Red Bull has called Verstappen in for new tyres. That's very early for a guy on soft tyres, but might well be because he'd dropped a few positions. Verstappen filters out behind Raikkonen and Button.

Verstappen passes Button through Turn 6.

Hamilton being called in to pits, just after Rosberg was called in for long game. Rosberg also getting called in...

Lap 11

Rosberg comes in, Hamilton stays out. Rosberg takes on the medium tyre, but he hasn't gained or lost any positions - emerging behind Ricciardo and ahead of Raikkonen. The Ferrari driver is right on the tail of the championship leader so that's why that pit stop was absolutely crucial for Rosberg. Have they taken the right tyre though? Medium tyre didn't factor into many strategy predictions this weekend.

Lap 12

Hamiltonpits from the lead - rapid stop from the Mercedes. He spends 2.3s in the box.

Soft tyres for the world champion - he emerges in the lead, quite comfortably. Interesting that Mercedes have split the strategy with drivers though.

Vettel, who is yet to pit, leads the race.

"Behind the Renault's, held up, what a disaster," reports Alonso. Not the first time he's been stuck behind a Renault...

Lap 13

Replays show Alonso finally getting past Palmer with the benefit of DRS.

Verstappen dives down the inside of Raikkonen at Turn 12, the Finn not moving under braking and letting the Red Bull driver through for fifth.

Kvyat gets a 10-second time penalty, so it was Kvyat, and not Sainz, as the computer told us earlier. That's for the incident with Perez on Turn 1.

Lap 14

Rosberg being told the afternoon will "come back towards us" as he's playing the long game. Mercedes certainly confident the championship leader can clear Ricciardo in front on this strategy - is he on a strategy to win the race?

Lap 15

Vettel pits from the lead of the race. Fifteen long laps on the super-soft tyres, he takes on the soft tyre. He'll emerge into clear track behind Raikkonen.

Verstappen chipping away at the gap to Rosberg. Interesting to see whether Rosberg will put up much of a fight against Verstappen given he's on the medium tyre. But he's lapping faster than Hamilton, showing again how good Mercedes is with the medium compound tyre.

Lap 16

Ten seconds covering the top five drivers. Not every race we've been able to say that this year.

Hamilton lapping slower than the four cars behind him, but he has the benefit of cleaner air and knows he's not in a fight with anyone directly at this moment - he's four seconds ahead of Ricciardo.

Lap 17

Shout out to Massa, up in seventh, doing Williams a big favour in seventh. Perez down in 13th. Hulkenberg got punted out of the race by the other Williams...

Gutierrez has a moement and runs deep at Turn 11. He's moving slowly down the backstraight, looks like some problems for the Mexican driver.

Replays show him locking up heavily on the run down to that left-hander - looks like another brake issue for Haas.

Verstappen is now right behind Rosberg. A Red Bull on a quick strategy against a man defending a championship lead on a "long game" strategy. Should really only have one winner, this fight...

Lap 18

Gutierrez pits in his Haas car. Doesn't look like that's going anywhere in a while and he starts to climb out of the car. Not ideal for Haas' home race.

There's just two seconds covering Ricciardo, Rosberg and Verstappen. A bit of a Mercedes sandwich at the moment. Rosberg won't be relishing his current position, every lap he has to push is detrimental to the "long game" strategy Mercedes has switched him to.

Lap 19

Verstappen now within 0.6s behind Rosberg. His soft tyres are one lap older than Rosberg's medium tyres, so he'll want to get a move done soon.

Lap 20

"Max, just make sure we can complete the stint, mate," Red Bull tells Verstappen.

"I'm not here to finish fourth!" is the reply.

Another amusing message. Renault gives Palmer a detailed message about how he's faster than teammate Magnussen, running in front of him.

"Yeah I've known this all race!" is the reply.

Lap 21

Button out-brakes Kvyat at the end of the backstraight, but the Toro Rosso driver came back at him with some late braking of his own. Button eventually gets the move done but he wouldn't have expected Kvyat to come back at him like that.

Red Bull pit wall spoiling all our fun - looks like Verstappen has pulled back a bit - he's now two seconds behind Rosberg, so clearly heeding the advice of his race engineer earlier.

Lap 22

Bottas pits and gets bogged down before leaving.

Perez flies past Kvyat to take 11th into Turn 12. Kvyat finally pits for the medium compound, which might well get him to the end of the race.

Race leader Hamilton lapping quickest out of anyone, having a nice Sunday drive out there at the moment. And a very timely one.

Lap 23

Hamilton leads Ricciardo by 6.3s. Rosberg 1.3s behind, Verstappen a further 2.6s back, the Dutchman really dropping the pace in the last few laps.

1.1s splits Ferrari drivers Raikkonen and Vettel.

Lap 24

Verstappen's pace has definitely dropped off - he's now six tenths slower per lap than teammate Ricciardo, whose tyres are one lap older.

Magnussen passes Nasr at Turn 12.

Perez complaining to Force India about understeer.

Hamilton's lead has extended to 7.5s.

The Ferraris are now nose-to-tail, Vettel on six-lap fresher soft tyres to his teammate. No need for team orders as Raikkonen comes into the pits.

Off go the soft tyres and on go.... the super-soft tyres. Surprising, that's a definite three-stop strategy for the Finn.

Lap 25

Have Ferrari goofed again on strategy? The next few laps will reveal all.

Ricciardo pits for the second time, medium tyres for the Australian driver. Sensible timing from the Red Bull, as Rosberg had closed the gap to within a second. Rosberg's tyres still with plenty of life in them at this stage.

Lap 26

Hamilton told it "won't be long now" until a pit stop of his own. These soft tyres have been on for 14 laps.

Lap 27

The Sauber drivers are fighting through the Esses. That'll be a nervy Sauber pit-wall if they remember Monaco.

Disaster for Red Bull! Verstappen has caught them by surprise and they weren't ready for him! Disaster. He's in the pit box.

"I thought you boxed me, sorry," Verstappen says. Oh dear.

Raikkonen sets a fastest lap on the super-soft tyre, a 1:41.841.

Replays make for painful viewing there. Verstappen arrives and there's no-one there waiting for him. Verstappen accepts responsibility on the radio beforehand but that's really ruined his race- he's come out in seventh. Medium tyres on his car.

Ferrari tells Vettel about Verstappen's "f--- up" on pit stop and tell him to stay out a bit longer.

Lap 28

So, Verstappen was running in fourth and lost about seven seconds in that stop. If he can stay ahead of the Ferraris he will limit the damage but that mistake will have ended any hope of beating Rosberg this afternoon.

Grosjean, wearing a star-spangled helmet for Haas' home race, pits.

Hamilton and Rosberg's lap times still holding up nicely out there. Hamilton's last a 1:43.803, Rosberg's a 1:44.178.

Lap 29

Interesting to see what tyre Mercedes puts Rosberg on in his final stint. Hamilton will take the medium, you would expect. Rosberg is already on the medium - will Mercedes think he can get to the end on a set of softs?

Vettel called in to the pits from third position. The man he needs to get out ahead of is Verstappen.

And he's definitely going to! Verstappen is going slowly down the backstraight. Engine failure for the teenager. He's coasting down the long backstraight.

Lap 30

Vettel gets some fresh medium boots.

Verstappen, for some reason, not stopping immediately. "There is something hitting the engine," he says. He's still cruising around the circuit. The race leaders fly past him.

Lap 31

Verstappen finally pulls off the race track, across the gravel stop and too an escape area. Virtual Safety Car period triggered.

Listening to the replay, his engine sounds like a bag of nails as he comes out of Turn 11.

Hamilton called in to box under the VSC, which is the logical thing to do as everyone else on the circuit is limited by a delta time.

Lap 32

Medium tyres for Hamilton.

Rosberg also taking advantage of the VSC period by pitting him - he takes on another set of medium tyres.

Virtual Safety Car still out - Rosberg nearly having a nightmare, going to overtake Wehrlein under VSC and then bailing out of it when he realised what he was about to do. That would have been a very costly moment.

Verstappen's car still being recovered.

Ricciardo livid on the radio. "They got a free pit stop basically."

Red Bull tell him yes, and his response is censored by FOM. This race has fallen away from Red Bull in a big way.

Rosberg still sat right behind Wehrlein's car as they come down the main straight.

Lap 33

VSC period ends and Rosberg immediately passes Mercedes junior driver Wehrlein.

Replays show Rosberg go very close to actually passing Wehrlein at the top of the hill, but on board footage seems to suggest he didn't get ahead of the Manor.

Hamilton 12s up on Rosberg, who is 2s behind Rosberg but needs to pit again.

Massa is spitting hairs over the radio about losing some time to Alonso under the VSC, it sounds like.

Lap 34

"You can see Rosberg ahead, let's get after him," Red Bull tells Ricciardo. I think his real focus should be behind, as he's still got to pit and the two Ferraris are within seven seconds of him.

Red Bull with a massive blunder there, not bringing Ricciardo in under the VSC. Could have cost Ricciardo a place on the podium.

Palmer is still stuck behind Magnussen in the battle for 14th. Is this a shootout for the final Renault seat?

Lap 35

Palmer gets even closer with the DRS coming up the hill, this one is personal for these two guys - there's potentially a job on the line here.

"Are you not holding me up a little bit here!?" a frustrated Palmer asks Renault. He's been stuck there for a while.

This proof of how difficult it is for teammates to pass in modern F1 - same aero, and these two men are on almost identical strategies (Magnussen's medium tyres are six laps old, Palmer's seven), meaning there's almost no point of difference between them in terms of pace. Very, very frustrating for Palmer.

Lap 36

Ricciardo will now see Raikkonen bearing down on his mirrors. Raikkonen will surely be pitting imminently, as his super-soft tyres have been on for 14 laps. Vettel went for 15 laps on his super-softs earlier.

Ferrari: "We've got some rear wing drop-outs…" Vettel: (laughs) "Some?! Some is good! Keep joking!"

Lap 37

Replays show Vettel having a big moment through Turns 4 and 5. The rear end of his car steps out and he does very well to keep that thing pointing in the right direction.

Hamilton leads by ten seconds. Ricciardo 4.5s down but his battle is now with the two red cars behind him. You imagine Rosberg will be happy to stay second given his championship position - even if he said otherwise earlier this weekend. No point straining that engine.

Lap 38

Yyvonne says: "You say Hamilton is on Medium tyres the same as Rosberg - why does Hamilton have to stop again then?"

Apologies if it wasn't clear - Hamilton and Rosberg have both done their second and final stops. That message must have been before they pitted, where they took on new medium tyres. So those two are going to the end.

The FOM broadcast has found the man dressed as a giant T-Rex in the grandstand.

Sainz doing a cracking job for Toro Rosso, up in sixth. That's not out of sync, either, he's pitted twice like those around him.

Lap 39

Raikkonen pits for soft tyres... but he's got a problem at the end of the pit lane! His car has ground to a halt half way out of the engine.

There was still a wheel gun still attached to his car! What a nightmare for Ferrari. He reverses the car off to the grass alongside the pit wall.

Sainz up to fifth!

Lap 40

Ferrari has let his car roll all the way down to the pit entry, and he's got it into a safe space, meaning no more yellow flags.

Raikkonen shakes his head, removes the steering wheel and climbs out of his car. What on earth are Ferrari playing at this season.

Lap 41

Some rather embarrassed faces on the Ferrari pit wall. The team is under investigation for releasing a car in an unsafe condition.

The two men who benefit from that in a big way are Sainz and Massa, running fifth and sixth. Williams will be dreaming of that fifth-place currently occupied by the Toro Rosso driver.

Lap 42

Raikkonen back in the garage and is in no mood to hang around in the garage. Another one then shows him getting frustrated with a cameraman following him down the pit lane.

Massa has closed right up to Sainz, who is having a wonderful day currently. He's going to be very hot property in the driver market next year and is going to give Red Bull a sizeable headache.

Lap 43

So, the Virtual Safety Car took the sting out of this one a bit, but then so did retirements for Verstappen and Raikkonen. Vettel 11 seconds behind Ricciardo in the battle for third.

Alonso slowly closing on the Sainz-Massa battle in front. With a Red Bull and a Ferrari out of action there's some big points up for grabs.

Grosjean sitting in tenth, so Haas on the verge of getting some points - he's got 15 seconds in hand on Ericsson's Sauber in 11th. Sauber will be praying for another retirement in the top ten...

Replays show Rosberg have a big lock-up in the middle sector.

Lap 44

"Keep me posted on Rosberg's times... I'd love to catch that motherf---er!" Ricciardo tells Red Bull. The Australian sounds frustrated out there.

Lap 45

Ricciardo might be wondering what he could have done had he stopped under the Virtual Safety Car, which both Mercedes drivers did.

Lap 46

Ten laps to go. Sainz still hanging on to fifth place. Massa within DRS range, Alonso catching both men up too.

Massa locks up at Turn 12 and nearly wipes out Sainz's car. Both men live to fight another day.

Lap 47

The FOM broadcast is transfixed on the battle for fifth. Sainz is doing a mega job out there. He's bleeding so much time down the backstraight, though, as his Toro Rosso has a 2015 Ferrari bolted inside it.

Alonso is now right behind Massa now, though, and is in DRS range.

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Lap 48

Alonso driving like a man possessed out there. Just think what this guy will do with a competitive car next year He's not exactly respecting the limits of the track but those aren't being enforced this weekend.

Massa and Alonso both get DRS but no-one gets close enough to pass. Massa's focus now firmly on the McLaren behind rather than the Toro Rosso ahead. Alonso gets his nose right up behind Massa's Williams through the middle sector.

Magnussen is now behind Palmer after a pit stop.

Grosjean being told he has a problem with the new on-board blue flag system alerting drivers when to move over for faster cars.

Lap 49

Replays show Kvyat lunging from a long, long way back to pass Ericsson for 12th. Nice move.

Magnussen, running behind Palmer on the super-soft tyre, dives down the inside of his teammate at Turn 12 and that was nice and easy with the softer compound. Palmer will be livid after this race.

Lap 50

Hamilton 7.6s ahead of Rosberg as we tick ever closer to the end of the race. Ricciardo about the same distance behind Rosberg.

Sainz still holding Massa at bay at the moment. This could well be one of the drives of the season if he holds on to fifth. He's still got seven laps to go...

Lap 51

Rosberg takes 0.7s out of Hamilton's lead out in front. Hamilton getting ever closer to his first win since July, so I imagine there's plenty he's holding back out there.

Lap 52

Sainz has 20-lap old soft tyres on. Both Massa and Alonso have medium tyres, so that fight is far from over in these final laps.

Verstappen's official twitter page saying he suffered a gearbox issue earlier.

Massa has a think about lunging down the inside of Sainz but thinks against it. Sainz is going to start struggling with those tyres in a big way.

Alonso barges past Massa at Turn 15! He lunged down the inside and forced the Williams wide with a bit of a nudge. Sainz the next man up for McLaren.

Lap 53

Cue "Felipe, Fernando is faster than you," jokes.

Replays showing a very opportunistic move from Alonso - he came from a long, long way back. The contact was wheel to wheel.

"Felipe closed the door! I was already alongside him," Alonso tells McLaren.

Stewards will investigate after the race, which is par for the course for any incidents this late in the race.

Lap 54

Hamilton crosses to start lap 54, he's got three more to do.

Vettel pits, he's got almost half a lap on Sainz so it's effectively a free pitstop for the German.

Bottas and Nasr dicing for positing through Turn 12. Nasr keeps his Sauber in front.

McLaren tells Alonso to get after Sainz. He's just eight tenths of a second behind the Toro Rosso driver.

Vettel comes out on super-softs, so expect a fastest lap any minute now.

Lap 55

Hamilton is on the penultimate lap of the race.

Sainz and Alonso dicing through the middle sector. Sainz battling his boyhood hero for fifth.

Williams telling Massa he has a slow puncture and he pits!

Lap 56

Alonso tries to undercut Sainz at Turn 1 but the Toro Rosso driver just clings on to position. Hamilton has just started the final lap of the race - that means these two have another lap to battle after this one!

Alonso tries a late move at Turn 11 but runs wide. Sainz doing everything he can but he powers past on the backstraight - Alonso locks up and runs wide but rejoins just ahead of Sainz for fifth! Great late drama as both men continue to lock up on the race track.

Fastest lap for Vettel - a 1:39.877. Well done Ferrari....

"Yeeeehaaa!!" shouts Alonso.

As he does, Lewis Hamilton wins the United States Grand Prix to claim his first victory since July.

Rosberg second, Ricciardo takes third, Vettel fourth. Alonso will take a well-earned fifth and the star of the day Sainz rounds off a drive to sixth. He deserved fifth there, didn't he.

"Perfect drive Lewis," Paddy Lowe says to Hamilton, congratulating the world champion.

Massa, Perez, Button and Grosjean round off the topten.