• US GP - Race

Hamilton knew his chance would come

ESPN Staff
November 2, 2014 « Rosberg struggled to find rhythm | Vettel confused by race of two halves »
Lewis Hamilton dives down the inside of Nico Rosberg at Turn 12 © Getty Images
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Lewis Hamilton says he never doubted he would have a chance to pass Nico Rosberg for the win after recording his fifth victory on the bounce at the United States Grand Prix.

Hamilton moved 24 points clear of Rosberg with two races, and 75 points, left to play for in the title race, and did it so in fine style by hunting down and passing his Mercedes team-mate after the first round of pit stops. Rosberg turned Hamilton's dominance of practice on its head by taking pole position on Saturday but the Brit knew he had the pace to win from the moments the lights went out.

"There was no doubt in my mind," Hamilton said. "Practice was really good, apart from losing a bit of the long run stuff, but in qualifying I didn't find a rythym. Nico's lap was really good but I knew I would have the pace. Going into the race there wasn't a second or moment I didn't think 'I can win this'. The opportunity is going to be there somewhere so I've just got to keep working and eventually it presented itself."

That opportunity came on lap 24 after Hamilton slashed Rosberg's lead at the beginning of the middle stint, with the 2008 world champion passing his team-mate with a late-braking manoeuvre at Turn 12 for a lead he ultimately never relinquished.

"It's a very good circuit to be able to follow on, but overtaking is not easy so I just tried to stay as close as possible and get as close as possible with the aero. I was quite a bit back, but I was very confident into Turn 12. I was just close enough to throw it up the inside - you have to decide how much of a risk to take but Nico wasn't really defending there, so I almost caught him unawares."

Victory in Austin was Hamilton's 32nd of his career, which moves him above Nigel Mansell on the all-time winners' list to become Britain's most successful F1 driver.

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