F1 2018 results: Kimi Raikkonen holds off Lewis Hamilton’s title win at United States Grand Prix

Kimi Raikkonen has won the Formula One United States Grand Prix, his first win in over 100 races. It was a very intense battle between Raikkonen of Ferrari, Max Verstappen of Red Bull and Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes. It was Raikkonen’s first win in 113 races, the longest gap between race wins in F1 history.

By finishing third, and with Sebastian Vettel finishing in fourth, Hamilton was unable to secure the Drivers’ Championship on Sunday. He is going for his fifth title, and wants to be just the third man ever to do so, but he failed to clinch on Sunday.

Hamilton will still have a golden opportunity to win his fifth title in the next race, as three remain on the schedule.

On the opening lap, there were multiple incidents. Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo came together, which spun Vettel out and put him near the back of the pack. Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll connected, ending Alonso’s race and making him the first casualty on Sunday. Romain Grosjean also ran into Charles Leclerc, ending the former’s race while the latter had to pit, along with Stroll.

Ricciardo wound up stopping not long after that, his engine seemingly cutting out. That made him the third driver to retire from the race, a huge disappointment after he was scrapping with the top of the field.

As far as the front-runners go, Vettel would eventually make his way to near the front of the pack, while Ricciardo’s stop prompted a virtual safety car. Hamilton was instructed to pit opposite Raikkonen, and though the Ferrari tried to fake the Mercedes, he remained out. Hamilton pit early, and gained about eight seconds as a result. He wound up passing Raikkonen, and after the Ferrari stopped a few laps later, Hamilton had a 17-second lead but questions about whether or not he will be doing a two-stop strategy.

Hamilton, Raikkonen, Verstappen and Bottas were the top four after the first round of pit stops. The race came down to the final laps, and Vettel helped save his title hopes — for at least another race — by passing Bottas in the penultimate lap. Hamilton got close to Verstappen, and second place would have given him the title, but in the very final laps, Verstappen managed to stay ahead.

Leclerc wound up being the fourth driver to retire from the race on Lap 33, likely due to damage sustained early in the race. It’s his second consecutive retirement.

Below is the live blog from Sunday, in reverse order, as well as the full finishing order from Sunday. For full race results for the season as well as standings in both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships, go here.

Lap 56/56 - FINAL

Hamilton gets DRS, and Verstappen has a bad exit from Turn 12. Hamilton makes a move on him, and they scrap through multiple turns. Hamilton had Verstappen, but lost the place and went wide — with two laps to go that will probably do it. Bottas goes wide and Vettel makes it past him! Vettel up into fourth, which means Hamilton would need a first-place finish to win it. And he’s not going to get it, having lost so much time going wide. Raikkonen will come home first, ahead of Verstappen and Hamilton! Wow! What a race!

It’s Raikkonen, Verstappen, Hamilton, Vettel, Bottas, Hulkenberg, Sainz, Ocon, Magnussen and Perez as your Top 10!

Lap 53/56

Vettel pulls within DRS range of Bottas on Lap 50. Hamilton is having troubles getting and staying into DRS range of Verstappen, while Bottas pulls out of it from Vettel. Hamilton gets some DRS on Verstappen, but not quite enough. If he can pass Verstappen, he wins the race.

Lap 48/56

Vettel is beginning to gain on Bottas, which would be bad for Hamilton’s chances of clinching this week. Raikkonen’s team radio says that he will be caught by the final three laps of the race, though it’s unclear if they mean Verstappen or Hamilton. There continues to be a battle in the midfield, but Hartley is just outside the points in 11th, and is a full pit stop behind Perez in 10th. Vertstappen is 1.4 seconds back of Raikkonen, and Hamilton is 1.03 seconds back of Verstappen.

Lap 41/56

Hamilton pits! Raikkonen retakes the lead as Hamilton fits another pair of soft tires. He rejoins in fourth, three seconds up on Vettel, with Bottas, Verstappen and Raikkonen ahead of him. Raikkonen’s gap to Hamilton was nearing seven seconds when Hamilton came in for his pit. Hamilton’s team tells him to give it his all for the remainder of the race. He’s about nine seconds back of Verstappen in second, while Bottas will likely let him by. That switch happens, and Hamilton begins chasing down Verstappen.

Lap 37/56

Hamilton is lapping rather slowly, and Raikkonen continues to gain on him. Vettel is also gaining on Bottas. It seems like Hamilton will need to stop again, and very soon. Vettel sets a purple lap. The top 10 is Hamilton, Raikkonen, Verstappen, Bottas, Vettel, Hulkenberg, Sainz, Ocon, Magnussen and Perez.

Lap 34/56

Hamilton seems to be slowing down, trying his best not to stress his tires. He has a 17.2-second lead over Raikkonen as of Lap 29. Vettel pits and rejoins in fifth, leaving Magnussen and Ericsson the only two who have yet to pit. Hamilton continues to be lapping conservatively, saving his tired. Raikkonen makes up about three seconds on Hamilton by Lap 34.

Lap 25/56

Sainz gets a five-second penalty, and he’s sitting in seventh. Raikkonen pits on Lap 22, with Hamilton right behind him prior to the stop. So Hamilton regains the lead, while Raikkonen rejoins the track in fifth, behind Vettel. A first for Hamilton and fifth for Vettel would also give Hamilton the championship. Bottas seems to be coming in on Lap 23, which means Vettel shouldn’t be far behind. Vettel goes through ahead of Bottas, while Verstappen pit on the prior lap and has successfully passed Bottas after the stops, he has about a 2-second lead. Ocon passes Gasly after pitting. Only Vettel, Sainz, Perez, Magnussen, Hartley and Ericsson have yet to pit as of Lap 25.

Lap 20/56

Hamilton is already gaining on Raikkonen heavily, and is made up nearly three seconds in two laps. Bottas lets Hamilton by under team orders, but they’re on different strategies and Hamilton is lapping faster regardless. By Lap 16, Hamilton is just 3 seconds behind Raikkonen, who should be stopping soon. Sainz is under investigation for going off the track and gaining an advantage. Hamilton is within a second of Raikkonen as of Lap 20!

Lap 12/56

As of Lap 11, a virtual safety car is deployed. Raikkonen and Hamilton were both past the pit entry when it was deployed. Vettel also passes it despite potentially getting on a better strategy. Only the top two were past the pit entry when the safety car was deployed. Hamilton’s radio tells him to do the opposite of Raikkonen if the VSC is still deployed. Raikkonen faked like he was going in, but Hamilton didn’t bite, and made it into the pits. He rejoins in third place after fitting the soft tires. The virtual safety car comes to an end, and Raikkonen is told that Ferrari expects Hamilton will be doing a two-stop strategy. It’s Raikkonen, Bottas, Hamilton, Verstappen and Vettel, with Hamilton just eight seconds back of Raikkonen despite stopping.

Lap 9/56

If things remain anywhere near where they are now, Hamilton will be crowned the Drivers’ Championship winner. Vettel is up to ninth place, while Hamilton is 2.1 seconds back of Raikkonen as of Lap 7. It does feel like Raikkonen isn’t pulling away, and that’s an issue given the tire differences. And on Lap 9, on the exit of Turn 11, Ricciardo has stopped! He’s out of the race! It seems like a power failure.

Lap 6/56

Alonso and Vettel both seem to be mostly at fault for their incidents, while Grosjean tried to underbreak too hard and went into Leclerc. Raikkonen has a 1.4-second gap to Hamilton, but he’s worried about his right rear tire. Meanwhile, Hamilton’s radio comes on telling him to attack Raikkonen if he feels like he can. Both Alonso and Grosjean are officially out of the race, while Stroll has a drive-through penalty. Leclerc survived, but rejoined the race in 17th place.

Lap 4/56

Hamilton and Raikkonen both get great starts, with Hamilton trying to cut off the Ferrari, but Raikkonen passes him by the first turn. He’s on the faster ultrasoft tire, while Hamilton has the super soft. Vettel also got off the start well, and around Turn 12, Vettel and Ricciardo touch, sending Vettel spinning. Alonso, Leclerc, Grosjean all appeared to have had contact on the opening lap as well. Stroll of Williams, as well. Vettel falls all the way down to 14th place, and he’s made an overtake on Vandoorne to move up to 14th. Verstappen is up into ninth, while your top four is Raikkonen, Hamilton, Bottas and Ricciardo! Wow!

2:00 p.m.: The drivers are getting ready and we’re just a few minutes away from the start of the Formula One United States Grand Prix. Keep it here for a live blog of the action!

Lewis Hamilton has a commanding lead in the Formula One Drivers’ Championship, and he has pole position for Sunday’s United States Grand Prix from Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. The race is set for 2 p.m. ET on ABC (live streaming via WatchESPN, ESPN App, F1 TV Pro).

Hamilton’s only competition in the championship is Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari, who takes a three-place grid penalty and will start fifth on Sunday. Vettel’s penalty came after he failed to slow sufficiently under red flags in the first practice session.

Both Brendon Hartley and Pierre Gasly of Toro Rosso were sent to the back of the grid for power unit changes, while Max Vertappen of Red Bull had a car issue after the first qualifying session. Verstappen usually makes it to fifth on the grid behind the Mercedes and Ferrari cars, but he’ll start 13th on Sunday.

Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari, Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes and Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull separate Hamilton and Vettel. The rest of the top 10 is made up of Force India’s Esteban Ocon, Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg, Haas’ Romain Grosjean, Sauber’s Charles Leclerc and Force India’s Sergio Perez.

Hamilton needs to out-score Vettel by just eight points to be crowned champion for this season. The gap to first- and second-place is seven points, so if Hamilton wins, he’ll need Vettel to finish in third or worse, while Bottas’ task be will be ensuring that happens.

Ferrari have provided boosts to their power unit, but it would take an incredible string of unlikely events for Hamilton to be denied his fifth world championship. Only two other drivers — Michael Schumacher and Juan Manuel Fangio — have previously accomplished five career championships.

Below is all you need to know to watch the action.

Date: Sunday, Oct. 21

Location: Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas

Time: 2 p.m. ET

TV: ABC

Online Streaming: WatchESPN, ESPN App, F1 TV Pro