US GP: Top 10 quotes after race

Lewis Hamilton today took his 50th career victory - his 3rd in a row at the Circuit of the Americas and 7th of the 2016 season so far

Race winner Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1, Victoria Vowles, Mercedes AMG F1 Partner Services Director

1st place Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1, 2nd place Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1 and 3rd place Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing

Podium: race winner Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1, second place Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1, third place Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing

Carlos Sainz Jr., Scuderia Toro Rosso STR11

Sergio Perez, Sahara Force India F1 VJM09

Jenson Button, McLaren Honda F1 Team MP4-31

(L to R): Jenson Button, McLaren with Daniil Kvyat, Scuderia Toro Rosso on the drivers parade

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Gap
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Mercedes	1:38'12.618
“I'm delighted to claim my 50th career victory today, it's been a long time coming, but most importantly it was great to have a solid race weekend. This race has always gone extremely well for me, but still, it was a massive relief when I crossed the line given my reliability issues in recent rounds. I was 100% clear on my start and I knew it was going to turn out that way. It was a nice feeling, especially after so many ups and downs, and I was able to control the race from there. It's been great to be back here in Austin and the response from the fans has been incredible. The aim is to continue this form next week and I can't wait to continue the Championship battle in Mexico.”
2	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	Mercedes	4.520
“I had a good start and tried to overtake Lewis on the outside but ultimately it meant Daniel Ricciardo had a better line out of turn 1 and was able to capitalise on this. From there it was hard to overtake the Red Bull but our altered strategy paid off. We ran the medium tyre and that gave us plenty of options, especially when the virtual safety car came into play. The medium tyre showed some really strong pace and the car felt great which meant towards the end I was closing in on Lewis, but it was too late. He did a better job this weekend and deserved the win and I look forward to continuing our battle in Mexico.”
3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	TAG	19.692
“In the beginning of the race the supersoft tyres helped me but the actual start I felt wasn’t really that much better than the Mercedes. Then I saw Nico going to the outside so it gave me an opportunity on the inside. Obviously I would have loved to have lead out of Turn 1 but second was good enough. I tried to stay with Lewis the first couple of laps but then his soft tyres were able to go a bit better. I think we were looking good for P2 but then the Virtual Safety Car didn’t work in our favour today. I’m not going to be too disappointed, it’s just cool to be on the podium here. I love coming here, the anthem was pretty awesome before the race, I had goosebumps, I’m not gonna lie, and then the podium after was great. It’s another big bag of points and we at least had Nico’s pace so that’s encouraging and we’ll try and do what we can in the next few days. Obviously Max and Kimi had their misfortunes today so it was just me and Seb out there, but we still gained a little bit on Ferrari so we’re looking good. We’ll try and keep going like this and get on the podiums for the last few races.”
4	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Ferrari	43.134
“Overall today was a better day than yesterday, it was a good race. The start was not so good and into turn 1 I was quite lucky, given that somebody was hitting me, I think it was Nico Hülkenberg. Luckily nothing was broken so I could carry on. Then the pace was good, we were looking after the tires, so we could go longer than other people. The race was a bit different than we expected, we got a present from Max today but unfortunately also Kimi had some problems and had to retire. It could have been a good performance for the team with both cars in the points.”
5	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Honda	1'33.953
“It was good and interesting today, I enjoyed it, especially the final part of the race. Carlos [Sainz] was on a different strategy and different tyres to me and Felipe, which allowed us to close the gap. Our tyres were in better condition than the Toro Rosso’s and we took advantage of that. The last couple of laps were very intense, as we had some extra speed so we tried hard to overtake. It was quite easy to overtake the Toro Rosso as they’re slow on the straights, so you just need to open the DRS. I was following Carlos for 45 laps and he drove very well, very consistently, zero mistakes – so we had a great battle. To get past the Williams today you needed to overtake them in different places, like tight, slow-speed corners, and quite forcefully, and it was tough but hopefully enjoyable for the fans. Our result today is nice for motivation, so I’m happy with fifth, but we gained a couple of positions because of other people going out, and our pace hasn’t been great all weekend here, so we need to understand the reasons for that.”
6	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	Ferrari	1'36.124
“Today’s result is a very special one for myself and the team, it’s a top, top, TOP result!! What a boost and what a way to motivate the team and keep our heads up until the end of the season! I don’t know what this track has, but I just get such a good feeling every time I race here! It’s a weekend I will always remember! To equal my best result in Formula 1 makes me very happy, but this P6 is a bit more special than the one in Barcelona because here we didn’t think we really had the car to do so – our simulations before the race said we would only finish in P11 or P12 and here we were, fighting for a P5! We were able to make the tyres last during the first stint, staying close to the Williams and then managed to create a good gap to Fernando on the Softs. We also got a bit lucky with the VSC period, which was great news for us, as we were suddenly in front of the Williams. We knew it was going to be very difficult to get to the end on the Soft tyre, but we committed to that and went to the end on that set – during the last two laps I had no tyre left and just had to hold on to it as best I could! The battle with Fernando was so much fun! I knew that he would end up getting past me but I said to myself, ‘let’s make it a bit complicated for him!’ I perfectly know how he attacks and how to defend against him, as I’ve been watching him race for the past 12 years… And I think that to be able to keep him behind for all those laps until he just opened the DRS and said ‘ciao, ciao’ was pretty decent! I’m so pleased, so happy, you just can’t imagine what’s going on inside me now, even if I’m not showing it on the outside, I’m delighted! I will definitely celebrate with champagne tonight, for me this feels like a win!”
7	Felipe Massa	Williams	Mercedes	1 lap
“I had a really good start and the race was going fantastically. I avoided the incidents at corner one and managed to overtake two cars. Our pace was really good and I managed to open up the gap to the cars behind. Then I was really unlucky with the virtual safety car because I was nine seconds ahead and then Sainz came out in front of me, gaining a lot of time and points. At the end, Fernando dived into the corner I was taking, hit my car and I got a puncture because of it. It destroyed every opportunity I had to finish the race in sixth, and potentially fifth. We still finished seventh and closed the gap to Force India, but it should have been more. It’s time to look ahead to Mexico.”
8	Sergio Perez	Force India	Mercedes	1 lap
“Eighth place was a good recovery after our race was compromised on lap one. I was hit hard from the rear under braking for turn 11 by Kvyat, who made a mistake and came in with no control. All of a sudden I was effectively in last place and with a badly damaged car. It was a difficult recovery, but step by step we got back into the points and in the end we didn’t get a bad result. We got all the strategy calls right and this helped us overcome the damage to the car because we made up positions in both pit stops. To come away with four points and to move up to seventh in the drivers’ championship is a good result in these circumstances. It’s important to hold on when you get a difficult weekend, especially in races with high attrition, and score every point you can get, but the regret remains because I think we could have finished fifth today.”
9	Jenson Button	McLaren	Honda	1 lap
“I’m pretty happy to get into the points after a frustrating day yesterday. The start was a bit of a crazy mess – there was so much action. Starting 19th makes your race a little bit more difficult but I had a good first couple of laps which I really enjoyed. I made up a lot of places and then fought my way into the top 10, and then I fluffed up my second pit-stop a little bit where I lost a place to Checo [Perez], but I think he would have got past me anyway. The second half of the race for me wasn’t as exciting – I was looking after the tyres, judging the gap behind me, and trying to save the tyres to the end of the race to attempt to catch Checo, but I think I was about three seconds off at the end. I came home ninth which isn’t too bad, and it’s great to get some good points for the team on both sides of the garage. Fernando did a fantastic job to get to P5. He was very quick today, and the Safety Car helped him a lot – one day we’ll get that luck too! I made some strong overtakes – some good, clean scraps – especially into Turn One, and I had a lot of fun fighting my way through, which made it a lot more enjoyable. For the rest of the season, it’s important that we work on our Saturdays – trying not to make bad decisions and qualifying closer to the top 10, which means you have a lot more to fight with. Hopefully the next race in Mexico City will be a good one – I’m already excited about it – and hopefully we can get a good result there.”
10	Romain Grosjean	Haas	Ferrari	1 lap
“It didn’t go too badly today. It was a bit of a messy first lap, but I managed to get through everything. Then we went with an aggressive strategy trying to go for it. That worked out pretty well, so I’m happy with that. We were lucky that a few cars retired in front of us but, in the end, we needed to finish the race. It’s great to score a point in front of our home crowd. I’m very pleased with that and for the guys, as well. It’s been a long time since we scored. It’s obviously a great thing to be able to score points at the end of the season.”