Formula 1 returns to the Circuit of the Americas this weekend for an event which has become a modern fans’ favourite. It’s the United States Grand Prix which, except for in 2020 when Covid ripped up F1’s original calendar, has been ever-present in every year since its first race in Austin, Texas back in 2012.
There have been plenty of memorable moments in more than a decade’s worth of visits to The Lone Star State. But one of the most enduring didn’t even happen on track – it occured a few minutes after the end of the 2015 race and took the rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and his team-mate Nico Rosberg to a whole new level of bitterness.
Sky Sports pundit Martin Brundle had sympathy for Rosberg and said of the incident: “I don’t blame Nico Rosberg pre-podium for not appreciating having a second position cap slung across the room at him while he’s quietly sitting and trying to come to terms with having just thrown away a race victory and handing the world championship over to his team-mate. Honestly, how would you have reacted?”
Rosberg went on to avenge himself the following year, beating Hamilton to the 2016 title before promptly retiring from the sport, having achieved what he had dreamed of doing since he was a boy. Hamilton is, of course, still active in F1 and has won seven titles so far, so it’s hard to imagine he loses too much sleep over his old team-mate’s success.
