Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Austin

Image source, Getty Images

Max Verstappen’s third place on the grid, only 0.067 seconds off pole, confirmed the upturn in form seen from Red Bull in recent races “Compared to last year we made a really big step forward and, anyway, now the last two races, I think, we have been a lot more competitive,” he said. “We are definitely improving and learning, and also looking ahead for next year, I think we are definitely going in the right direction. And yeah, in general very pleased. I think the whole weekend, we had quite a smooth weekend. I didn't really have a lot of trouble with the set-up or whatever. So, to be here in the top three, of course I would have liked to sit in the middle but still, I think it’s been very positive.”

Team-mate Alexander Albon was sixth, just under 0.5secs off Verstappen, but feeling pleased because his underlying pace was stronger. “I found the rhythm again in qualifying and I was 0.3secs up on my final Q3 run before I ran wide and got my time deleted,” Albon said. “As drivers we prefer circuits that don’t allow you to break track limits because if there’s something there to stop you, it will. It was my last lap in Q3 where you’re always pushing for an extra couple of hundredths and it was one of those things. I think I was on for a 1:32.2 which isn’t the same pace as the guys ahead but I was more or less there.”

Less about the racing, this one, more about by-then arch nemesis Nico Rosberg's cap tantrum in the green room before going on the podium at the United States GP.

Rosberg was on pole, but Hamilton overtook him by forcing the German out wide on a drying track.

After winning the race, Hamilton passed Rosberg his 'second place' cap to wear on the podium, only for a disgruntled Rosberg - reading the act as a diss - to throw it straight back at him.

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Here are the tyre sets that each driver have at their disposal today, courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport.

Owen Davies: Hands down best Hamilton moment was holding off Rosberg for the win in Bahrain 2014. Huge psychological blow to Rosberg which defined the team dynamics for the next two years.

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Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Austin

Amid all the rumour and innuendo about Ferrari (see 18:01 entry), Sebastian Vettel missed out on pole only by just 0.012 seconds, and he felt not only that pole had been there for the taking, but also confident of a good race.

“I had a very good first lap and I had some margin maybe in the last sector where I was maybe taking it a little but too conservative, making sure that I finished the lap, set the lap first and then improve on the second lap,” said Vettel, for whom this was his 100th career front-row start. “Unfortunately, I didn’t improve, so my plan didn’t quite work. Overall, it was good. I think we will have a strong race. The car felt a lot better today than yesterday, which is also what we needed, so let’s see what happens.”

It was a close call in qualifying yesterday as Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton nearly came together at Turn 19 when Max tried to re-take track position on Lewis, who passed him earlier in the lap.

Will we see some more dueling from these two in today's race?

It was quite a wait for Hamilton's second title. After McLaren's string of poor cars, he moved to Mercedes in 2013, and when major rules changes brought the dominant Mercedes turbo-hybrid we know so well today, he duly won it.

Just. Team-mate Nico Rosberg was Hamilton's toughest competitor, and fought him all through the season.

The pair arrived at the final race in Abu Dhabi, where bizarrely double points were on offer for the winner - one of Bernie Ecclestone's great ideas.

Rosberg started on pole but Hamilton took the win after the German broke down.

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Check out the classic Corvettes that the drivers went around the track in during the drivers' parade.

Things of beauty...

You know how America loves to put on a show, well Pink and DJ KidCutUp - (?????????), he tours as Pink's personal DJ, apparently - were the main attractions at the Circuit of the Americas last night following the qualifying session.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Not long until we have commentary from our excellent 5 Live team. Jennie Gow is in position and we'll be on 5 Live from 18:30 for an extended build-up to this one.

Formula 1 and E and Stuff: Hungary was definitely Lewis’ best race of the year, drove superbly and flawlessly to win despite the odd strategy. Quality drive.

Alex Collins: We all know that Hamilton will win the title this year but it's next year where he can really show he is the best but equalling Schumacher's record.

It is also a century reached today for McLaren's Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard starts seventh, alongside his team-mate Lando Norris.

Today marks 100 races for Max Verstappen. He's already had seven wins and been on the podium 28 times. He's only 22!

Can the Dutchman mark this special occasion by adding another win to his tally? He starts third today.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Austin

Mercedes finally brought Ferrari’s run of six consecutive pole positions to an end at the Circuit of the Americas, and it escaped no-one that it happened on the same day that the FIA issued a technical directive, in response to a series of questions from Red Bull, detailing that interfering with the fuel-flow meter in any way so as to increase the fuel-flow rate beyond its permitted limit would be illegal.

Teams pored over telemetry from qualifying to see if there was an indication that Ferrari’s straight-line speed advantage has been reduced. Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff said: “Certainly the three teams were much closer together in terms of straight-line performance here in the US but I wouldn’t sat this is down to any specific event, it’s just a fact we have won our first pole position since Hockenheim and we were really in the mix.”

There could, as Wolff points out, be a number of explanations for any change and there is no proof Ferrari have done anything wrong. It was, for example, notable that Ferrari were as quick in the corners as Mercedes for more or less the first time this year. For example, at Suzuka, the Ferrari was not as quick as the Mercedes through the high-speed Esses there. But at Austin’s Esses this weekend, it was. And more downforce on the car would not only help produce that sort of performance, but also would slow the car on the straights.

Hamilton said: “What's come out this week is quite interesting to see. Obviously today, I think they've lost a bit of power. It will be interesting to see how that continues or how that reflects in the race.”

Australian Renault driver Daniel Ricciardo is doing his best to please the locals in Austin....

Let's have another look at how Hamilton became a five-time world champion, first up was 11 years ago in the most dramatic fashion possible...

Hamilton won his first world title during his second year in Formula 1 with McLaren. This was the race with Timo Glock, and Martin Brundle's famous "is that Glock?" message on the commentary.

At the Brazilian Grand Prix, Hamilton needed to finish fifth or higher to win the title. When race winner Felipe Massa crossed the line, he thought he had won the title, and the Ferrari squad began celebrating too soon.

Hamilton made one final overtake on the last lap on Glock, to take the title by a single point.

To wind back even further to the previous year, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso fought tooth and nail at McLaren for the title, but both drivers lost out by one point to Kimi Raikkonen.

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