2015 United States Grand Prix

Championship standings

Hamilton leads with 302 points, 66 ahead of Vettel and 73 ahead of Rosberg.

Previous race

Hamilton won in Russia; Rosberg retired on lap seven with a locked throttle; Vettel finished second, reclaiming second place in the drivers’ standings from Rosberg. Sergio Pérez completed the podium — Force India’s first podium of the season. Mercedes clinched the Constructors’ Championship at the Russian Grand Prix.

Championship permutations

Hamilton can clinch his third Drivers’ Championship at this race if he scores nine points more than Vettel and two points more than Rosberg.

Entrants

Alexander Rossi returns to the Manor Marussia cockpit, becoming the first American to drive in the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas. Sauber celebrate their 400th Grand Prix in Formula One.

Renault use eleven of their twelve remaining development tokens to update their power unit for this race. Both customer teams — Red Bull and Toro Rosso — choose not to run the update, judging the performance gain insufficient to justify the grid penalties.

Car upgrades

Red Bull and McLaren both introduce new front wings at this race, emulating a Mercedes concept intended to direct airflow towards the outside of the front tyres. Ferrari make similar changes to the SF15-T. Mercedes add two cooling vents at the top of the airbox in preparation for the high-altitude Mexican Grand Prix following this round.

Fernando Alonso runs a power unit at Austin that was first used in practice at Russia, where he already took the grid penalty for it. Vettel and Räikkönen both require new power units, earning ten-place grid penalties each. Stevens receives a twenty-place penalty for multiple component changes.

Weather

Heavy rain is forecast for the entire weekend, with especially severe conditions expected on Friday afternoon and Saturday. The second practice session is cancelled due to rain and a thunderstorm. The final qualifying session is also cancelled due to conditions; the full qualifying procedure is run on Sunday morning before the race. Race day is expected to be slightly less wet than the preceding days.

Practice

Rosberg leads the first session on a wet-to-drying track, with Kvyat and Ricciardo second and third. Hamilton finishes fifth. Alonso goes ninth quickest on the new power unit despite going off track late in the session. Maldonado cannot participate due to a gearbox problem. Raffaele Marciello fills in for Nasr at Sauber, finishing three-tenths ahead of Ericsson.

The second session is cancelled due to a thunderstorm.

The Saturday morning session runs without spectators, kept away for their safety. Hamilton goes fastest; Vettel is second but spins twice as conditions worsen. Hülkenberg is third. Verstappen ends the session last.