Lewis Hamilton did all he could to close the gap to championship leader Nico Rosberg, as the Briton took a controlled fifth United States Grand Prix victory and a 50th career win.
Rosberg however did enough to finish second depite dropping to third at the start of the race as Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo got the jump on the Mercedes at Turn 1.
Ricciardo went on to complete the podium, with his chances of finishing second scuppered by a badly-timed Virtual Safety Car which was caused by team-mate Max Verstappen who pulled off the circuit with an engine issue.
Verstappen sat fourth at one point and exclaimed "I'm not here to finish fourth" as he hunted down Rosberg in third at the time, before he pitted by accident, with his team unaware, costing him several seconds before his eventual retirement.
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel was fourth after his own team-mate Kimi Raikkonen also retired in a rather odd incident. The Finn pulled away with a wheel gun still attached and before he'd noticed, was already out of the pitlane before his team told him to retire the car.
Fernando Alonso matched his best finish with fifth after a storming final few laps which saw him pass Felipe Massa – the pair making contact which is currently under investigation – and then Carlos Sainz.
Sergio Perez, Jenson Button and Romain Grosjean completed the top ten.
