Categories: Look backRace and classic pictures

Can Lewis make it a hat-trick at COTA?

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The first time that Lewis Hamilton was on the podium at the Circuit of the Americas was on November 17 2012 when he beat Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso to the finish line and got to celebrate with champagne and a novelty Pirelli hat.

That win was also the very last time he stood on the podium for his old team McLaren. A few weeks later he was packing up his things and heading to Mercedes, which pretty much everyone at the tie universally agreed was a very bad move and probably the last time he'd win anything for years to come. Which shows just how much we really knew - given the difference in form between Mercedes and McLaren in 2015, it's clear that Lewis actually made a very smart call.

He went on to win the US Grand Prix a second time (and pick up a new cowboy hat) in 2014 and this year will be looking to complete his hat-trick - not only in terms of head wear and wins at COTA but also world championships too.

Incidentally, Hamilton can already boast a trio of United States Grand Prix wins to his name as he also won the event in 2007 back when it was staged at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway - but that was a very different track and nothing like the custom designed and built COTA facility that awaits the drivers this weekend.

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.