Lewis Hamilton passed Sebastian Vettel at the end of a long straightaway to take the lead, then holding off the German for the final 14 laps to win the United States Gran Prix, the 1st Formula One race on America since Y 2007.

Hamilton won that race 5 yrs ago at Indy, and made the move of the day Sunday to post his 4th victory of the Y 2012 season.

Hamilton drove his McLaren car to wins in Canada, Hungary and Italy earlier this season and looked forward to return to the US Grand Prix, and race on the new Circuit of the Americas.

Red Bull’s Vettel, with 4 consecutive victories started on the Pole Sunday. The 2-time defending World Champion was the favorite to win and maybe clinch his 3rd consecutive world title.

Vettel finished second and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso came 3rd Sunday. Vettel now leads Alonso by 13 pts heading into the last race of the season next week in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Vettel survived the congestion at the start as the drivers raced for the top of the 133-foot elevation at the signature turn 1, then whipped around and down into the 2nd before making a slalom run through a series of curves.

Vettel kept clear of the congestion and looked to be off and running to a victory. Hamilton stayed close and looked for his chance on every pass through the straightaway before finding the room he needed.

Vettel led the first 41 laps until Hamilton ran by as the cars approached the tight corner on turn 12. Vettel tried to move to the inside to hold off Hamilton but could npt.

Alonso drove hard to stay in the running for the drivers’ championship. The Spaniard was set to start in 8th spot but got a boost to 7th when Ferrari broke the gearbox seal of Alonso’s teammate, Felipe Massa, incurring a 5 spot penalty that allowed Alonso to move up one place.

“The reason for this was for strategy considerations, with the objective of maximizing Alonso’s start potential given that he’s still in with a chance to win the drivers’ championship,” Ferrari said in a statement. “It was a decision agreed by both drivers.”

Alonso used the better position to immediately advance 3 places in lap 1. He ran into trouble with a bad pit stop, but made up enough ground to keep the pressure on Vettel next week. “Today it was not possible to keep pace,” Alonso said. “They were too far ahead.”

Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen, who won in Abu Dhabi 2 wks ago, finished 6th. Michael Schumacher of Mercedes, a former 7-time world champion who is set to retire again after Brazil, could not capitalize on starting from the # 5 spot and slipped to 16th.

The 25 anni, Vettel is already the youngest repeat champion in Formula One history. He could join Schumacher and Juan Manuel Fangio as the only drivers to win 3 in a row. Alonso, 31 anni, won consecutive titles in Ys 2005 and 2006.

“We try to look at Brazil with a possibility to fight for a World Championship,” Alonso said. “It’s something that we fight all through the year and try to fight for position. Only Sebastian is in a better position than us but we should be proud.”