AUSTIN, Texas – Sunday was set up to be the day in which Lewis Hamilton rolled off from the pole and ultimately celebrated clinching his fifth Formula One world championship at Circuit of the Americas.

Instead, the script got turned on its ear and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen ended up writing a page of history in his own right, snapping a five-year, 112-race winless drought with a stunning victory in the United States Grand Prix.

Raikkonen, who was elevated to a front-row starting spot after a grid penalty for his teammate Sebastian Vettel, used his gifted track position to the fullest by leaping out to the race lead in the opening corner on Sunday.

The Finn then paced a race-high 39 of 56 laps en route to his 21st-career victory and first since the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in 2013 – a span of 2,044 days.

“It’s been a good weekend. I think the car was pretty good all the time,” said Raikkonen. “I got a good start. I needed to push hard. It was tight a few times … and in the end the tires were not in the best shape, but I think it was a bit similar for Max. Obviously Lewis had more tires left for the end. I had enough speed; we kept it consistent and just tried to keep the tires alive until the end.

“(Winning again) is not a big deal for me; it’s a much bigger deal for a lot of the people,” he added. “If it comes, it comes; if it doesn’t, it really doesn’t change my life one bit. I’m happy we are here and that we won, but I think the biggest difference is the way people look at you. If you look at people in a different way if they win or not, it doesn’t make a lot of difference in my mind.

“I’m happy. Just proving some people wrong is enough fun for me.”

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen put a poor qualifying effort behind him in charging from 18th to finish second, but the big story of the day was polesitter Hamilton, who was in position to lock up the driver’s championship but instead crossed third and could not officially secure his fifth crown.

Hamilton led off of lights-out, but saw Raikkonen slip through by the time the field had exited the first corner. Further back, it was the sister Ferrari of Vettel which spun in a cloud of tire smoke after a torrid battle with Daniel Ricciardo for fourth place following the start.

That incident dropped Vettel to 15th, but Ricciardo would be the worse for wear shortly after, sputtering to a stop with a power issue in turn 11 and bringing out a virtual safety car on lap nine.

Hamilton made a pit stop for soft-compound tires under the slowdown, but that strategy ultimately forced him to ultimately visit pit lane one extra time later on compared to his nearest competitors.

The Briton inherited the lead when Raikkonen came in for service on lap 22, but then subsequently gave it up upon making his final pit stop with 19 laps remaining.

That led to an eventual battle for second between Verstappen and Hamilton, and though Hamilton gave a valiant effort – going wheel to wheel with Verstappen on the penultimate lap – the Red Bull young gun hung on to record a remarkable result after beginning the day from the ninth row of the grid.

Hamilton completed the podium, but with Vettel rallying back to finish fourth, the necessary points gap of 75 was unattainable for the Mercedes man at the end of the day.

Now, Hamilton needs only a finish of seventh or better in the Mexican Grand Prix to lock up the title.

Valtteri Bottas finished fifth in the second Mercedes, followed by the Renault pair of Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz. Force India’s Sergio Perez, Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley and Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson completed the points-scoring finishers in the top 10.

Both Esteban Ocon and Kevin Magnussen were excluded from the final results for fuel use irregularities on Sunday, leading to disqualifications and loss of points earned during the event.

Ocon originally crossed the eighth and Magnussen was ninth before the stewards handed down their decisions at race’s end.