Lewis Hamilton has won his third Formula One->ke190 driver title after taking first place in the United States Grand Prix. Hamilton becomes the second British driver after Sir Jackie Stewart to hoist the biggest prize in motor racing.->ke447 The Mercedes->ke187 driver is also just the sixth F1 driver to win three driver’s titles, joining a list that includes Stewart, Niki Lauda, Jack Brabham, Nelson Piquet, and Ayrton Senna.

The road to the 2015 title came with plenty of challenges, including his own teammate, Nico Rosberg and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel. The latter could’ve actually kept the championship picture open had he finished second, but the Ferraris->ke252 were clearly outpaced by the Mercedes cars throughout the weekend, forcing Vettel to settle for third place.

As has been the case throughout the season, the race for first boiled down to Hamilton and Rosberg, and the two Mercedes drivers didn’t disappoint, eschewing any idea of team orders to engage in a frantic last few laps to the race. Ultimately, Hamilton took advantage of a mistake by Rosberg to sweep past the German and put an exciting exclamation point to what has been a dramatic, if not a little one-sided, Formula One season.

There are three races left in the 2015 calendar, the soonest being the F1 Gran Premio De Mexico on November 1, 2015. With both the driver’s and constructor’s titles already decided, these races could be used as early preparations ahead of the winter testing season. Teams will try to get a head-start on the development of next year’s cars and field promising young riders that could one day become the next stars of Formula One. For now, however, Lewis Hamilton retains his spot as the world champion. How long he stays there remains to be seen, but if Mercedes can continue its form, dethroning him could be very difficult.

Continue reading to read more about Lewis Hamilton's third Formula One world title.

Why it matters

I’m going to stop short of calling this an exciting Formula One season, even though I was surprised to see Sebastian Vettel put up a fight for Ferrari this late into the season. But, just like last season with Mercedes and the previous four years with Red Bull, Formula One has to contend with the reality of having one dominant team that runs away with the title. I’ll be the first to admit that I miss the days when three drivers from three different teams were in contention heading into the final race of the season. Those were great times as a Formula One fan because the stakes were highest in the last race of the year.

But, that hasn’t been the case this decade. This season alone is a good example of what happens when there’s one dominant team. The season is decided with races left in the calendar. This time, there are three more rounds before the season concludes. Short of the die-hard fanatics who will digest anything and everything they can about the sport, I don’t see any reason to watch these races, now that there isn't anything up for grabs anymore.

I can’t blame Hamilton and Mercedes for dominating the past two years, just like I never put the blame on Vettel and Red Bull in the four years before that. They’re only racing with what they have; it just so happened that their products were far superior to what anybody else had.

So congratulations, Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes. It’s a well-deserved championship run, even though it lacked the kind of late-season drama that really brings out the best in the drivers, their cars, and Formula One itself as a whole.

2015 Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 W06 Hybrid

Read our full review about the 2015 Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 W06 Hybrid here.