AUSTIN, Texas -- Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen won an enthralling U.S. Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton missed out on an opportunity to clinch the title at the Circuit of the Americas on Sunday.

Hamilton needed to outscore title rival Sebastian Vettel by eight points to secure the title, but a combination of race strategy and brilliant drives by Raikkonen and Max Verstappen ahead deprived him of the points gap he needed and left him third at the finish. Although Vettel is still mathematically in the title hunt, it had nothing to do with his own race as he spun out on the opening lap trying to pass Daniel Ricciardo and had to recover from 15th to fourth.

Regardless of the championship situation, however, the U.S. Grand Prix offered up one of the most exciting races of the year. At the chequered flag the top three were split by just 2.3s, with three different cars on three different strategies all in the running for victory. Hamilton, who started from pole but lost the lead to Raikkonen in the first corner, was the aggressor on a two-stop strategy after pitting on lap 11 under a Virtual Safety Car, but somehow the race just kept slipping away from him.

When Hamilton pitted from second under the VSC it looked like a no-lose situation and an opportunity to put pressure on Raikkonen ahead, but Mercedes had not banked on Verstappen coming through the field from 18th on the grid. Verstappen's strategy had left him on softer tyres for his final stint but they were also 15 laps older than Hamilton's in the final 19 laps of the race. Conventional wisdom dictates that Hamilton should have had a pace advantage from his fresher, more durable rubber to overtake Verstappen, but despite a thrilling battle it wasn't quite enough.

Hamilton's opportunity came two laps from the finish when he got a better exit out of Turn 15, but Verstappen hung him out to dry through Turn 16 and Turn 17, forcing Hamilton out into the run-off area. At the time he would have secured the title with the move, although a lap later Vettel took fourth place from Bottas at Turn 13, giving him the position he needed to stay in the title even if Hamilton had secured second.

Vettel now needs to take 20 points out of Hamilton's title lead in Mexico in order for the title race to continue to the penultimate round in Brazil, otherwise the title is over.

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Raikkonen's victory was his first since the start of 2013, ending a barren spell of 113 races without a win. It was a solid victory and needed him to make the move on Hamilton at Turn 1 in order to command the race from the front.

Mercedes' decision to pit Hamilton early ultimately cost him a shot at second place, and on the face of it looked like an error. However, all teams were racing without perfect knowledge of the tyres after Friday's practice sessions were wet, meaning Mercedes had no way of knowing whether a fresh set of soft tyres fitted on lap 11 would make it to the end of the race.

The VSC that triggered the pit stop was caused by Daniel Ricciardo stopping on the side of the track with a loss of drive and Mercedes saw the opportunity of a "low-cost" pit stop while the rest of the field was circulating at a reduced pace. Hamilton was ordered to do the opposite to Raikkonen as the cars came to the end of lap 11, and with the Ferrari remaining on track, he dived into the pits.

The pit stop dropped Hamilton to third behind teammate Bottas, but that position was always going to be gifted back by the second Mercedes at the earliest possible opportunity. Within the space of seven laps, Hamilton was back on the tail of Raikkonen and on fresher tyres, meaning, in essence, he had lost nothing from the pit stop and was now on fresher rubber.

But this was also the moment where Mercedes' strategy was gazumped by Verstappen. Hamilton had pushed hard to get back on the rear of the Ferrari and he had taken a lot of life out of his tyres. Verstappen, meanwhile, had moved from 18th to fourth in the opening 22 laps on a set of soft tyres and then took on a set of super-softs at his second stop. In theory those tyres should have degraded faster than the softs on Hamilton's car, but with Verstappen at the wheel they managed a monster 34-lap stint to the end of the race.

That allowed Verstappen to move ahead of Hamilton when the Mercedes made its second pit stop on lap 37 due to massive blistering on the rear rubber. A new set of softs went on the Mercedes in the hope the fresh rubber would give him a pace advantage over the Red Bull on aging super-softs, but it simply didn't turn out that way. For the record, Mercedes did not have any super-softs left to match Verstappen compound for compound and therefore had to go for the softs.

Hamilton emerged from his second pit stop in fourth place and once again was gifted a simple overtake by teammate Bottas to move up to third. But the pace of the Ferrari and Red Bull in first and second was still solid and it wasn't until the final ten laps that Hamilton was close enough to start thinking about a move on Verstappen.

His big opportunity came in the skirmish around Turn 16 on lap 54, but passing Verstappen is easier said than done. It appeared as though Hamilton had the move done on the exit of Turn 15, but Verstappen would sooner crash out than give up a position, while Hamilton was reluctant to throw caution to the wind with the title still mathematically open.

The time lost by runnning wide at Turn 16 and 17 meant Hamilton was unable mount a fightback in the last two laps, and Vettel's move on Bottas meant second place would not have been enough for Hamilton to clinch the title in any case.

The championship now goes down to the final three races and Hamilton only has to finish seventh in Mexico to secure his fifth title.