This was exactly the race Lewis Hamilton desperately needed after the travails of his past few weeks in Formula 1.
The double sucker punch of losing the Malaysian Grand Prix to sudden engine failure, then tying himself in knots with bad set-up and a poor start as title rival Nico Rosberg waltzed away with proceedings in Japan, left Hamilton's championship ambitions looking decidedly shaky.
But those ambitions are no longer his alone to control. He came to the United States, a country he loves, knowing full well that Rosberg could finish second to him in every remaining race and still win the championship. Even slipping to third in one of them would still allow Rosberg to get the job done.