Hulkenberg was forced to retire from the Austin event on lap 42 after making contact with Ricciardo's Red Bull when he dove down the inside at Turn 12.

The Australian managed to continue, but Hulkenberg's Force India was too damaged to carry on.

After the race, the stewards found Hulkenberg was unable to slow down his car down sufficiently because of a front wing failure, and deemed no further action was necessary.

Ricciardo went on to finish in 10th to grab the final point.

"We were looking really good and I wanted to get past Daniel [Ricciardo] as I was faster than him and he was holding me up, so I tried to make a move," said Hulkenberg.

"Unfortunately that didn't work and it was the end of my race.

"When I got back to the garage the team told me that there was an issue with the front wing – from contact earlier in the race – and it broke just when I was trying to make the move on Daniel.

"It's a shame as we could have scored a lot of points today."