Hamilton inches closer to fourth title after Japan win
SUZUKA: Lewis Hamilton romped to victory at the Japanese Grand Prix to close in on a fourth worlds title after Sebastian Vettel retired with engine failure on lap four.
The Briton dominated from pole, steering his Mercedes to a crushing eighth win of the year, stretching his Formula One championship lead over Vettel to 59 points with just 100 left to play for.
“Honestly, I could only have dreamed of having this kind of gap,” said Hamilton after holding off a late charge from Max Verstappen in Suzuka.
“The team has done a phenomenal job, they’re just so meticulous, so a big thank you to the guys.”
The Red Bulls of Verstappen -- who stunned Hamilton to win in Malaysia last week -- and Daniel Ricciardo secured a double podium for the second successive race.
Valtteri Bottas finished fourth in the second Mercedes with Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari taking fifth and Esteban Ocon sixth for Force India.
Hamilton celebrated a fourth victory in Japan and a 61st career win with a ‘Mobot’ pose, a tribute to his friend Mo Farah, the Olympic champion athlete, who was watching trackside.
“Max drove an outstanding race and it got very close at the end,” said Hamilton.
“His car was looking so big in my mirrors. It wasn’t a walk in the park today. There’s still a long way to go,” added the Briton.
“Anything can happen in life so I have to keep my head down and hopefully continue to perform like this.”
FATAL BLOW
Vettel’s title hopes, meanwhile, suffered a potentially fatal blow with four races left following nightmare start from the front row.
Ferrari mechanics worked frantically on the grid to fix a spark plug issue before lights out and Vettel was quickly complaining of a lack of power.
The German, who finished fourth in Malaysia and crashed from pole in Singapore before that, plummeted to sixth on the first lap before being told to retire the car as Hamilton roared away into the distance.
“It’s just a pity in the two races with t he reliability issues,” said Vettel, who led the championship just six weeks ago.
“But now it’s important to get
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some rest and give my all for the last four races and see what happens.”
Ferrari, who have struggled with reliability issues since the summer break, later blamed the faulty spark plug for the car’s loss of speed.