Hamilton’s title hopes boosted by Vettel’s grid drop at US GP

AUSTIN, TEXAS: Lewis Hamilton’s hopes of clinching his fifth Formula One world championship at the US Grand Prix were boosted on Friday when Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel was handed a three-place grid penalty for a practice infringement.

Hamilton had already dominated both rainswept practice sessions for Mercedes when the German’s penalty was confirmed by race stewards.

Vettel, whose season has been punctuated by mistakes, added another error to the list when he was found to have gone too fast when red warning flags were waved during the morning running. Hamilton has won six of the past seven races and is chasing his fifth successive victory.

If he wins, then Vettel must finish second to deny the Briton a title that would elevate him alongside the late great Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio as only the third driver to win five or more titles.

PENALISED VETTEL SAYS RULES ARE WRONG

AUSTIN, TEXAS: Sebastian Vettel complained that red flag rules are wrong and need more common sense applied after he was handed a three-place grid penalty on Friday.

“There should be common sense with the rules that we have,” he said. “Lining out 27.7 seconds precisely, as not complying with the rules, I think is wrong. I think I slowed down, I had a good look around at what was going on. It is the first time we had this in the wet, where the target is a lot slower so, literally, you have to stop to 40-50 kph to bring down the delta, which probably I should do next time,” Vettel added.