‘Niki is simply unstoppable’

Lewis Hamilton will not be able to stop Nico Rosberg from winning the championship unless the German hits trouble in the remaining four races of the season, according to Mercedes chairman Niki Lauda.

Hamilton is 33 points adrift of Rosberg, with just 100 left to play for, after he finished only third in Japan on Sunday, while his title rival sauntered to a ninth victory of the year.

World champion Hamilton walked out of his press conference with the written media on Saturday evening in response to what he deemed to be disrespectful coverage of his antics on Snapchat earlier in the week.

He then botched his start on Sunday - falling six places to eighth - before ending a bizarre weekend by calling on Mercedes to withdraw their post- race protest against Max Verstappen which could have promoted Hamilton to second.

"Nico is doing everything right at the moment," Lauda said. "If everything is going normal, the championship could be decided in the next few races, and Lewis won't be able to catch Nico any more. This is perfectly clear to me.

"It is only lost and won when the points are gathered, but if nothing happens to either car, I don't think Lewis will be able to turn it around again."

Hamilton, 31, hinted at sabotage from his own Mercedes team following his engine failure in Malaysia before taking aim at the press here, but there was no- one to blame for what happened at the start of Sunday's race. THE INDEPENDENT