Hamilton has the hump after errors cost him victory in Japanese Grand Prix
JONATHAN McEVOY Mercedes clinch constructors’ title but Hamilton blasts errors that cost him win
LEWIS HAMILTON forced as wide a smile as his brooding mood permitted while he belted out We Are The Champions. Hats off to Mercedes, winners of the constructors’ title for a sixth successive year. But the moment of collective glory was soured for their star man by his doubts over the strategy calls that cost him a possible victory at the Japanese Grand Prix.
He spent the race asking questions of the dubious tactics and was still pondering his problems once the engines had been switched off and the champagne corks popped.
His own coronation for a sixth drivers’ title now looks unlikely to occur in Mexico City a week on Sunday after he finished third, behind winner Valtteri Bottas in the other Mercedes and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
Hamilton needs to outscore Bottas, his only remaining challenger, by 14 points to wrap it all up in the Mexican capital ahead of the final rounds in America, Brazil and Abu Dhabi. His lead of 64 points is commanding with a maximum of 104 on offer.
Hamilton’s beef yesterday was three-fold. Firstly, the team kept him out for too long as his tyres deteriorated. He lost 10 seconds.
Secondly, he was put on medium rather than hard tyres when he was stopped on lap 21 of 52. The hards would have lasted to the end and allowed him to win courtesy of stopping once while Bottas and Vettel pitted twice.
Thirdly, he might have been able to nurse even the mediums to the end if he had been told to do so rather than chase Vettel.
‘Just a f***-up,’ he said in the heat of battle, deploying an expletive he rarely does. Afterwards, he added: ‘With better guidance I could have made it a one-stop.
‘I cannot wait to get back to the UK and see my niece and nephew. What’s done is done. We will talk to the engineers and strategists. Today could have been done better. There have been multiple scenarios this year where that has been the case. When I was in the
lead (after Bottas and Vettel had pitted a second time), I thought about staying out. We should have got a one-two finish today, but the strategy was not optimum for me.
‘I don’t anticipate I will win the title in Mexico now. We will be battling for a good few races. Mexico is our worst race of the year. It is going to be very hard to beat Ferrari there.’
This was the second time in three races that Hamilton had grumbled — the last occasion being in Singapore, when Vettel undercut him. Hamilton’s boss Toto Wolff said he understood his man’s frustration because ‘every driver wants to maximise their chances of winning’.
Despite his gripes, Hamilton is a long-term beneficiary of the era’s super-team, as they are of him. They made history yesterday. Not only did they equal Ferrari’s record of six straight constructors’ titles, between 1999 and 2004, but are assured of a sixth consecutive driver’s title — one more than their red rivals managed through Michael Schumacher from 2000 to 2004.
Hamilton dedicated the championship to Niki Lauda, formerly Mercedes’ non-executive chairman, who died this year. In the garage since the Austrian’s death, his red cap and earphones have been hung on the wall as a reminder of his influence.
‘Niki would be raising his cap today and be proud of us,’ said Hamilton.
The race took place under bright blue skies in contrast to the dishcloth grey of Saturday. Typhoon Hagibis, which wreaked death and destruction on its path through Japan, had passed in time for the postponed qualifying session yesterday morning and the race three hours later.
Vettel, who started on pole, made a poor start. Bottas tore by to take the lead, making him a deserving winner. The Finn needed the tonic, his last victory being back in April.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was a bit boisterous at the start, forcing Red Bull’s Max Verstappen off the road and ultimately out of the race. Leclerc was handed two penalties — five seconds for causing the collision and 10 for driving on unsafely after his damaged car sprayed bits in all directions, mostly in the then pursuing Hamilton’s face. The punishments demoted Leclerc from sixth to seventh.
The top three drivers were way ahead of the rest, though a word of praise for the London-born, English-schooled Thai Alex Albon, who produced a careerbest finish of fourth for Red Bull.