Malaysia’s heat,humidity all Hamilton taking for granted

SEPANG, Malaysia: Formula One championship leader Lewis Hamilton was handed a lucky break in Singapore but the Mercedes driver can take little more than the heat and humidity for granted in Malaysia this weekend.

The Briton needs no reminding of just how fickle fortune can be as he returns to the steamy circuit where his 2016 title hopes suffered a blow that ultimately proved too great to overcome.

Hamilton has a 28point advantage over Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel thanks to the German crashing out on the opening lap in Singapore from pole position and giving him a third successive win.

The gap between the two is the biggest it has been all year and Hamilton will not need to win another race this year to clinch his fourth title if he triumphs tomorrow and Vettel finishes lower than second.

But the 32yearold will still be wary of Sepang, hosting its final race before Malaysia drops off the calendar, after engine failure struck last year while he was leading from pole.

‘‘I think it’s going to be very close in the next races,’’ Hamilton, who has won every grand prix since the midseason break, after celebrating his 60th career victory, said.

‘‘We’ve just got to stay on our toes and keep trying to extract everything out of this car.’’

Hamilton won four of the five races after Malaysia last year but it was still not enough to stop teammate Nico Rosberg taking the title.

‘‘The last race was a strong reminder that sport always has the power to surprise and defy all predictions,’’ Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said after the two Ferraris collided at Singapore.

‘‘We have been on the receiving end of those bad moments before, and we know that they can happen as easily to us as anybody else.’’

Mercedes is expecting the circuit to suit the team better than the tight twists of Singapore but it also has a mixed record there.

The champion, which is 102 points ahead of Ferrari in the constructors’ standings, has won just once in Malaysia since the introduction of the 1.6litre turbohybrid engines in 2014.

Vettel, who has a record four wins at Sepang to Hamilton’s one, scored his maiden triumph for Ferrari there in 2015 while teammate Kimi Raikkonen chalked up his first Formula One victory at the track in 2003 with McLaren. — Reuters