Caution is watchword

HAMILTON: CHAMPION DOESN’T RATE CHANCES ON LEAST FAVOURED TRACK

If things go his way, Lewis Hamilton can clinch his sixth drivers’ world title triumph in the rarefied atmosphere of the Mexican Grand Prix this weekend. It would be a monumental achievement, nudging him ahead of five-time champion Juan Fangio and making him the second most successful driver in Formula One history behind only Michael Schumacher whose seven titles between 1994 and 2004 remain the pinnacle.

The 34-year-old Englishman, though, holds out little hope of either winning the race at a venue ill-suited to the strengths of his Mercedes car or sealing the title.

“Mexico is generally our worst race of the year because of the way our car is set up,” said Hamilton.

He has won just once here, in 2016, in four races although he did enough in 2017 and 2018 to secure the world titles in Mexico.

Hamilton, who leads the championship by 64 points with four races left, including Mexico, can take a cautious approach.

He will secure the title by out-scoring his team-mate Valtteri Bottas, who lies second, by at least 14 points. But he accepts the Finn will be a very competitive rival and unlikely to wave him through to the chequered flag.

Both the in-form Ferrari team and Red Bull, for whom Max Verstappen will hope to complete a hat-trick of Mexican victories after his wins in 2017 and 2018, have high hopes of success at a track where Mercedes have admitted they expect to struggle.

“The last few have been pretty shocking even though we’ve won the title there,” said Hamilton.

“I’m hoping for a better weekend but I think it’s going to be very hard to beat the Ferraris on those long straights.

“We have no hope of passing them, and if you look at the others, McLaren are picking up speed and so are the Red Bulls. It will be a tricky one for us.”

The Briton added that he was not expecting a Mariachi party to celebrate his title.

“I don’t anticipate it will be Mexico,” he said. “I think we will be battling for a good few races.”

Although Mercedes completed a record sixth consecutive constructors’ and drivers’ championship double at the Japanese Grand Prix earlier this month, the team have been overhauled by Ferrari, in terms of pure speed and performance, since the Belgian Grand Prix.

Charles Leclerc won in Belgium, where Ferrari began a run of five successive pole positions.

That yielded three wins, two for Leclerc and one for four-time champion Sebastian Vettel, and two chances lost due to mistakes and misfortunes. –