One too many issues for Ferrari in 2017

A LITTLE OVER A MONTH AGO, LEWIS HAMILTON had taken the lead of the Formula 1 drivers’ championship, having trailed Sebastian Vettel for most of the 2017 season.

Mercedes’ performance at the Italian Grand Prix was mightily impressive, but Ferrari’s surprisingly strong race pace the previous weekend in Belgium suggested the scene was set for a tough title fight in the final quarter of the season at more conventional tracks.

Speed-wise, that was bang on. Mercedes struggled in Singapore, and Ferrari had the quickest car in Malaysia. And the team reckoned it should have won the Japanese GP at Suzuka last weekend.

Only it didn’t. And not only that, but Vettel scored a meagre 12 points across those three races. Hamilton scored 68, despite the difficulties of the rapid-but-temperamental W08 – Valtteri Bottas took just 37 points in the sister Silver Arrow in that time.

As Edd Straw argues (see page 12), this may yet prove to be Hamilton’s finest title campaign, but Vettel and Ferrari have made it far too easy over the past six weeks. The chances of Vettel snatching his fifth title are now mathematical rather than realistic, and it may be that Hamilton ends up winning his fourth crown by a margin that does not represent how competitive the season has been.

After Singapore, I wrote that Vettel’s startline manoeuvre had robbed us of a great grand prix. As Ben Anderson shows in this week’s race report (p14), the combined missteps of the German and the Ferrari team have probably robbed us of a dramatic showdown. That may be great for Hamilton fans, but it’s a shame for F1.