Hamilton stretches title lead
LEWIS HAMILTON says his Mercedes team have some “real big problems” to fix after he finished second in the Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang.
But his path to a fourth world title may be more straightforward than he thought, with closest rival Sebastian Vettel facing a possible penalty in the next race in Japan after colliding with Williams’ Lance Stroll when the race had ended.
Hamilton stretched his lead over Ferrari driver Vettel to 34 points but lost out to Red Bull’s 20-year-old Dutchman Max Verstappen on the day.
“There’s a fair amount of work still to do,” said Hamilton. “It’s the way the car is.
“Globally we do not have the best car and we’ve done an exceptional job with what we have. There are some real big problems that I can’t really explain to you.”
Talking about his post-race discussions with team-mate Valtteri Bottas and Mercedes head of motorsport Toto Wolff, Hamilton, below, said it was good to be able to address the issues head-on.
“I feel positive, the debrief was one of the best debriefs we have had,” he said.
“It’s often the case that when you have a win, there’s not a lot to say and everyone is riding on positives.
“When you have a difficult day, that’s when there are more questions and you go into more detail.
“There’s stuff you don’t even know about that has been happening through the weekend that is not acceptable for this great team and we all know that and need to work on those areas.”
Wolff also sounded far from celebratory.
“I’m just very down, I must say,” he said. “We have lost so much pace this weekend.
“How can a car that is so fast on many circuits lose so much with a tyre that is overheating? Probably if you look at the real pace today it would have been P5 [fifth]. And that’s worrisome. Now let’s see what happens in Suzuka.
“We have a couple of days to try and understand.”
The Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka follows on immediately from Malaysia, with four races remaining after that.
But Vettel, who finished fourth after starting last because of a penalty for changing his engine, risks further punishment following a bizarre incident after the chequered flag.
He was involved in a collision with Stroll on the slow-down lap which left his Ferrari with three wheels – his fourth ending up on top of the car. He then removed his steering wheel, which is against FIA regulations, and had to hitch a lift back to the pit lane on Pascal Wehrlein’s Sauber.
“Stroll just drove into me – I mean, seriously,” said Vettel.
The impact smashed the back left of the Ferrari, with potential damage to the gearbox, which would incur a five-place penalty if it needs to be replaced for Japan next weekend. “I hope not because, as I said, it was completely unnecessary,” added Vettel. “It’s not my fault if somebody decides to pick up rubber and crash into me.” Stroll said: “It was just a very strange incident. Obviously the race wasn’t going on, so it wasn’t intentional by either of us.” Race stewards later ruled no driver was wholly or predominantly to blame for the incident and took no action.
After the other Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen – who had qualified second – could not even make the start because of a battery issue that meant the Finnish driver was left stewing in the garage, team principal Maurizio Arrivabene said it was a reality check.
He said: “It all added up to our hardest race of the year, as we had to confront problems that we will now analyse in depth.”