Penalty bonus for Lewis
LEWIS HAMILTON has been given a major boost in his bid to seal a fifth world title after closest rival Sebastian Vettel was handed a three-place grid penalty at the United States Grand Prix.
Hamilton will be crowned champion if he wins tomorrow’s race in Austin and Vettel fails to finish second.
And the Ferrari driver was last night penalised by the FIA for failing to slow down sufficiently during a red-flag period in first practice. It means the highest Vettel can start on the grid is third – assuming he can clinch pole position in qualifying today.
Vettel had originally claimed that he had slowed down for the red flags, which were waved when gravel spilled on to the
track after Charles Leclerc had veered off. “Yes,” said Vettel when asked if he had slowed sufficiently. “They were very specific and said it was 27.7 seconds to slow down. I saw the red flag and slowed down. They found I took too long. I think there might have been an issue with the timing.
“I think there should be common sense with the rules. Saying 27.7 seconds as not saying I complied with the rules. It is the first time we have had that in the wet.”
Hamilton had already signalled his intent in Texas by posting the fastest time in both practice sessions yesterday.
Vettel, 67 points behind Hamilton with just 100 available to him, finished only 11th.
The mood in the Mercedes camp was buoyant at the close of the day’s raininterrupted action.
“You know when you tell me to go steady, I am not going to,” Hamilton said over the team radio. His engineer, Pete Bonnington, laughed: “I know. A leopard never changes its spots.” The Mercedes driver clocked a best lap of 1min 47.502secs to end the first session more than a second quicker than any other driver. He completed just six laps in the damp conditions in the first session. Vettel finished fifth, two seconds down on Hamilton, after completing 18 laps.
The Red Bull pair of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were the closest challengers to the Mercedes cars in third and fourth.
Sauber driver Leclerc was the biggest victim in the tricky conditions after he spun into the gravel.
Leclerc returned to the track but dragged sand back with him to temporarily suspend the session. And Hamilton needed just one lap to set the fastest time in a rainy second session.