BUBBLE AND STRIFE

Hamilton improves lead on Vettel but admits his team has big problems to sort out ahead of Suzuka

LEWIS HAMILTON held a no-holds-barred post-race inquest with his Mercedes team despite extending his lead in the championship.

Hamilton finished second with title rival Sebastian Vettel fourth – and the Brit now goes into next weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix 34 points ahead of the German.

But Hamilton’s car could not live with the pace of winner Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, and the Mercedes man admitted “the s*** really hit the fan”.

He revealed that there was a frank exchange of views with team-mate Valtteri Bottas and Mercedes chief Toto Wolff on how to overcome “problems” ahead of Suzuka on Sunday.

The 32-year-old said: “I don’t know what I’m able to say and not say as I don’t want everyone knowing all of the problems we do have.

“I think it is unknown at the moment. We definitely have work to do, that is for sure.

“It was the best I could really do. There are definitely positives in terms of the actual result we got.

“It was a bit fortunate, a bit lucky for us.

“I feel positive, the debrief was one of the best debriefs we have had. Period.

“It is often the case that when you have a win there is not a lot to say and everyone is riding on positives. When you have a difficult day, when the s**t really hits the fan, that is when there are more questions and you go into more detail. There is 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.” Having started the weekend with such promise, this was another Grand Prix to forget for Ferrari. Kimi Raikkonen had qualified second with Vettel sidelined with engine trouble on Saturday, but he could not even make the start this time around as a battery issue meant he was left in the garage. Vettel fought valiantly from the back to take fourth and came close to a podium.

But his weekend ended in farce as he was involved in a collision with the Williams of Lance Stroll on the slow-down lap which saw his Ferrari left with three wheels.

Verstappen (left), who turned 20 on Saturday, has been strong in qualifying all season but this was just his second podium of 2017 and he put the win down to a brave overtake on race leader Hamilton on lap four.

“I know that Lewis has more to lose because he is fighting for the championship so maybe I took an extra risk but I think that was one of my only chances,” he said.

“Once I got past Lewis I could focus on my pace and look after my tyres.”