Hamilton on Texas express towards his fifth world title
WORLD CHAMPION elect Lewis Hamilton opened his United States Grand Prix campaign by setting the fastest time in first practice in Austin, Texas.
The Mercedes driver, who will wrap up his fifth championship on Sunday if he outscores Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel by eight points, finished ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas in the wet running.
Hamilton clocked a best lap of one minute and 47.502 seconds at the Circuit of the Americas, to end the session more than a second quicker than any other driver.
Hamilton, who has been in electrifying form to establish an almost-unassailable 67-point lead over Vettel with 100 remaining, completed just six laps in the damp conditions.
But he will no doubt be pleased with his speed in the wet, to lap 1.3secs faster than Bottas, with persistent rain forecast for the remainder of practice and Saturday’s qualifying session, too.
Vettel finished fifth, two seconds down on Hamilton, and completed 18 laps. The Red Bull pair of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were the closest challengers to the Mercedes cars in third and fourth.
Hamilton will seal the championship on Sunday with three rounds remaining if he claims his fifth consecutive win in Austin, Texas, and Vettel fails to finish second.
Vettel was later summoned to the stewards after allegedly failing to slow sufficiently under red flags during the opening session.
The 31-year-old was left waiting anxiously to discover whether he will be sent down the grid for Sunday’s race.
And Nigel Mansell has claimed his fellow Briton will go on to match Michael Schumacher’s record seven world championships before his Mercedes deal expires.
A fifth championship for the Silver Arrows star would leave him two shy of a record that many thought would never be beaten.
But Mansell, the 1992 world champion, who until Hamilton surpassed him, had won more races than any British driver, believes Schumacher is now firmly in his countryman’s sights. Hamilton will remain with Mercedes until at least the end of 2020 after signing a deal to become the sport’s first £40million-a-season driver earlier this year.
“Lewis is on a crest of a wave and I predict that within the next couple of years he will get his seventh world championship,” Mansell said.
“The confidence of winning puts you on another level, and if he keeps his desire I can’t see anyone challenging him next season either.
“Sebastian will again be there or thereabouts, but Lewis is racing in a different stratosphere because he has been able to build his momentum, race-by-race, year-by-year.”
Indeed, Hamilton is set to sew up his fourth championship in five seasons either in America or Mexico next weekend, with a Mercedes team that Mansell believes must now be considered the best Formula One has seen.
“Will Lewis go down as one of the greatest drivers of all time? Of course he will and he should, but times are very different now,” Mansell added.
“I broke my back three times, I broke my neck, and my feet were in bits because the pedals were six inches behind the front of the car.
“I believe the great drivers are those that competed with no seatbelts, no crash helmets, and if you were involved in an accident there was a 50-50 chance you would die.”