IN A LEAGUE OF HIS OWN
Hamilton on verge of a fifth world title after another Vettel blunder
IT is a measure of Lewis Hamilton’s mastery of the track that Sebastian Vettel has been reduced to the type of self-damaging, gung-ho gamble that practically gift-wrapped the world title for the Briton.
In the mid-afternoon sun, eight laps in, Vettel tried to force his Ferrari inside Max Verstappen’s Red Bull at the left-handed Spoon curve, and crashed.
He fought back to finish sixth. But the mistake reflected precisely the predicament weighing on Vettel’s slim shoulders.
Simply, Vettel can’t match Hamilton, who is 67 points ahead of his Ferrari rival and can secure a fifth world title in two weeks’ time by winning the US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, and provided the German finishes worse than second.
Yesterday’s blunder was Vettel’s seventh error of the season. He has lost 75 points to Hamilton in the last seven races.
What made this error all the stranger was that Vettel would have passed Verstappen in the pits anyway because the Dutchman had a five-second penalty to serve for an earlier indiscretion.
But for the crash, Vettel, who started eighth after a strategic miscalculation by his team and then one by himself in qualifying, would likely have been third.
Vettel defended his decision to take on Verstappen as they decelerated from 190mph into Spoon. ‘I’d do the same again,’ he said. ‘The gap was there.
‘How many times can you afford to wait? I had similar encounters with others and we managed to make it. It is not the prime overtaking spot, but if you are side-by-side it is fair.
‘I did my best to try to avoid contact, but if he keeps closing, where I am supposed to go?’
Verstappen did not see it that way, suggesting Vettel was fortunate to escape punishment.
Vettel’s eyes betrayed his wider problem — that of a four-time world champion being exposed as mortal — as he spoke in the paddock afterwards. To his credit, he answered every question as civilly as any broken man could.
But Hamilton was closer to the mark when he said: ‘Ferrari have lost a lot of performance. I’d love to have a race right to the end of the championship. Every round I want battles like the one I had at Monza. Those are the situations I love, but it isn’t the case now.
‘I can’t let that take away from the great job we are doing.
‘Who breaks earlier and falters is the answer to the ultimate challenge. We’re in a psychological battle. All the team have delivered time and time again. I am grateful to have delivered my part.’
After the team orders debate of last week, when Valtteri Bottas moved aside in Russia, so Hamilton would win, it was a straightforward one-two to hail without any internal conflicts of emotion.
Hamilton finished 12.9sec ahead of Bottas. Verstappen, whose car was largely unscathed in the Vettel collision but for a slightly damaged floor, came third.
Daniel Ricciardo was fourth and Kimi Raikkonen fifth.
Hamilton’s smooth victory was his sixth in seven races, equalling his best-ever streak from 2014.
And now on to America, where Hamilton has won the last four years. If he does so again, Mexico, Brazil and Abu Dhabi grands prix are likely to be victory laps.
Verstappen was angry when he was given his five-second penalty after veering off at the chicane and coming on abrasively close to Raikkonen. He was found not to have returned to the track safely.
The Dutchman said: ‘What the f***, honestly. I tried to do the best I could. He drives around the outside. He could easily have waited for me to come back.’
A word of support for Vettel: prior to his mistake, he had zipped impressively from eighth to fourth on the first lap, including a fine move on Romain Grosjean.
A safety car soon came out after Charles Leclerc went into the back of Kevin Magnussen. Moments later came Vettel’s mistake.
He finally registered the fastest lap, but it was cold comfort on an afternoon that presaged Hamilton’s imminent confirmation, as Vettel knew most brutally, as the supreme champion of his era.