Hamilton closes in on fifth F1 title
Lewis Hamilton stormed to victory at the Japanese Grand Prix Sunday in Suzuka, claiming his fourth consecutive Formula One win and moving a step closer to a fifth world championship.
Starting from pole, the Mercedes driver was never seriously challenged and crossed the finish line 12.919 seconds ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was third, 14.295 seconds back.
“The whole weekend has been incredibly strong for the team,” Hamilton said. “It’s a great 1-2 for Mercedes and shows you the strength and depth of our team.”
Hamilton has won six of the past seven races and now leads Sebastian Vettel by 67 points with four races left. He only needs to outscore Vettel by eight points at the next race in the United States to clinch a fifth world championship.
Vettel started eighth and quickly moved up to fourth place, overtaking both Toro Rosso cars that started ahead of him.
But the Ferrari driver attempted to pass Max Verstappen on the ninth lap and the two cars collided with the Ferrari spinning off into the runoff. The move dropped Vettel back to 18th place.
Vettel worked his way back up to sixth but couldn’t move higher than that.
It was an impressive day for Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo who started 15th but finished fourth ahead of Vettel’s Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen.
Force India’s Sergio Perez was seventh ahead of Haas driver Romain Grosjean. Force India’s Esteban Ocan was ninth while Renault’s Carlos Sainz rounded out the top 10.
There was an early collision with Sauber driver Charles Leclerc hitting the rear tire of Kevin Magnussen resulting in a puncture and bringing out the safety car.
NHRA
Steve Torrence won the AAA Texas NHRA Nationals at Texas Motorplex in Ennis for his third consecutive victory to open the playoffs and first career win in his home event. Torrence beat Terry McMillen in the final with a 3.786-second pass at 325.92 mph. Torrence has eight victories this season and 24 overall. He leads the standings by 103 points.
Robert Hight won in Funny Car, Tanner Gray in Pro Stock and LE Tonglet in Pro Stock Motorcycle in the third of six events in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship.