Hamilton on the crest of a Mexican wave
BRITON HAS NO PLANS TO EASE UP ON TITLE RUN IN
ewis Hamilton has no intention of easing up this weekend as he seeks a mere top-five finish in the Mexican Grand Prix to clinch his fourth drivers world title and a place among the greatest drivers in Formula One history.
The arguments over his status have grown in volume as the months have passed this year, but they reached a new crescendo this week in the days following his ninth win of the season at last weekend’s United States Grand Prix in Texas.
His Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff declared him to be on course to become “the best driver that has ever existed” while veteran Brazilian Felipe Massa, who missed out on the 2008 title, when Hamilton stole it from with a passing move at the final corner of the decisive Brazilian Grand Prix, said that he already ranks him alongside Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna.
Another title triumph will lift him clear of Jackie Stewart, on three championship wins, as the most successful British driver of all time, drawing him Hamilton has to score nine points, the equivalent of any top five finish, to make it a mathematical certainty, even if rival Sebastian Vettel wins the race. If the four-time champion German finishes second for Ferrari, Hamilton only needs a top nine finish in his Mercedes to claim the title. If Vettel is third, or worse, in the race then Hamilton will be champion even if he fails to finish. level on four with Alain Prost and his current rival Sebastian Vettel. Ahead lie only seventime champion Schumacher and five-time title winner Juan Manuel Fangio.
Hamilton, however, has been keen to avoid the hype and says his mind is on winning this Sunday’s race in front of a passionate and raucous crowd at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
High down-force
“There are still three races to go,” said the 32-year-old Briton. “And in my mind, I still have three races to win. There are still a lot of points available — until you actually win the championship, you can’t get ahead of yourself.” His caution is understandable as he and Mercedes know that despite the long straights and slow corners, the thin air at an altitude of 2,250-metres will help deliver a contest that may play to the strengths of rivals Ferrari. Mercedes will run with a high down-force set-up, as might be used in Monaco or Budapest, two circuits where they struggled this year, and this is the cause of their concerns.
Vettel, despite trailing Hamilton by 66 points and needing a huge shift in form and fortunes, will not abandon his hopes of stopping the Englishman’s immediate triumph.