Hamilton in sight of F1 title
suzuka — Lewis Hamilton got a step closer to winning his fourth Formula One title with a victory at the Japanese Grand Prix around the Suzuka circuit on Sunday as his title rival Sebastian Vettel saw his Formula One title hopes all but disappear.
The Briton’s current win will make him seal his fourth title with ease at the US Grand Prix in Austin this month, as his lead has now increased to 59 points, contrary to last year, where the 32-year-old Stevenage born driver’s title hopes were gutted by unfortunate engine failures and retirements.
The Mercedes champion won by a narrow margin of 1.2 seconds and the Red Bull Racing duo Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo finished second and third respectively.
For Verstappen who drove a phenomenal race from start to finish, a final attempt to overtake Hamilton was thwarted by McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, who blocked him while the blue flags were being waved. The Spaniard is being investigated over the incident since it is inappropriate for a driver being overlapped to block anyone. This investigation, however, does not make a difference to the larger outcome of this weekend.
While pole-sitter Hamilton took off at the front to lead the race, it was drama for Vettel from the start itself. Vettel’s title hopes came to an end when he encountered a spark plug problem, which was changed. But, he kept dropping down from second place where he started the race and eventually his team radioed him to retire, for his second incomplete race of the season. The Maranello squad later confirmed it was a spark plug failure, another unfortunate event for the team.
On Friday Ferrari’s Technical Director Mattia Binotto had explained how some serious measures had to be taken at their quality control department after component malfunctioning at the Malaysian weekend.
If the four-time World Champion, reflect upon this season, his mistake that caused his first retirement in Singapore was an expensive one. It not only cost him a race finish, but even for end his teammate’s race where the circuit and track conditions clearly favoured their car. Gutted from the outcome, the German left the track unavailable for further comments.
While the 53 lap race seemed a rapid one, it had one Safety Car period, along with two Virtual Safety Car periods. On the opening lap, Carlos Sainz who was driving his last race for the Toro Rosso outfit this season spun off at Turn 7, on the first lap bringing out the first Safety Car of the race. By the next race the Spaniard will be in the black and yellow outfit of the Renault F1 team, which came as news Saturday night after the qualifying.
At Lap 13, Marcus Ericsson clipped the barriers at Degner, bringing out the first Virtual Safety Car of the race. While the Swede’s drive is in question, and his seat being negotiated for Ferrari juniors, his retirement does not come in as good news for his future in this sport. The second Virtual Safety Car period started at Lap 48 when Lance Stroll skid off into the gravel, at Turn 3. Post the incident, it was understood that he suffered a failure or puncture on his front-right tyre which sent him flying into the grass and the gravel. While the VSc Period last from Lap 48-50, when the Canadian spun, he almost collected Ricciardo along with him, who was approaching the same corner carrying unprecedented speed.
The current result places Hamilton in the title lead with a total of 306 points, 59 points clear off Vettel who is second with a total of 247 points. Bottas is placed third in the Drivers’ title with a total of 234 points and is followed by Ricciardo (192 points).
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