THAT’S BLOWN IT!
Lewis needs title miracle as blunder lets Nico coast to win
LEWIS HAMILToN’S crown slipped further yesterday after his woeful start to the Japanese Grand Prix gifted victory to Nico Rosberg. It is turning into a long, painful and very public demise.
Rosberg said he got ‘everything right’ on his way to a maiden Suzuka win. Hamilton got it all spectacularly wrong from the second he arrived to the second he left.
Hamilton finished third but barely hung around long enough to complete the podium ceremony before departing on a private plane.
He had no time for the written media, continuing the blackout he imposed after criticism of his behaviour during a press conference on Thursday which he spent playing on his phone.
Rosberg is thriving as his rival wilts. His ninth win of the season — his fourth in five races — means he now leads his Mercedes teammate by 33 points in the title race.
With four races left and a maximum of 100 points up for grabs, a first world crown is within touching distance for the 31-year-old.
There was nothing Hamilton could do about last weekend’s retirement from the Malaysian Grand Prix with an engine blow- out. But this latest failure was entirely of his own making.
Starting from second on the grid would not have fazed the reigning champion, who passed Rosberg to win from that same position on his last two visits to Japan.
What did appear to concern him was a damp patch of tarmac at the rear of that grid slot, a result of overnight rain, but no amount of moisture could excuse Hamilton’s shockingly lacklustre start.
He crawled off the line and was swallowed up by six cars, many of whom had to take evasive action so superior was their speed.
Hamilton apologised to his team over the radio and admitted after the race: ‘The damp patch had nothing to do with it. I made a mistake.’
There has been much talk of Hamilton’s misfortune this season, and rightly so. His early exit last week at Sepang was the fourth time this term his race has been hampered by mechanical failings.
But his poor starts now outweigh those with Hamilton struggling to fathom this year’s complicated new clutch system. This was the fifth such incident after his pedestrian getaways in Australia, Bahrain, Canada and Italy.
There were no such worries for Rosberg. Hamilton’s hopes of retaining his title are disappearing as quickly as his rival did yesterday.
The Briton was a lowly eighth after one lap and by the time he had passed Nico Hulkenberg for seventh five laps later, Rosberg was 16 seconds up the road.
It is not enough at this stage, but Hamilton’s recovery drive to claim the final podium spot was immense. He managed his tyres expertly early on, prolonging his first stint to jump ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Sergio Perez after the first round of pit-stops.
He was up to fourth just a few corners of lap 14 later when he breezed past Daniel Ricciardo.
Sebastian Vettel was the next man in his way and was duly passed at the second round of stops on lap 34, when Hamilton somehow turned a four-second deficit into a two-second lead. He eased clear of the Ferrari and hared after Max Verstappen. Hamilton closed the 10-second gap with seven laps left and almost found a way past at the penultimate corner of the penultimate lap. But Verstappen, as has become customary, would not give up without a fight. Hamilton was forced to take to the escape road and settle for third.
Hamilton accused the teenager of ‘moving under braking’ in a radio message and Mercedes lodged a protest with the FIA after the race. Cue the latest controversy.
Hamilton got wind of the appeal and, in a tweet which was swiftly deleted, said: ‘ There is no such protest from either myself or @MercedesAMGF1. one idiot said we have but it’s not true. Max drove well, end of. We move on.’
Mercedes confirmed they withdrew the appeal, insisting it was not under Hamilton’s instruction but ‘in the interests of establishing a final result this evening once it became apparent that the hearing could not be concluded today.’
The Silver Arrows were meant to be celebrating. They wrapped up the constructors’ championship for the third straight year but Hamilton was nowhere to be seen once the official pictures had been taken.
Rosberg stayed for a glass or two and should start getting used to champagne. The last four winners of this race have gone on to claim the title in the same year and Rosberg is now an overwhelming favourite to join the club.