LEWIS KEEPS DREAM ALIVE
THE corpse of Lewis Hamilton’s championship ambitions did not just twitch here yesterday but sat up and threatened to slip out of the morgue.
For an hour and a half this Mexico Grand Prix was barely more exciting than watching the traffic at any random roundabout in the historic centre of a city veiled in sulphurous smog. The world champion won from pole with little fuss and now his deficit to Nico Rosberg is 19 points with two races remaining.
But the day’s entertainment had a final combustible twist when Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen went toe to toe, swore at each other, and exchanged places.
The references to mortality are appropriate because this superstitious- cum-religious society has been preparing for the Day of the Dead today, with celebratory explosions through every night the Formula One circus has been in town. And only a week ago Hamilton’s hope had seemed as extinct as the dodo. But now he has won twice in succession, in America a week ago and again at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. He has 51 grand prix wins to his name, level with Alain Prost and behind only Michael Schumacher.
He probably still needs to triumph in Brazil a fortnight hence and in Abu Dhabi on November 27 to pull off perhaps the greatest of all Formula One’s escapes. The numbers are still stacked against him. For example, Rosberg, who finished second yesterday, can take the title in Sao Paulo if he wins, regardless of where Hamilton finishes.
There were few major scares for Hamilton yesterday. He got off cleanly at the start, leading all the way down the long, half-mile road into the first corner. He locked up badly as he turned in and ran on to the grass, effectively missing the first three bends.
Although he complained of feeling serious vibrations with a glazed tyre, his lead was never in doubt. He settled at the front , w ith Rosberg out of sorts as he had been all weekend. The German just could not find his peak rhythm and Hamilton’s lead was uncontested for most of the 3,124 gear changes over 71 laps.
The crowd played their part in one of the most atmospheric of all tracks. The stadium section at the end of the lap is a spectacular amphitheatre, where the noise of a motor racing-mad people can drown out the throb of the engines. Not that everyone was transfixed. In the Mercedes motorhome, Venus Williams was spotted toying with her phone. It was not a race for the ages, but it had some vignettes of note.
Perhaps the biggest heart-in-mouth moments involved Verstappen. First, he banged wheels with Rosberg at the first corner. Verstappen was super-aggressive as is his wont. Rosberg ran on to the grass, but there was no significant damage done to either car.
Verstappen gave Rosberg another headache in the 50th lap after the championship leader ran wide at the first corner and lost momentum. Verstappen capitalised, squeezing through into second place at the fourth turn. But he lost control and conceded the gained ground back.
Then, the big controversy when Verstappen was chased by Vettel for third place in the closing stages. Verstappen, under pressure, ran wide. He re-emerged on the road ahead of Vettel. Should he have surrendered the place to the Ferrari? He refused to do so, much to Vettel’s anger. ‘He’s a (bleep),’ said Vettel, who spent the whole afternoon as a latter- day Murray Walker, such was his volubility over the airwaves.
The air was decidedly blue now, while the decision about the incident was deferred for consideration by the stewards after the race. Vettel wagged his finger reproachfully at the 19-year- old Verstappen on the slow-down lap. Verstappen made a gesture of his own in return.
Moments later, Verstappen was in the green room waiting to take to the podium, believing himself to have finished third, when a fivesecond penalty against him was flashed on the screen. It relegated him to fourth and promoted Vettel to third. Verstappen had to leave the room, guided on his way by Herbie Blash, the FIA executive who has attended more Formula One races than anyone in history. He had probably never known anything quite like this, though.
Vettel came running through the labyrinth of the track to take Verstappen’s place on the podium. Mad scenes. ‘I was disappointed at the end of the race, I think the decision is right,’ said Vettel. ‘I was very angry but calmed down and finished the race.’
A few tempers were also frayed down the grid. One splendid radio exchange involved McLaren’s Fernando Alonso and his race engineer Mark Temple. Told to ‘push now’, Alonso yelled back: ‘Yes. I am pushing. I am pushing from lap one. But we have traffic for 15 laps. So do your job and I’m doing mine.’
Other than that the McLarens were their usual recently anonymous selves. Jenson Button finished 12th and Alonso 13th.
What else? The safety car was out after a smash on the first lap. Haas’ Esteban Gutierrez tapped Manor’s Pascal Wehrlein who tapped Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson. Debris scattered the track, and Wehrlein was out of the race.
A word of praise for Jolyon Palmer, the British racer who started from the back of the grid in his Renault after a damaged chassis forced him to miss qualifying. Fighting for his future in the formula, he drove superbly to finish 14th. Let’s hope somebody does the decent thing and gives him a berth. There are some ordinary drivers out there. Jolyon has shown he is not among them. Sign him up!