LEWIS HAMILTON put the Champagne on ice – despite helping Mercedes wrap-up a sixth world title.
The Brit is on course to win his own sixth world crown as the Brackley based team are guaranteed to finish the season with the ‘double six’ – six consecutive team and driver titles.
Hamilton now has a 64-point lead over Valtteri Bottas after the Finnish drivers’ victory here in Japan sliced into the Brit’s advantage.
It means the five-time world champion, who was third in Japan, can clinch the title next time out in Mexico – however, Hamilton fears he is now going to be pushed to the wire.
He said: “It never has been a case of always wanting to rush things.
“Valtteri has driven brilliantly all year long and has done a great job and is very likely to be strong at these next races, so we will still have a battle and that will continue.
“Mexico is challenging and has been our toughest track of the year because of the way our car is set up, so it will be a tough one for us.
“The last few races there have been pretty shocking even though we’ve won the title.
“I am hoping for a better weekend but I think it is going to be very hard to beat the Ferraris on those long straights.
“It will be very tricky and I don’t anticipate winning it in Mexico and we will be battling for a few races.”
SUBDUED WIN
Mercedes’s victory at Suzuka was mooted, in part as they paid tributes to late Niki Lauda, the three-time world champion and team’s former non-executive chairman, who died earlier in the year.
And also due to Hamilton’s surliness and outburst at his title-winning team over the radio during the race.
Clearly miffed at their strategic decisions. At one point he snapped at his race engineer, saying: “That’s just a f*** up, man.”
In fairness, he could have disobeyed a team instruction to make a second pitstop while leading and gone on to snatch the win.
But it would have been extremely out of character, for Hamilton has always proved to be a team player, yet he still wants answers.
He added: “We will go and sit and talk to the engineers and strategists. It could have been better. There have been multiple scenarios during the year where that has been the case.
“While I was never going to stay out [in terms of the strategy], I thought about it staying out. We should of at least got a one-two finish – strategy wasn’t optimum.”
Hamilton dedicated the team’s championship win to Lauda and explained that the team were still missing the straight-talking Austrian.
He said: “I wouldn’t say that it’s as happy as previous years because naturally we lost Niki this year, and it’s not the same without him.
“I know Niki would be taking off his hat for the result. I think we really owe him a huge amount, really this win is really for him. The whole team, the whole of Mercedes would dedicate this to him.
“Every time I walk into the garage, we see Niki’s headphones and his cap. I sat and looked at it before I got in the car.
“I know he’d be proud, and I know his family would be as well. The team should be proud too.”
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff echoed Hamilton’s comments saying: “Niki has been missed. Therefore the sixth one, beating the record set by Ferrari 15 years ago, is extremely special.”
Bottas‘ win came after he made a lightning-quick start and leapfrogged both Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel, despite the German making a false start.
Bizarrely, despite TV pictures showing that he jumped the green light, he was let off by the race stewards and finished second.
Bottas was already clear of a first-lap clash between Max Verstappen and Leclerc, which eventually forced the Dutchman out of the race.
Leclerc was later hit with 15-seconds worth of penalties for the collision and driving with a damaged car, which demoted him to seventh place.
FORMULA ONE bosses have impounded parts of Renault’s F1 cars following a protest from a rival team.
Racing Point complained to the sport’s governing body (FIA) that the French team’s brake system broke F1’s rules.
Racing Point pin-pointed the “pre-set lap distance-dependent brake bias adjustment system” on both cars.
Essentially, the automated system adjust the braking pressure considering various factors, including the decreasing weight of the car as it burns off fuel.
Representatives from both teams met in Suzuka after the Japanese GP and the FIA have taken the decision to remove and seal steering wheels and the car’s Electronic Control Unit pending a further investigation.
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
