Mercedes-benz Sl-class Convertable / Hard Top/ on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Hamilton wins in Singapore as Vettel crashes out from pole

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Lewis Hamilton took a huge stride toward his fourth Formula One title on Sunday by winning an incident-packed Singapore Grand Prix after Ferrari title rival Sebastian Vettel crashed out at the start. The Mercedes driver now has a 28-point cushion over the German with six of the 20 races remaining. Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo, who also emerged from the opening lap carnage unscathed, was second for the third year in a row with Finland's Valtteri Bottas completing the podium for Mercedes. "God blessed me today for sure," said Hamilton, who set a lap record on his way to a third win in a row, as he spoke from the podium on a night where everything fell into his lap. "I came here today really thinking it was about damage limitation, and we've come out ahead. So I'm very grateful," he said later. "To come to a track that was potentially our weakest circuit, and come away with a win like this and those points, it's really such a fortunate scenario... so I definitely have a skip in my step." The Briton cashed in after Vettel, Ferrari team mate Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull's front row contender Max Verstappen smashed into each other as they raced off the wet starting grid and into the first corner. Raikkonen had made a storming start from fourth, Vettel a less impressive one from pole position while Verstappen went for the middle ground and was caught in a Ferrari sandwich as they converged. The stewards summoned all three and decided no driver was predominantly to blame. BITTER BLOW The first race to be hit by rain in the decade that Singapore has hosted Formula One had started in treacherous conditions, puddles gleaming in the floodlights, after a formation lap behind the safety car. With Hamilton starting fifth, everything looked set for Vettel to retake the overall lead that he had surrendered only two weeks earlier at Monza in Italy. And then it all went wrong, the collision with Raikkonen punching a hole in the side of Vettel's car before he spun into the wall at turn three. "It's bitter but it's done," said the German, a four times Singapore GP winner, whose retirement ended a run of 18 successive points finishes and left him with a mountain to climb. "Championship-wise it's a big step forward," recognized Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff. "The quickest car and the quickest driver were out within a minute into the race and that can happen all the time.

Lewis Hamilton scores a record 80th pole in Japan, Vettel ninth

SUZUKA, Japan (Reuters) - Formula One leader Lewis Hamilton seized a record-extending 80th pole position at the Japanese Grand Prix on Saturday, timing his sole flying lap to perfection while Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel managed only ninth. The Mercedes driver, in dominant form all weekend at the Suzuka circuit, pumped in a one minute 27.760 second lap on the super-soft tires while it was still only just spitting with rain. Vettel and Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen, who went out on intermediate tires in the final part of qualifying with the track still dry, lost time coming back in to fit the super-soft tires. The German then made another mistake on his first flying lap and was unable to get another one in as the intermittent drizzle turned into a full-blown shower that drenched the track. Meanwhile, Hamilton – who along with team mate Valtteri Bottas had gone out straight away on the super-soft tires to beat the rain – was lighting up the timing screens. "The team have done an amazing job this weekend, and the call that we made for Q3 was probably the most difficult," said the Briton, joined by Bottas on the front row after the Finn completed a second successive Mercedes front row lockout. "It's so difficult when the pressure is on to make the right call but that's the big difference between us this year and that's why we're the best and the team deserve it," added Hamilton. Vettel trails his fellow four-times champion by 50 points in the standings with just four races left after Japan. His hopes are fading fast and he needs a huge stroke of luck now to reignite his challenge. "Obviously it's not the position we deserve to be in," said the 31-year-old. "I think we have better speed than ninth but we'll start there and see how it goes. "Anything can happen tomorrow. Tomorrow is a new day." RICCIARDO FUMES Vettel's misfortune allowed 21-year-old Dutch driver Max Verstappen to qualify third for Red Bull. "We have a bigger chance now to be on the podium," said Verstappen, doubting that he would need to worry too much about the others' title battle: "Is it still a battle? I'm not sure," he said. While the Dutchman celebrated, teammate Daniel Ricciardo was left hoarse with anger after a power unit problem sidelined him during the second phase of qualifying before he had set a time. The Australian, as a consequence, is set to start 15th. "I just can't catch a break," said Ricciardo, who is leaving Red Bull for Renault at the end of the year.

'The best Lewis' Hamilton faces resurgent Ferrari in F1

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Lewis Hamilton has raised his game but whether the Mercedes driver can deny Ferrari a second successive win of the season in China this weekend remains to be seen. On paper, the triple world champion is still the man to beat -- the most successful driver by far in Shanghai with four wins to date. "Lewis is the best Lewis that I've seen in the last four years, both on and off the track," said Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff after the Briton started on pole and finished second to Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel in the Australian season-opener. "He has become a pillar of this team and he proved that in Melbourne." But Vettel is leading the championship, the first time a non-Mercedes driver has done that since he took his fourth title with Red Bull in 2013, and once-dominant Mercedes have a fight on their hands. Mercedes, who have taken both the drivers and constructors' titles for the last three years, have won four of the last five races in China. As Melbourne showed, however, past form may count for little in a season of sweeping rule change. "If you think you are going to cruise to victory in the future, based on a track record of success, you'll be proven wrong very quickly," said Wolff. "Australia was a weekend full of lessons, now we go to China ready and excited for another battle." Ferrari have not started a season with consecutive wins since 2004 at the peak of the Michael Schumacher era, the Italian team taking 15 victories from 18 races that season. Vettel's win in Australia ended a victory drought for Ferrari stretching back to September 2015, and drew rare praise from company chairman Sergio Marchionne, but they must now prove they can be genuine contenders. "You really have to go step by step," said Vettel. "It's good to know that we have a great car but it's just the beginning: new regulations, new generations of cars so there will be a lot of progress." The cars this year are longer and wider, sporting fatter tires and more swept-back bodywork as part of a rules shake-up aimed at making them faster, more spectacular to watch and harder to drive. But overtaking has also become more difficult, with Australia raising concern about the lack of real moves. The long straights and wide sweeps of the Shanghai circuit saw 128 passes last year, more than at any other track, and should provide a more definitive verdict.