Lewis Hamilton has one hand, three fingers and a thumb on the world championship after romping to victory in Japan as his rival Sebastian Vettel finished a lowly sixth following a calamitous collision.
Hamilton’s fourth win in succession, and sixth in seven rounds, never appeared in doubt as he raced away from pole and cruised to the line ahead of his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas.
Max Verstappen completed the podium as Vettel endured yet another miserable afternoon following his crash with the Red Bull driver in the early stages of Sunday’s Suzuka race.
Hamilton, 67 points clear of the Ferrari driver with just 100 left on the table, will secure his fifth title at the United States Grand Prix in a fortnight’s time if he wins and his rival is third or lower.
Iconic 👌🇯🇵 📸 x @paulripke pic.twitter.com/a8ZZzLH90S — Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) October 7, 2018
Hamilton won the downhill gallop to the opening bend, with Bottas slotting in behind, and Verstappen holding off Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari.
Vettel, eighth on the grid after a tyre-choice blunder by his Ferrari team in yesterday’s dry-wet qualifying session, was sixth by turn one, and soon up to fifth after a brilliant move on the Haas of Romain Grosjean.
He was then fourth after Verstappen ran off the road at the chicane, and in rejoining the track, bumped Raikkonen on to the grass. Out came the safety car after debris littered the track following a coming together between Kevin Magnussen and Charles Leclerc.
The race resumed on lap eight, and moments later Vettel was last. The German went for a gung-ho lunge on Verstappen as he slowed down from 190mph at the left-handed Spoon corner.
HAM: "I love you guys! I love driving this car! I love this track!" We're guessing he loves the 67-point lead in the championship too 😯#JapaneseGP 🇯🇵 #F1 pic.twitter.com/i0KncM4tdS — Formula 1 (@F1) October 7, 2018
Vettel came from too far back, and clumsily thudded into the side of Verstappen as sparks flew and the Ferrari car spun around.
Verstappen marched on not wounded but Vettel’s hopes of finishing at least third here and reducing the points damage to Hamilton were over in an instant.
Verstappen was already set to serve a five-second penalty for his earlier altercation with Raikkonen, and Vettel pinned the blame for the accident at the Dutchman’s door.
“Is it believable what this guy is doing?” he said over the radio. “I don’t think so.” The stewards investigated the incident, but tellingly took no action.
#JapaneseGP ends with #Kimi7 P5 and #Seb5 P6. Good reaction from the team, but not the result we targeted. Always #ForzaFerrari #Nevergiveup pic.twitter.com/9FP50fqHGo — Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) October 7, 2018
Indeed, the move smelt of desperation, and it marked Vettel’s second mistake of the weekend, after he ran off track in qualifying, and his seventh of an error-prone campaign.
Afterwards Verstappen said: “You can’t overtake in that corner. I gave Sebastian space, but he under-steered into my car.”
Vettel fought back to sixth, but for Hamilton, there were no such concerns as he marched towards his ninth win of the year, and crossed the line 12.9 seconds clear of Bottas.
Hamilton will now head to Texas searching for a fifth straight victory in the United States, and his sixth in seven years.
Simply lovely 💪 Max takes his seventh podium of the season 👊 #JapaneseGP #F1jp pic.twitter.com/jMxbVxKKww — Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) October 7, 2018
“The whole weekend has been incredibly strong,” Hamilton said. “It is a great one-two for Mercedes.
“I have raced a long, long time, but the happiness I have inside is as high as always so it is a great feeling. This win feels like one of the first.
“I take it one step at a time. Each week you have a positive weekend you go to another grand prix not sure how you will perform, but we have gone from strength to strength and Austin is a good track for me. I can’t wait to unleash this beast there.”
Verstappen finished hot on the heels of Bottas, while his Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo recovered from 15th to fourth. Raikkonen took the chequered flag in fifth.
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