Lewis Hamilton is in hot pursuit of his sixth Formula One drivers’ title. And he is literally within touching distance of it if all things go according to plan in the last four races of the 2019 F1 calender in Mexico, US, Brazil and the UAE.
His Japanese Grand Prix however was a total “f*** u” according to the F1 star after his team Mercedes cost him the race win this past weekend.
The Mercedes driver finished third place in the Japanese Grand Prix, two places behind his team-mate and race winner Valtteri Bottas who cut his lead to just 64 points.
So unless, Bottas finishes the next race in Mexico in 10th place or below and Hamilton wins the race with a bonus point for fastest lap, only then will the Brit win his sixth world championship title.
Given that Mercedes has the fastest car on the track this season, that seems highly unlikely.
So understandably when the team messed up his pitstop strategy in Japan, he was visibly irritated. Talking to his race engineer over the radio, he said:
“That’s just a f***-up, man, how have I lost that much time? I am basically out of the race. I came out from the pits and realised I lost ten seconds — and I am like, why? If they told me I’d have been that far behind Valtteri, I would have said no to them and stopped earlier. Naturally, we will sit and talk to the engineers and strategists. There will be discussions when we get back.”
However, on the more positive side of things for the team, Mercedes did win its sixth consequetive constructor’s championship in Formula One in Japan.
