Lewis Hamilton, The GOAT OF F1 RACING (@Lewis Hamilton), came out for his post-race news conference, following his debrief with his engineers after his dominant victory in the United States Grand Prix, holding a cigar.
“It’s a victory cigar,” he said, smiling. A pause. “It’s disgusting.”
The moment, though, was sweet. The cigar was to signify Mercedes’ fourth consecutive victory in the constructors’ championship, the first spanning a major regulation change, a remarkable achievement.
But it also felt like a recognition of the fact that Hamilton’s own number four was just around the corner.As long as Hamilton does not lose 16 points to Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel in Mexico next weekend, he will be world champion for the third time in four years, in addition to his first title in 2008 with McLaren.
He is already the most successful British driver in Formula 1 history by some margin, in that with 62 wins he has double the number of the next man in the list, Nigel Mansell (31). But this title will move him clear of Sir Jackie Stewart and the other triple champions and into a rarefied group of drivers that includes only Michael Schumacher, Juan Manuel Fangio, Alain Prost and Vettel.
Barring a retirement, Hamilton will surely win the championship in Mexico City. And how close that title is can be judged by the fact that on Sunday evening, for the first time this season, Hamilton was prepared to admit he is nearly there, even if his team boss Toto Wolff was not.
Hamilton’s championship victory, so inevitable now, was anything but not very long ago. The season has turned on his remarkable form since the summer break, and Ferrari’s simultaneous implosion in three remarkable races in Asia before F1 turned up in Austin.
Regardless of Vettel’s crash in Singapore and the engine problems in Malaysia and Japan, though, it is getting increasingly hard to come to any conclusion other than that Hamilton would have won this title anyway, even if it would not have come as easily as it has.
He has been in irresistible form since the summer, winning five of six races and finishing second in the other. Austin was another copybook drive, but he had to work for the win.
Starting on pole, he was beaten to the first corner by Vettel, but it was immediately obvious he had the speed to stay with the Ferrari.
“Pace feels good,” he said over the radio as he tracked the Ferrari closely. Halfway around lap six, he was past into the hairpin at Turn 12 and the race was effectively won.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff believes Hamilton has never been better than he is now, even in his utterly dominant 2015 season.
“I have worked with him for five years and I have never seen him operate at that level,” Wolff said. “The raw pace, spectacular, understanding the tyres and the ability of the car that was difficult sometimes is not easy. The sustainable performance on that level I haven’t seen before.”
Hamilton himself has said he is driving on “another level” at the moment and the big question has been why. As the weekend wore on, this question was returned to again and again and finally on Sunday night Hamilton opened up fully about it.
The foundations go back to a meeting he had with Wolff after the dust had settled from the controversial end to last season’s championship, when Hamilton tried to back team-mate Nico Rosberg into Vettel and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in a vain attempt to prevent the German taking the title, ignoring the team’s order to stop doing it.
“We had a difficult moment in Abu Dhabi last year,” Wolff said. “And we came back together a couple of days later and had a long evening in my kitchen and put it all out.
“All the frustrations and questions that had grown over the years were all dismantled. We went off and he came back with a great mindset and it has grown stronger through the year and you can see the positive relationship with Valtteri is an important factor.
“The spirit is great within the team and we have [it] through all the difficult moments. That was an essential piece of the jigsaw.”
Lewis Hamilton took one look at Sebastian Vettel and decided, in the finest old Texan tradition, that this town was not big enough for the both of them. Ever since the United States Grand Prix moved to Austin in 2012, he has been the fastest draw in the West, winning five of six races here, but few were so cathartic or so precious as this. Surging 66 points clear of Sebastian Vettel with just 75 left to play for, Hamilton is now close enough to a fourth world title to taste it.
The formal investiture will take place, in all likelihood, in Mexico City next Sunday, after Hamilton delivered another foot-to-the-floor masterclass to remove any vestige of doubt about where this championship is heading. Vettel was cussed as always, overtaking Hamilton on the opening lap, but the balance of power was restored just moments later as the man of the hour pulled off a sumptuous pass. “I was surprised,” he said, pointedly, “that Sebastian didn’t defend more.”
He was handed a pair of running shoes atop the podium by Usain Bolt, with whom he performed the Jamaican’s ‘To Di World’ victory pose. It was an apt juxtaposition. When the two of them perform at their best, their opponents do not see them for dust. This was a procession under cornflower Texas skies, as Hamilton dominated on a circuit that he has made his own. Vettel, alas, fell victim to a misguided Ferrari strategy. In Japan, it was a spark plug problem, and in Austin it was a question of bungled tactics. Having been sent to the pits twice, while Hamilton settled for one stop, he fell back to fourth, behind both Valtteri Bottas and team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.
A flustered Vettel did all he could to repair the damage, sweeping past Bottas with an audacity that evoked Nigel Mansell in his prime, while Raikkonen moved out of the way like a dutiful No2 driver. Even so, the matter of Hamilton’s coronation is not one of if, but when. “I’m enjoying driving more than ever,” he said. “The pressure is intense, but I always want to elevate myself each time I get in the car.
Hamilton’s mother, Carmen, and his brother, Nicolas, were both trackside in Austin to savour this latest demolition act. They would be well-advised to book their hotels for Mexico next weekend, where the party can begin in earnest. Only a Hamilton retirement – and he has not exited a race prematurely since Malaysia 2016 – can delay the glory now. “I feel amazing,” he said. “This was a beautiful day. I think this is now my favourite track. It’s a dream job, the best feeling in the world.”
One battle was resolved at least, as Mercedes secured the constructors’ title for a fourth consecutive year. Often this is a prize solely of interest to those inside the paddock, but it assumes added significance in light of this season’s regulation changes. The shift in 2017 to cars with greater downforce and much higher cornering speeds expected to trigger a change in the hierarchy. Instead, the Silver Arrows have propelled themselves to a quadruple. “I’m so proud to be a part of it,” Hamilton said. “Glad that you seem to like it here,” Pete Bonnington, his race engineer, replied, wryly.
Vettel’s precision off the start line was impeccable, as he edged in front of Hamilton on the dive into Turn One. Fleetingly it seemed as if the two might bang wheels, but both knew better. While the memory of a dramatic first-corner shunt in Singapore still fresh in Vettel’s memory, and Hamilton revelling in the luxury of a 59-point lead, they avoided taking one another out.
Hamilton sensed that his Mercedes was strong enough to vault back into the lead. So it proved four laps later as, with a little help from the drag reduction system, he slipped alongside Vettel on the entrance to the hairpin and re-established an advantage he was in no mood to relinquish again.
With the stakes so high, Hamilton was determined not to make the slightest mistake. He was irritated with his engineers when, having built almost a nine-second lead over Vettel, he emerged only fractionally ahead. “That was a little bit close, guys,” he muttered. “Why did we allow him to get so close?”
Such are the trials of a perfectionist. Daniel Ricciardo must have wished he had Hamilton’s problems, after his Renault engine gave up the ghost and denied him what had seemed, given Red Bull’s fearsome early pace, a sure top-three finish. Max Verstappen tried to compensate for the dismay. Closing in on Raikkonen, eyeing third, he was informed that he had only one opportunity at getting by. Duly, he pulled it off, only to be relegated back to fourth by the stewards, who deemed he had veered on to the grass and exceeded track limits. The young Dutchman was incandescent. “With these stupid decisions, you really kill the sport,” he said. So, too, was his father Jos, who tweeted: “This is bulls—. I’m sorry, this sucks.”
His day as a world champion will come, but for now Hamilton can breathe in the rarefied air of one who will soon have done it four times. Only Juan Manuel Fangio, Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost, and Vettel, who stood resignedly beside him on the podium, have ever accomplished such a distinction. Few could doubt that Hamilton has earned it. He has been irresistible since F1’s mid-season break, reeling off five wins to ensure a 91-point swing of the pendulum from Vettel, who led by 25 after Monaco.
Yes, he has the best car, but so does Bottas, who trailed in a distant fifth last night. Hamilton is, indisputably, F1’s alpha male. He can start planning for a Mexican mardi gras.
