Vettel grid penalty boosts Hamilton's fifth title hope

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Lewis Hamilton's hopes of clinching his fifth Formula One (F1) world championship at the US Grand Prix were boosted on Friday when Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel was handed a three-place grid penalty for a practice infringement.

Hamilton had already dominated both rainswept practice sessions for Mercedes when the German's penalty was confirmed by race stewards.

Vettel, whose season has been punctuated by mistakes, added another error to the list when he was found to have gone too fast when red warning flags were waved during the morning running.

“I saw the red flag; I slowed down, they found it took too long, and I think it's pretty straightforward. But the rules are clear as well, it's the first time we had this in the wet, and you literally have to stop to 30 or 40km/h, which I should do next time,” Vettel said.

“I'm not sure it's the right thing to do if there's someone right behind you, but it's more important you don't get the penalty.”

Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari drives on track during the practice for F1 US Grand Prix on October 19, 2018. /VCG Photo

67-point lead

Hamilton has won six of the past seven races and is chasing his fifth successive victory on Sunday.

If he wins, then Vettel must finish second to deny the Briton a title that would elevate him alongside the late great Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio as only the third driver to win five or more titles.

Hamilton has a 67-point lead and will be champion for the fourth time in five years if he scores eight points more than Vettel, who cannot now start higher than fourth.

Miserable weather

Hamilton won his third championship at the Texan track in 2015 and has been almost unbeatable in Austin, winning five of the six races there since Texas first appeared on the calendar in 2012.

With the rain coming down steadily overnight, but easing slightly before the day's action started, Friday's times were comparatively slow, and Hamilton took his time before venturing out on track.

"The weather was miserable this morning. The intermediate tyres provided pretty good grip for the wet conditions, but I don't think they will last very long," Vettel said.

"You can actually drive with quite a lot of standing water on the inters, so finding the cross-over between the extreme wets and the inters is going to be crucial as you can lose a lot if you get it wrong," he added.

Source(s): Reuters