F1: Lewis Hamilton ‘under no illusion’ title lead could disappear
Mercedes driver is wary of a Ferrari fightback in the championship race
Hamilton’s title warning
Lewis Hamilton may have built a strong advantage in the 2019 Formula 1 drivers’ standings, but the Mercedes ace has warned that his championship lead “could disappear” following Ferrari’s recent fightback.
The British driver remains favourite to secure a sixth F1 world title after winning eight of the opening 12 races this year. However, he is also without a win since Hungary on 4 August.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Ferrari have won the three races since the summer break and on Sunday in Singapore Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc claimed a one-two for the Italians. Meanwhile, Hamilton was fourth under the lights at Marina Bay.
With six races remaining this season, Hamilton is 65 points clear of Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas and 96 clear of Leclerc, who is joint-third in the standings with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
The 34-year-old Hamilton warned: “I am under no illusion that my gap in the championship could disappear.
“It is not won yet. We need to pull our socks up and get the f*** on basically. We can squeeze more out of this car and individually we can do better. We don’t feel great but I think that is a good thing.
“If anyone in the team feels relaxed right now, they need talking to because we should all be feeling the pain.
“We will go to Russia and try to rev ourselves up and do a better job - but these next few races are going to be tough.”
Time to re-huddle and work hard
After his fourth-placed finish in Singapore, and seeing Ferrari win for the third successive race, Hamilton feels it will now be “very hard” to beat the Italians.
This weekend the teams and drivers head to Russia and Hamilton said: “Clearly their car works really well everywhere now so it’s going to be very hard to beat them.
“Particularly [because] they’re so quick on the straights. We can’t compete with them on the straights at the moment.
“We have won before with not the best car. But it’s just really how we deliver over the weekend. At the moment they’re delivering better on both ends.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––For analysis of the biggest sport stories - and a concise, refreshing and balanced take on the week’s news - try The Week magazine. Get your first six issues free–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
“If we are better in the operations area then I think that we can just pip them. Like [in Singapore] I did enough in the race for the first stint to gave come out in the lead but just the whole process didn’t work as well as should do.
“So we’ve just got to re-huddle and get back together and work hard moving forwards.”
The F1 Russian Grand Prix will be held on Sunday 29 September at the Sochi Autodrom (12.10pm start BST).
The 16th race of the 2019 season will be live on Sky Sports F1. Channel 4 will show highlights.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Dark energy data suggest Einstein was right (luckily)
Speed Read Albert Einstein's 1915 theory of general relativity has been proven correct, according to data collected by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Ukraine fires ATACMS, Russia ups hybrid war
Speed Read Ukraine shot U.S.-provided long-range missiles and Russia threatened retaliation
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
New York DA floats 4-year Trump sentencing freeze
Speed Read President-elect Donald Trump's sentencing is on hold, and his lawyers are pushing to dismiss the case while he's in office
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Christian Horner and the Red Bull saga that refuses to go away
Why everyone's talking about 'Too dizzy-making' even for the 'merry-go-round world of F1'
By The Week UK Published
-
Max Verstappen: F1’s record-breaking world champion
Why Everyone’s Talking About Red Bull star has surpassed records set by Schumacher, Vettel and Hamilton
By Mike Starling Published
-
F1 ‘silly season’ hits top speed as 2023 grid takes shape
Under the Radar Twitter explodes with news of driver moves, denials and rumours
By Mike Starling Published
-
Lewis Hamilton on his F1 future: ‘I have plenty of fuel in the tank’
Under the Radar Seven-time world champion finished second on his 300th grand prix start
By Mike Starling Published
-
F1: a bumpy start to the season for Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell
Under the Radar Only four races in and Mercedes already look off the pace
By The Week Staff Published
-
F1 Bahrain GP reactions: Ferrari ‘back with a bang’ as Leclerc ‘tames the beast’
feature The Tifosi celebrate a stunning one-two for Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz
By Mike Starling Published
-
F1 2022 season guide: race calendar, championship standings and 2023 grid
feature Max Verstappen has now won 14 of this season’s 20 grands prix
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Mason Greenwood: footballer arrested on suspicion of rape and assault
Speed Read Man Utd confirm the striker will not train or play until further notice
By The Week Staff Published