Hamilton nears F1 championship

Will Hamilton win the title before the last race of the season?

Kimi Raikkonen’s race was eventful as well, with the Finn now embracing his role as a #2 driver being promoted to second early on by Rosberg’s folly only to cede the spot to teammate Vettel, and soon, fall all the way to fifth.

But the Brit’s lucky he hasn’t been sent to a Gulag today after his post-race antics with champagne saw Russian president Vladimir Putin sprayed as he left the podium after presenting Hamilton with his trophy.

The Mercedes AMG PETRONAS driver admitted to feeling “amazing” following the result in Russian Federation, and was trying to not make any mistakes during the race so to be able to make the one-stop strategy work for him. It also pretty much guarantees him his 2nd Championship title in a row, pending unforeseeable problems with 4 races still to go. It is very unfortunate for the team.

“I’ve got to enjoy what’s going on now and cherish the moment, there are still lots of points available this year”, Hamilton said on Mercedes’ official website.

Raikkonen however was hauled in front of the stewards after the race in the wake of his last-lap collision with Valtteri Bottas and was subsequently hit with a 30-second timed penalty. The penslty also cost Ferrari constrictor points and gave Mercedes its 2nd straight constructors’ title (with a whopping 172-point lead).

That meant that Mercedes had mathematically clinched the contructors’ title with four races to spare. This time around there were incidents, safety cars, overtaking, strategy variation and one of the most dramatic final laps seen for a while.

Vettel was surprised by an intruder on the track in Singapore last month and had another close encounter in Sochi, speeding past as a Russian marshal gathered debris from the track.

“Formula 1 is pretty incredible sometimes, how tough it is”, he said. But by the time the German had got to turn four the safety auto had been deployed. It was quite unsafe. At the end of the day, he delivered. One lap before the end it seemed like everything went away from us.

“I have to be thankful to the whole team, they did a great job for me to be racing out there after the crash”, he said.

“I couldn’t steer anymore because my knee was in the steering wheel”, he outlined.

The Mexican smiled: “It’s just feels great to be back”.