Hamilton would welcome more battles with Vettel

Past year at the Russian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton and teammate Nico Rosberg finished in 1st and 2nd place, respectively.

Predicting which Mercedes driver might win the next race has become all too routine, but Sebastian Vettel’s occasional cameo appearance on the top step of the podium has at least prevented this from being one of the dullest Formula One seasons in recent memory. Even if Rosberg finishes first in the remainder of his races, Hamilton could well qualify for the top rank at all the remaining rounds.

Lewis Hamilton’s first retirement of the season in Singapore was promptly consigned to the dustbin of history when he followed it with a win at the last round in Japan, and he was buoyant and determined to continue his stranglehold on the drivers’ championship in Russian Federation. Heavy rain largely made a washout of the second practice session on Friday and for Hamilton, with the chance of a third title tantalisingly close, not slipping up is key.

He said: “Since it nearly certainly won’t rain for the rest of the weekend, we chose not to do a lot of practice in the wet with the risk it gives to the cars”.

But back in the pits Hamilton took a sideswipe at Red Bull after they again threatened to walk away from F1 if they can not get a competitive engine for next season, after splitting with Renault. “I just feel more comfortable in this workspace”.

Race promoter Sergey Vorobyev said: “All the practice sessions are running according to schedule, so the incident is not critical”. After Vettel took his Ferrari to a surprise victory in Singapore on 20 September – his third win in an otherwise Mercedes-dominated season – the normal pecking order resumed a week later in Japan with another untroubled Mercedes one-two result. “You just have to work hard at it”.

‘We (McLaren) had exceptional years but it was never quite right. At every level of the McLaren-Honda organisation, in engineering, technically, there is an absolute, one-team cohesion.

“It is really symptomatic of the agreements that we have that teams like Lotus, and Force India and Williams, are not getting the funding coming through with the distribution of income”. It’s not that they didn’t have great vision, but they have so much more freedom here to do the right thing. ‘As long as I’m at the front, I don’t care if you don’t put me on TV at all. I’m just telling you the difference.

“I saw a photo the other day where Nigel and Ayrton were wheel to wheel down the straight with sparks coming out”.

“There’s not a day that goes by that I’m not grateful for the moments he’s given me to enable me to have the life that I have”.