Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel fell like a pack of card four laps into the race as Mercedes Lewis Hamilton took a giant stride towards his fourth world title with victory in the Japanese Grand Prix.
Vettel slipped down the field from the start with an engine problem to give the day to Hamilton who now leads the German by 59 points with 100 available in the remaining four races.
Hamilton is expected to clinch the title at the next Grand Prix scheduled for Austin, Texas, United States, if he wins and Vettel finishes lower than fourth.
The season’s race had continued to favour the Briton, while Vettel struggled to catch up.
Vettel was leading the championship after the Belgian Grand Prix at the end of August, and just three points behind following Hamilton’s victory in Italy a week later, but has haemorrhaged points over Formula 1’s three late-season races in Asia.
A start-line crash in Singapore has been followed by engine problems at consecutive races in Malaysia and Japan.
In Malaysia, 30-year-old Vettel started at the back after a manifold failure in qualifying and finished fourth as Hamilton took second. This Sunday, Ferrari said it was a spark plug problem.
It became apparent on the grid, where there was fevered activity around Vettel’s car. He started the race but immediately started losing places and complained of lacking power.
