F1: Hamilton pushing toward 5th F1 title after imperious drive - MotorSportsTalk

SINGAPORE (AP) Lewis Hamilton sounds unsure of just one thing: whether Ferrari can bounce back after he dealt another crushing blow to Sebastian Vettel’s title hopes.

Hamilton was imperious at the Singapore Grand Prix, securing one of the best pole positions of his Formula 1 career with an astonishing drive in qualifying on Saturday and then controlling Sunday’s race perfectly.

It all went so smoothly for Mercedes as Hamilton moved 40 points ahead of Vettel with six races left in the season. But for Ferrari, it was yet another weekend on the back foot.

“We’re not over-confident, we’re diligent. We just want to keep hammering as hard as we can,” Hamilton after Sunday’s win, still sounding elated long after his victory. “If (Ferrari) have got an answer to that, we don’t mind that, we like that battle. If they don’t, we also don’t mind that.”

These are big “Ifs” for a Ferrari team lurching into crisis after a strong start – as Vettel won the first two races and four of the first 10. They were neck and neck heading into the summer, but Hamilton has won four of the past five races despite acknowledging his car is not as quick.

“Ultimately, I think we’re over-delivering,” Hamilton said. “We’ve out-performed a car that’s often slightly better – out-performed them as a team.”

As a driver, too, Hamilton has the edge on Vettel – particularly in terms of composure under pressure.

Both are four-time F1 champions and vying for a fifth win to move level with Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio and within two titles of F1 great Michael Schumacher’s record. But Vettel, who crashed in the rain while leading the German GP in July – where victory would have given him the championship lead – makes mistakes Hamilton simply does not.

During the Singapore GP, Vettel hit a wall during Friday practice and lost valuable track preparation time for qualifying.

It triggered a set of baffling events and poor decisions unbefitting of such a proud team.

His team botched qualifying when a poor strategy call put Vettel and teammate Kimi Raikkonen on the wrong tires. Ferrari compounded that by bringing Vettel in too early for a tire change during Sunday’s race, hoping to gain advantage by pre-empting Hamilton’s anticipated move. Instead, Vettel lost one place in the race and ended up third, wasting points he cannot afford to lose.

Ferrari’s mistakes this season have started to pile up, while Mercedes is making the right calls and Hamilton is making the most of it.

Hamilton said Vettel’s crash in practice was not Mercedes “lucking in,” but more about the differing approaches of the rival teams.

“I take pride in not putting myself in those positions,” Hamilton said. “The team’s relying on me as his team’s relying on him.

“There’s a lot of pressure on us as drivers, it’s only small percentages and (when) you get wrong it has bigger ramifications.”

While Vettel was again publicly critical of his team following qualifying and the race, Hamilton has faith in Mercedes – to such an extent that he’s now spending far longer in team debriefs than he ever used to.

When he arrived Sunday night to give his final comments to the media, it was nearing 1 a.m. local time. Yet Hamilton was buoyant and seemed galvanized by his intensive leadership role with his engineers.

“I encourage them to ask me questions, and they did. More than ever, the communication has been an addition,” Hamilton said. “We’re going from strength to strength in terms of our understanding of the car.”

It is quite some turnaround from 2016, when Hamilton – who was at odds with Nico Rosberg and lost the drivers’ title to his teammate- was unhappy at certain decisions.

Now all the pressure is in the Ferrari garage.

With six races left, starting in Russia in two weeks’ time, Vettel has to find his best form and hope Hamilton slips up.

Given Hamilton’s focus, the way he is talking, and his uncanny ability to stay fresh for the races, that seems very unlikely.

If anything, Hamilton could well beat Vettel by more than the 46-point margin he did last year.

“I’ve got a few days off, probably doing yoga and training hard Tuesday onwards,” Hamilton said. “The focus has to remain the same, if not more.”

INDIANAPOLIS – Alex Palou had not turned a wheel wrong the entire Month of May at the Indy 500 until Rinus VeeKay turned a wheel into the Chip Ganassi Racing pole-sitter leaving pit road on Lap 94.

“There is nothing I could have done there,” Palou told NBC Sports. “It’s OK, when it is my fault or the team’s fault because everybody makes mistakes. But when there is nothing, you could have done differently there, it feels bad and feels bad for the team.”

Marcus Ericsson was a master at utilizing the “Tail of the Dragon” move that breaks the draft of the car behind him in the closing laps to win last year’s Indianapolis 500. On Sunday, however, the last of three red flags in the final 16 laps of the race had the popular driver from Sweden breathing fire after Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden beat him at his own game on the final lap to win the Indianapolis 500.

Despite the two disappointments, team owner Chip Ganassi was seen on pit road fist-bumping a member on his four-car team in this year’s Indianapolis 500 after his drivers finished second, fourth, sixth and seventh in the tightly contested race.

Those are pretty good results, but at the Indianapolis 500, there is just one winner and 32 losers.

“There is only one winner, but it was a hell of a show,” three-time Indianapolis 500 winner and Chip Ganassi Racing consultant Dario Franchitti told NBC Sports. “Alex was very fast, and he got absolutely caught out in somebody else’s wreck. There was nothing he could have done, but he and the 10 car, great recovery.

“Great recovery by all four cars because at half distance, we were not looking very good.”

After 92 laps, the first caution flew for Sting Ray Robb of Dale Coyne Racing hitting the Turn 1 wall.

During pit stops on Lap 94, Palou had left his stall when the second-place car driven by VeeKay ran into him, putting Palou’s Honda into the wall. The car sustained a damaged front wing, but the Chip Ganassi crew was able to get him back in the race on the lead lap but in 28^th position.

Palou ultimately would fight his way to a fourth-place finish in a race the popular Spaniard could have won. His displeasure with VeeKay, whom he sarcastically called “a legend” on his team radio after the incident, was evident.

“The benefit of being on pole is you can drive straight and avoid crashes, and he was able to crash us on the side on pit lane, which is pretty tough to do, but he managed it,” Palou told NBC Sports. “Hopefully next year we are not beside him. Hopefully, next year we have a little better luck.”

Palou started on the pole and led 36 laps, just three fewer than race leader Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren Racing.

“We started really well, was managing the fuel as we wanted, our car was pretty good,” Palou said. “Our car wasn’t great, we dropped to P4 or P5, but we still had some good stuff.

“On the pit stop, the 21 (VeeKay) managed to clip us. Nothing we could have done there. It was not my team’s fault or my fault.

“We had to drop to the end. I’m happy we made it back to P4. We needed 50 more laps to make it happen, but it could have been a lot worse after that contact.

“I learned a lot, running up front at the beginning and in mid-pack and then the back. I learned a lot.

“It feels amazing when you win it and not so good when things go wrong. We were a bit lucky with so many restarts at the end to make it back to P4 so I’m happy with that.”

Palou said the front wing had to be changed and the toe-in was a bit off, but he still had a fast car.

In fact, his Honda was the best car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway all month. His pole-winning four lap average speed of 234.217 miles per hour around the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway was a record for this fabled race.

Palou looked good throughout the race, before he had to scratch and claw and race his way back to the top-five after he restarted 28^th.

In the Indianapolis 500, however, the best car doesn’t always win.

“It’s two years in a row that we were leading the race at the beginning and had to drop to last,” Palou said. “Maybe next year, we will start in the middle of the field and go on to win the race.

“I know he didn’t do it on purpose. It’s better to let that pass someday.”

Palou said the wild racing at the end was because the downforce package used in Sunday’s race means the drivers have to be aggressive. The front two cars can battle for the victory, but cars back in fourth or fifth place can’t help determine the outcome of the race.

That is when the “Tail of the Dragon” comes into the play.

Franchitti helped celebrate Ericsson’s win in 2022 with his “Tail of the Dragon” zigzag move – something he never had to do in any of his three Indianapolis 500 victories because they all finished under caution.

In 2023, however, IndyCar Race Control wants to make every attempt to finish the race under green, without going past the scheduled distance like NASCAR’s overtime rule.

Instead of extra laps, they stop the race with a red flag, to create a potential green-flag finish condition.

“You do what you have to do to win within the rules, and it’s within the rules, so you do it,” Franchitti said. “The race is 200 laps and there is a balance.

“Marcus did a great job on that restart and so did Josef. It was just the timing of who was where and that was it.

“If you knew it was going to go red, you would have hung back on the lap before.

“Brilliant job by the whole Ganassi organization because it wasn’t looking very good at half-distance.

“Full marks to Josef Newgarden and Team Penske.”

Franchitti is highly impressed by how well Ericsson works with CGR engineer Brad Goldberg and how close this combination came to winning the Indianapolis 500 two-years-in-a-row.

It would have been the first back-to-back Indy 500 winner since Helio Castroneves in 2001 and 2002.

“Oh, he’s a badass,” Franchitti said Ericsson. “He proved it last year. He is so calm all day. What more do you need? As a driver, he’s fast and so calm.”

Ericsson is typically in good spirits and jovial.

He was stern and direct on pit road after the race.

“I did everything right, I did an awesome restart, caught Josef off-guard and pulled away,” Ericsson said on pit lane. “It’s hard to pull away a full lap and he got me back.

“I’m mostly disappointed with the way he ended. I don’t think it was fair and safe to do that restart straight out of the pits on cold tires for everyone.

“To me, it was not a good way to end that race.

“Congrats to Josef. He didn’t do anything wrong. He is a worthy champion, but it shouldn’t have ended like that.”

Palou also didn’t understand the last restart, which was a one-start showdown.

“I know that we want to finish under green,” Palou said. “Maybe the last restart I did, I didn’t understand. It didn’t benefit the CGR team.

“I’m not very supportive of the last one, but anyway.”

Dixon called the red flags “a bit sketchy.”

“The red flags have become a theme to the end of the race, but sometimes they can catch you out,” Dixon said. “I know Marcus is frustrated with it.

“All we ask for is consistency. I think they will do better next time.

“It’s a tough race. People will do anything they can to win it and with how these reds fall, you have to be in the right place at the right time. The problem is when they throw a Red or don’t throw a Red dictates how the race will end.

“It’s a bloody hard race to win. Congrats to Josef Newgarden and to Team Penske.”

Follow Bruce Martin on Twitter at @BruceMartin_500