Hamilton’s title hopes have “gone out the window”

2013 Singapore Grand Prix

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Lewis Hamilton says he is focused on beating Ferrari in the championship as he believes his chances of competing for the title are over.

Hamilton is 96 points adrift of Vettel after finishing fifth in today’s race.

“I’m a hundred points behind, right? That’s gone out of the window,” said Hamilton when asked about his title prospects following today’s race.

Hamilton said his objective now was “just trying to catch Fernando [Alonso] somehow, try and beat Ferrari.

“Just ride the wave that that we’re on a good wave, generally as a team for the year, much better than what they had last year so I’m happy I can contribute, just try and get the Ferraris.”

Hamilton said he was confused about his position during the race:

“I don’t think we can come away from this weekend satisfied,” he said. “I thought we were further ahead.”

“I didn’t see my pit board and I wasn’t told what position I was in so when Mark [Webber] was dropping back I thought we were progressing so disappointed to get the result we got considering how much we were pushing.

“Perhaps the strategy wasn’t as good as we had hoped but nonetheless the guys did a great job. I hope in the next races we’ll have a better chance.”

2013 Singapore Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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17 comments on “Hamilton’s title hopes have “gone out the window””

  1. PR people will tell him that he can still achieve the World Championship while playing darts with David Beckham at the back of the garage and juggling dobermans in front of the Queen.

    1. Now how is that least bit relevant to this post ? Are you bashing him ? Probably he was asked that by the journalists and replied so . He knows already that the title was over a couple of races ago .

      1. @hamilfan remember 2 weeks ago that he said so but 30 mins later he said he was still in it, presumably because Mercedes told him: “go out and say you’re still fighting for it !” ?

        I’m not bashing Hami, I respect his views and it’s obviously done and dusted for Vettel this year. I’m bashing Mercedes PR people for the U turn just a fortnight ago…

      2. @hamilfan How quickly people forget, at the start of the season, everybody including Lewis believed he would not be in the championship hunt, he never was… Why be surprised now?

        1. Erm, maybe because expectation change once people realise the car is actually competitive? Hows that difficult to understand?

        2. @noob Things change quite quickly in f1 . Then , you must be really surprised Perez is not gunning for the title . That is beside the point . Yes , maybe he wanted to be sure that it was mathematically out of the question before commenting . Sometimes , these drivers say something in an interview and it gets twisted in the most convoluted forms possible out of context .

    2. What? Where did that came from?

    3. My feelings exactly, hopefully no U-turn this time

  2. I have to agree with Hamilton, Mercedes really seems to have left themselves and the drivers down with strategic thinking today.

    I suppose they were too cautious with the tyres, and perhaps for good reason, but still would have liked to see them try to do be a bit more adventurious. And if not with Rosberg to try and keep him on the podium, at least with Hamilton who had less to lose, and more to win, just like Ferrari and Alonso who did take the risk (albeit with a car that is relatively good at keeping tyres alive). Since the WDC win would have been out of reach regardless, why not try for the sky, instead of attempting to make it to the elevator that only goes to the 10th floor :)

    1. @bosyber Hamilton should not have left McLaren, he will regret it one day

      1. @noob Even the folks at Mclaren are pretty chill about it . Why so serious ? If you are a great fan then you must be sure that Mclaren will be back to the top as they are one of the top f1 teams in history . They just need to make sure they don’t make trivial errors that’s all . They lack the intensity of Ron dennis .

      2. @noob, I guess that might be so, but judging from today that is clearly not this day yet; he did beat both McLatens, and has been doing that at almost every race of the yeat so far. Moreover, that sort of ‘maybe they should have used common sense and taken a calculated risk’ is one of those things McLaren hasn’t been great at recently, apart from Button’s team in select races.

        Anyway, lets see if next year the Mercedes engine is good, and both teams build a competitive car so they can fight for races an WDC.

      3. People who try to say that Merc will not perform well in the future, look at the history of Red Bull. They were struggling, then they recruited a great driver and rose up the constructors table in 09, then a major regulation overhaul happened in 2010, which played into Red Bulls favor and the rest is history. Merc also struggled circa 2010-12, then they recruited a great driver and rose up the ranks this year… anybody seeing the pattern here ?? 2010 regs helped RB, next years reg changes could effect Merc in the same way. Only time will tell,but it is foolish to count any top team out at this point in time.

        1. a major regulation overhaul happened in 2010

          There were hardly any changes in the technical rules for 2010. Far fewer than in, say, 2009, when Brawn won the championship.

          1. The refuelling ban and the reduction in the number of tyres one could use over a race weekend were game changers in F1. It meant drivers couldn’t drive balls-to-the-walls anymore and had to drive more strategically, and that’s where Vettel excelled. That, coupled with aero improvements and a brilliant Renault engine, and the introduction of Pirellis in 2011, made RB dominant.

    2. Actually, Merc took a huge gamble with their strategy. They pitted Hamilton and Rosberg late for their final stint, assuming that the tyres on Alonso and Kimi would reach their cliff at the end of the race, the way Button’s tyres did. The same strategy was followed by Webber. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out, and that’s ok, you win some, you lose some. But the problem was that both cars followed the same strategy. I agree with you, they should spread out their risk and follow different strategies with different cars, but you can’t say they didn’t take a risk.

  3. he could be lucky to finish 5th by the end of season. redbull have the momentum, so webber in 5th will catch up to Hamilton. I don’t think he will finish above alonso or raikonnen, it will be close. he may be good again at circuit of Americas. the media fuss over him being a championship contender after 1 win in hungary was so exaggerated – you just have to look at past seasons, Mercedes always fall off as the year goes on, and Hamilton is always good at hungary. 3 races later (after 2 where Mercedes were predicted to go well), and the championship challenge is over (not that there was one to begin with)

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