Hamilton wins Japanese GP, closes in on fourth title
Lewis Hamilton scored a dominant win at the Formula One Japanese Grand Prix to build a comfortable lead over rival Sebastian Vettel in the title race.
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The Mercedes driver, who started in pole position, dominated the race from start to finish to claim his eight win of the season. Ferrari’s Vettel, who has seen his title hopes fade away over the past few races, was forced to retire due to engine failure.
Hamilton now leads Vettel by 59 points with just four races left.
Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo finished second and third respectively. Valtteri Bottas finished fourth ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Esteban Ocon. Sergio Perez, Kevin Magnussen, Romain Grosjean and Felipe Massa were the remaining top 10 finishers.
“Honestly I could only have dreamed of having this kind of gap,” Hamilton said.
“Of course it hurts but sometimes things just break down,” said Vettel, who led the championship six weeks ago.
“It’s just a pity in the two races with the reliability issues,” he added.
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