F1 Talk: Can Lewis Hamilton become champion this weekend?

Lewis Hamilton could equal Juan Manuel Fangio by winning a fifth world championship. Only Michael Schumacher will have more titles and whenever you have a conversation of who is the greatest F1 driver, Hamilton definitely now has a case to be argued as one of the best.

It’s not fully in his hands but if Mercedes take a 1-2 and Hamilton wins the race then he will be champion. For the championship to go onto Mexico and for Hamilton to NOT win the championship this weekend in USA then one of these scenarios must happen.

• If Hamilton wins the race, Vettel must finish second
• If Hamilton finishes second, Vettel must finish fourth
• If Hamilton finishes third, Vettel must finish sixth
• If Hamilton finishes fourth, Vettel must finish seventh
• If Hamilton finishes fifth, Vettel must finish eighth
• If Hamilton finishes sixth, Vettel must finish 10th
• If Hamilton finishes seventh or lower, the title race goes on to Mexico

There’s not really much pressure on Hamilton and Mercedes as they have four rounds to get both, the drivers’ and constructors’ championship wrapped up. An odd fact about Hamilton and where he’s won his championships is that he’s done it at four different venues.

In 2008, he won in the most dramatic of circumstances in Brazil; in 2014 he won his first championship with Mercedes at the finale in Abu Dhabi; in 2015 he won in USA at Austin, Texas and last year he won the championship in Mexico. He can’t make it a 5th different venue as the four places just mentioned are the four remaining races.

Hamilton can equal a record on Sunday if he wins the race because that will be five US Grand Prix wins in a row. Only Ayrton Senna has done this after he won the Monaco Grand Prix from 1989-1993. I believe that the Circuit of the Americas is Hamilton’s best circuit. His style just somehow suits the 5.5KM track which has a variety of corners which requires a unique setup that can handle the low and high speed corners as well as the bumps and the constant elevation changes. A good change of car direction is key as well.

Away from Hamilton now (even though much of the build-up will be about him this weekend) and onto another British driver. Step in, George Russell. It was confirmed last week that the man from King’s Lynn will drive for Williams next season, meaning there will be three Brits on the grid. This is fantastic news as Russell has had a stellar Formula 2 season after winning the GP3 title last year. Coming into 2018, all of the talk was about Lando Norris but Russell has outperformed him, even with a little bit of bad luck. I’ve been massively impressed with him and I was a little surprised that Williams chose him.

All the indications show that Russell is a star in the making and if he didn’t get an F1 seat for next year, that would be equally as bad as Esteban Ocon not getting a seat. If Williams go with an Ocon-Russell line-up for next year then that will be brilliant to see. Two youngsters pushing each other along and whichever one can beat the other having the potential to move into a team like Mercedes in the next few years.

Russell deserves the seat but he just has to be careful that he doesn’t fall into the trap which Stoffel Vandoorne fell into this season. Not every F2 champion is the future and it’s always hard to tell how good they really are because Formula 1 is a whole different ball game.

As for Ocon, it seems like Williams is his last chance. With Force India confirming Sergio Perez as a driver next year and Lance Stroll highly likely to join the Mexican, it means only two seats are left. One at Williams and one at Toro Rosso. Ocon must do everything he can to get a drive because he will easily be forgotten about when next year’s “Silly Season” arrives. The sport moves on, and if you’re not on the train, it won’t stop for you.

As much as Toto Wolff goes on about how he rates Ocon highly, then why didn’t he replace Ocon with Bottas if he thinks he’s so good? I’m not saying that Wolff shouldn’t trust Ocon but the Frenchman should perhaps find a way to get away from being a “Mercedes associated driver”. If he can, then I’m sure Toro Rosso would snap him up immediately. I think that’s what Helmut Marko is waiting for, and if they can’t get Ocon, they will take Alexander Albon who is currently second in the F2 championship.

The current weather forecast in Austin doesn’t like pretty. It looks very similar to 2015 which saw a cancelled practice session and qualifying having to be moved to Sunday and the cancellation of Q3. Some parts of Austin have already flooded and rain is expected for the rest of the week apart from Sunday. Hopefully, we will get some running in practice or else it’s going to be a very boring Friday. It could make for a more unpredictable Sunday though so it will be worth it if that’s what we get.

Not much else to discuss really as although the championship hasn’t been won yet, I must admit that it’s now getting hard to be as excited and enthusiastic as I was for Grand Prix at the beginning and middle of the season. With Mercedes having a clear pace advantage as well, the chances of a head to head battle are now less likely. Ferrari have brought a substantial upgrade to Texas, including new bargeboards and a new floor, hopefully this can get them to on par with Mercedes.

Ferrari will certainly be pushing to make Hamilton and Mercedes put the celebrations on hold.