Lewis Hamilton – the Jim Clark of his era – in final push for sixth F1 title in Mexico

A final push to the summit in the rarefied air of Mexico City and Lewis Hamilton can secure his sixth Formula One title, one more than Juan Manuel Fangio and one fewer than Michael Schumacher. His ascent to establish this exceptional triumvirate has been remarkable.

Only his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas is in the running to deny Hamilton and Mexico, as it has for the last two seasons, may be the race to finish the job. Hamilton is 64 points ahead of Bottas and leaving the circuit 78 in front would be enough. In identical machinery to Bottas he has racked up nine wins to the Finn’s three, with performances on a different plane to all his rivals for much of the season. A mastery of almost every aspect of his craft has also brought the 34-year-old close to matching one of motor sport’s greats in Jim Clark. Hamilton has found an unmatched degree of finely honed aggressive consistency. He is a driver able to make pushing to the limit and controlling the knife-edge seem almost routine.

Jim Clark at the 1966 Mexican Grand Prix; his three there remain a record.



Jim Clark at the 1966 Mexican Grand Prix; his three there remain a record. Photograph: Bernard Cahier/Getty Images

Hamilton’s 82 victories from 246 races gives him a win percentage of 33.33%. Clark’s 25 from 73 is 34.25%. Another season like this one and Hamilton will likely surpass him. Neither driver’s figures were arrived at simply by being in the fastest car or through paucity of competition but with a skill often underestimated because it is hard to appreciate.

Clark summed it up best. “The supreme attraction of motor racing to me is driving a car as near the physical limit as possible without stepping over it,” he said.

Clark, who won two titles in 1963 and 1965 before his death at Hockenheim in 1968, remains the most successful driver at the Mexican GP with three wins. The victories in 1963 and 1967 were impressive but the non-championship F1 race in 1962 stands out. Clark had taken over Trevor Taylor’s car after his had been disqualified for receiving a push-start. He was 57 seconds down after the swap but flew after Jack Brabham and Bruce McLaren, passing both and sweeping to victory.

This season at Hungary, Hamilton displayed similar dramatic skill, going wheel to wheel with Verstappen in a gripping fight. Unable to pass, Mercedes pitted Hamilton for new tyres to chase and attack. Twenty seconds back with 20 laps to go, the British driver gave a masterclass in inch-perfect control as he cut first through traffic, then the gap to Verstappen and ultimately took the lead and the win.

In Mexico he emphasised just how important it was to try to maintain that step ahead. “It’s the balance of everything you’re doing outside of the sport, the obstacles you come across in the buildup to races, and just remaining consistent,” he said.

“Punching out these performances weekend-in, weekend-out, it’s such a hard task,” he said. “People underestimate and undervalue how hard that is. People turn on the TV and see a few hours of our weekend but a massive amount of work goes on in the background.”

Whether he seals the title on Sunday or not, Clark would surely have recognised Hamilton’s performances. “The man with natural ability uses finer limits than the man who has none,” Clark wrote. “It is like a born artist being able to place paint on a canvas and make it a picture, whereas the majority of us would only make a mess.For I consider motor racing an art.”

Hamilton has been finessing his brush strokes for 13 seasons, a sixth title will place him among the masters.

Hamilton was quickest in the first practice session in Mexico, just over a tenth clear of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Red Bull’s Verstappen. However with the track rubbered-in for FP2 and teams running qualifying simulations Ferrari and Red Bull, as expected, had a distinct advantage. Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheets for the Scuderia a tenth up on Verstappen. Leclerc was in third but Bottas and Hamilton were in fourth and fifth, over six-tenths behind.

source: theguardian.com