Lewis Hamilton praised the work done by his Mercedes team on reliability as recent engine problems at Ferrari have led to what he called an “unbelievable” turn in the championship in his favour.
As teams try to make their final engines last until the end of the season, the Italian team has been hit by issues on three occasions in the past nine days with Sebastian Vettel unable to qualify and Kimi Raikkonen failing to start in Sepang and the German having to retire after just four laps on Sunday in Japan.
As a result, what was only a three-point lead at the end of the European season has become a 59-point advantage for the triple world champion, raising the prospect Hamilton could win the title as soon as Austin in two weeks time.
“It’s kind of unbelievable really to think that we are where we are,” he said. “I was excited actually to have a good race with Sebastian here and also in the last race but he’s obviously been incredibly unfortunate.”
Contrary to the Scuderia, though Mercedes may have had pace problems at the past few races, the Silver Arrow has proven far superior in terms of building parts that can last this long into the season.
“In the world of Formula 1 today it is a lot about the reliability, it’s about the team’s whole performance, not just speed on the track,” the 32-year-old commented, “and the team have shown for years now that we have a very solid platform.
“The guys do a phenomenal job in terms of how they build the car and also reliability so Mercedes are real leaders in that.”
At the same time, motorsport boss Toto Wolff hailed his driver for the quality he showed during Sunday’s race at Suzuka, as Hamilton claimed an eighth win of 2017.
“This was another perfect performance from Lewis,” said the Austrian. “He controlled the race from start to finish, taking nothing more out of the tyres and engine than he needed to at any point.
“It got close with Max at a few points, especially in the closing laps when they came upon traffic and were struggling for tyre temperature, but he kept cool and brought it home to the flag.”
