Lewis Hamilton hopes to make it three consecutive wins at the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka next week on a circuit where he is desperate to record his first victory.
The Mercedes driver has won the last two races and moved into the championship lead ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg and also wants to break his run of failures at Suzuka. Hamilton won in Japan, at Fuji in 2007, but his best result at Suzuka is third, five years ago.
The race is on Oct. 5 and has been dominated in recent years by Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, who has won four of the last five times there.
Vettel finished second to McLaren’s Jenson Button in 2011. Vettel has had all sorts of problems with his car this season and is out of the running for a fifth consecutive drivers’ title.
The remaining contenders are Hamilton (241 points), Rosberg (238) and possibly third placed Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo (181). Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso is in fourth spot with 133 points and Vettel has 124.
Danny Roach, organizer of Formula 1 Fans of the Cayman Islands, is a massive Ferrari fan. He created the club so that F1 enthusiasts could collectively watch races on a Sunday morning.
This season, they are screened at PD’s in Galleria Plaza, from 9 a.m. The $2 minimum membership fee goes to charity and in recent races $500 has been collected for the Cayman Islands Cancer Society. There are raffles, auctions and free door prizes too. For the Japanese race, Meals On Wheels will be the recipient of proceeds.
Roach is pleased that Red Bull’s stranglehold on the drivers’ title has been broken but has not dismissed Ricciardo’s chances of getting second place ahead of Rosberg who seems to have lost momentum after a series of outstanding performances left him way ahead, only to be overhauled in the standings by Hamilton in Singapore last week.
The fact that the season’s final race, in Abu Dhabi, carries double points makes it all the more intriguing, with 50 points for the winner.
Roach said he hopes for rain in Japan which will temper the straight-line speed of the Mercedes drivers. “Then the other cars can use their down force to stay in contention,” he said. “There will be a lot of rookie drivers too trying to impress.”
Roach added that he thinks Alonso is still the best driver of the bunch but problems with his car again this season has hampered challenging for top spot.
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