Mercedes braced for end-of-season cliffhanger

F1 outfit may let Hamilton, Rosberg race the way they want

LONDON: Mercedes are almost ready to let Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg off the leash now that the title-chasing pair has secured the team's first Formula One constructors' world championship. Almost, but not quite.

"If you look at the points, we have made a massive step towards the drivers' title," said Mercedes motorsport head Toto Wolff after the team's ninth one-two and 13th win of the season in Sunday's inaugural Russian Grand Prix. "So we could be coming into a situation which everybody would love of course, and it's safe to let them race in the way they want to race."

Wolff said that, for the time being, until it was mathematically certain that the Mercedes drivers could not be overtaken, there remained ‘an invisible little leash’ restraining them. While there is no question in anyone's mind that Hamilton or Rosberg will be crowned champion at the end of the season, there is still the slimmest of chances that Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo could spoil the party.

With 100 points remaining to be won from the last three races, the Australian is 92 points behind Hamilton and 75 adrift of Rosberg. No other driver is in contention. Ricciardo is the only man other than the Mercedes drivers to have won this season but he would still need three more victories to have any chance. Realistically, his chances are likely to be snuffed out at the next race in Austin, Texas, in three weeks' time.

‘Pirelli tyre choice for Brazil unacceptable’

Brazilian driver Felipe Massa says Pirelli's choice of tyres for his home Formula One Grand Prix next month is ‘very dangerous’.

The Italian company announced last week it would be taking its two hardest compounds to Interlagos – the hard and medium tyres – due to the high-energy demands of the anticlockwise Sao Paulo circuit.

"Dangerous, very dangerous," Massa told reporters when asked at the Russian Grand Prix for his opinion on the choice. "I have no idea why they chose medium and hard; it's completely unacceptable."

Formula One's only current Brazilian driver said the conditions at the circuit could be wet and cold and a hard tyre might not provide enough grip in conditions where drivers needed to take a gamble on dry tyres.

 

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