Hamilton crashes in Suzuka practice - Capital Sports
Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Features

Hamilton crashes in Suzuka practice

HAMILTON-SINGAPORESUZUKA, October 4-Championship leader Lewis Hamilton crashed in Saturday’s free practice while Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg topped the time-sheets as the drama continued ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix.

The feuding rivals have taken turns to top practice and Briton Hamilton, who leads Rosberg by three points with five races remaining this year, posted the second quickest lap, despite failing to complete his qualifying simulation on the medium rubber as the German had.

With news of Sebastien Vettel’s shock departure from Red Bull reverberating, Hamilton lost control and crashed into a tyre barrier on turn one, tearing off his front left wheel.

Rosberg’s fastest lap of one minute and 33.228 seconds on the softer tyre compound was 0.982 quicker than Hamilton with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso third, followed by the Williams cars of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas.

Moments after Hamilton’s accident, Lotus pair Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado had incidents of their own at the same spot but without major consequences.

Hamilton, who set his quickest lap earlier in the one-hour session on hard Pirellis, was unhurt but having had his practice cut short, he will go into qualifying with little knowledge of how the softer tyre behaves at the high-speed Suzuka circuit.

Four-times defending champion Vettel, whose bombshell announcement he will leave Red Bull at the end of the season has set tongues wagging, completed only six laps before pitting for repairs and was 15th.

Former champion Kimi Raikkonen managed just five laps before he entered the pits and got out of his Ferrari, the Finn finishing in 12th place overall.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.
Advertisement

More on Capital Sports

Football

NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 27 – DStv and GOtv subscribers are in for a treat of the world’s best football this week as the 2020-21...

Football

NAIROBI, Kenya, May 25 – There is light at the end of the tunnel. After failed promises over the last three years since its...

Football

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 6 – Gentrix Shikangwa scored with two minutes left as Vihiga Queens sailed to the final of the CECAFA regional qualifiers...

NFL

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 13 – Kenya’s history making Daniel Adongo, the first Kenyan to play in America’s National Football League (NFL), is now living...

© 2024 Capital Digital Media. Capital Group Limited. All Rights Reserved