Hamilton Has Battle On Hands To Secure Title Today.

The Circuit of The Americas has been kind to Lewis Hamilton in recent years, but it was his Mercedes team mate Bottas who is the only driver who can stop Hamilton winning a sixth title, and took the pole position for today’s United States Grand Prix in nail-biting fashion.

 Hamilton showed the most impressive pace over one lap in Friday practice, but the five-time world champion made a mistake on his final run in the middle sector, forcing him out of contention for pole position and leaving him a distant fifth.

 It turned out, no one improved their position on the final runs, meaning Bottas’s impressive opening shot was enough to secure a first pole in the States and the 11th of his F1 career. But he finished with just such a slim margin of just 0.012s ahead of the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel.

 Hot head Max Verstappen made it three different teams in the top three positions, with the Dutchman heading up the second row for Red Bull, just 0.067s off the pace as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc – who has been on pole in five of the last six races – ended up fourth.

This evenings race is going to be be a tough battle for Hamilton now to secure the title but Paul Mohammed spoke to EWN this morning and said ” I spoke with Lewis just after qualifying and he only said 3 words – ” don’t right me off” with a wry smile”

The reference said Paul was when in 2008 he left the circuit In Brazil thinking Lewis had blown his first title challenge and it was a phone call from a team mate who called me back for the celebrations as Lewis gained a place on the very last turn. ” He’s never let me forget that” said Paul.

Paul further went on to say “it’s going to be an uphill slog unless we see incidents in the first corner or a weather change for Lewis to benefit and I can’t see there being any team orders with Bottas still in with a chance of the title”

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