MOTORSPORT: Hamilton wins title; Ricciardo a broken man

Lewis Hamilton is the new Fangio, a five-time Formula 1 world champion; Max Verstappen is a five-time grand prix winner at just 21; and Daniel Ricciardo is devastated by his eighth retirement of the season, a day after his fabulous pole position in Mexico.

Ricciardo is feeling “helpless” and says his Red Bull-Renault RB14 is “cursed” after it failed him while running second, holding off Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari with 10 laps to go.

So distraught was Ricciardo that he said he “can’t see the point” of doing the final two races of the season.

The young Aussie said he would happily let Pierre Gasly (who will replace the carsales.com.au global ambassador next year when he switches to Renault’s factory team) take the Red Bull seat early for the GPs in Brazil on November 11 and Abu Dhabi on November 25.

“I don’t think ‘frustration’ is the word anymore... everything feels hopeless,” Ricciardo said after another retirement with mechanical failure (seemingly a hydraulics problem) a week after the one in Texas.

Having stunned the F1 world with a qualifying lap 0.026sec faster than Verstappen for pole position in Mexico, Ricciardo said “things are happening on race days which I’ve got no explanation for”.

“I’m not superstitious, but the car’s cursed. I don’t see the point of coming on Sundays,” he stated.

Verstappen won in Mexico for the second year, claiming the lead instantly as Ricciardo’s car bogged down on the start line and Hamilton’s Mercedes rocketed between the Red Bulls.

However, tyre troubles plagued Hamilton throughout the race, even though he coasted much of it, finishing fourth as Vettel and his Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen joined Verstappen on the podium.

It was still enough for the Brit to wrap up his fifth world championship, bringing him equal with late Argentinian Juan-Manuel Fangio, who won two of his titles with Mercedes and who Hamilton acknowledged as “the godfather” of F1.

Only the now-incapacitated Michael Schumacher has been the F1 world champion more times – seven – but Hamilton, still only 33, could yet become the most successful of all.

“To complete this, when Fangio has done it with Mercedes, is an incredible moment,” Hamilton said.

“It was a horrible race [for me]. I got a great start and was working my way up. I really don’t know what happened after that. I was just trying to hold on and bring the car home,” Hamilton said.

Vettel, who needed to win to retain any chance of prolonging this year’s fight, let alone beat Hamilton to a fifth crown, was gracious in acknowledging his great rival.

“Well deserved. Congrats to him and his team. They did a superb job all year,” Vettel said.

However, Ferrari has kept the constructors’ championship alive for at least another round. It has 530 points to Mercedes’ 585, while Red Bull is third on 362 and Renault fourth on 114.

Ricciardo is sixth in the drivers’ championship on 146 points, behind Hamilton (358), Vettel (294), Raikkonen (236), Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas (227) and Verstappen (216).