Mexico City, Oct 29 (AP) Lewis Hamilton will be chasinghis fourth Formula One season championship from behindSebastian Vettel.
At least from the start.
Blistering late laps by Vettel and Max Verstappen willhave Ferrari and Red Bull starting 1-2 at the Mexican GrandPrix on Sunday with Hamilton to start third.
Hamilton leads Vettel by 66 points in the seasonchampionship with three races left and can win it if hefinishes fifth or better.
Hamilton won on this track last year and was clearlyannoyed at not only being denied pole position but the frontrow as well.
He has insisted all week he wants to win the season titlewith a victory at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, a track heconquered last year.
"We're still in it for the win, I think," Hamilton said.
A good start could get him out front on a track thatfeatures a starting grid on one of the longest straights ofthe F1 season, a design that plays into the Mercedes enginestraight line power.
"It's a long way to turn one," Hamilton said. "We oughtto have some fun."He'll also want to avoid any kind of trouble in front ofhim. Vettel and Verstappen started 1-2 at the Singapore GrandPrix when Vettel's sudden move across the track triggered acrash that took out both cars.
Hamilton zipped through the opening from fifth to takethe victory in a race the proved a critical turning point inhis championship fight with Vettel. That crash changedFerrari's fortunes this season as Hamilton stormed to his biglead with two more wins since then.
The first turn in Mexico City could be just as wild. Allthree drivers were involved in incidents there last year whencars drove into the grass and came back. Hamilton wasn'tpenalized for his move, but Verstappen was and it cost him apodium finish.
Race officials have placed new curbs at the first turn sothat any car venturing into the grass will have to take along, slow route to return.
"Personally, I don't like it. We might as well put a wallthere," Vettel said.
Verstappen predicted the drivers will have to be morecautious out the long straight.
"Those curbs stop you from breaking ridiculously late"Verstappen said.
Verstappen has been on a late-season surge with a victoryin Malaysia and a second-place finish in Japan. He thought hehad another podium last week at the U.S. Grand Prix until hewas penalized for an improper pass on the final lap. An engineupgrade last week in Texas has him pushing Hamilton and Vettelaround the track.
"I'm super annoyed," at not getting pole position,Verstappen said. "I could have gone faster. Second is still agood place. I was hoping for more."Hamilton is closing in on a championship that would puthim past some of the greatest drivers in F1 history andalongside others. A fourth title would break the record forBritish drivers and he would join Vettel and Alain Prost, whoeach won four. Only Michael Schumacher (seven) and Juan ManuelFangio (five) have won more.
Vettel won his 50th career pole position Saturday andisn't quite ready to concede the title to Hamilton.
He says Ferrari will push to win the final three races.
Even if he does, it would take a rare Mercedes collapsesomewhere along the way for Vettel to win the championship. Hebriefly held the lead last week in Texas only to quicklysurrender it to Hamilton without much of a fight.
"We'll run our race," Vettel said. "There's no pointlooking at what Lewis is doing." (AP) CMCM.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.