F1 US Grand Prix 2015: Lewis Hamilton given title boost as Sebastian Vettel hit by 10-place engine penalty

Lewis Hamilton can claim his third world title in Austin

Lewis Hamilton arrives in Austin ahead of the US Grand Prix (Getty Images)

Lewis Hamilton’s hopes of clinching his third Formula One world title at the US Grand Prix here in Texas were boosted when Sebastian Vettel, his closest rival, said he would have a 10-place penalty on the starting grid.

“We will have the hit of a 10-place penalty for a new engine at this event but it has always been the plan, it’s not a big secret,” the Ferrari driver revealed at the Circuit of the Americas yesterday.

“Obviously, if you look at just this race in isolation, for sure it’s not great news, but you have to look at the whole project, the whole season and it was always the plan to have a fresh engine until the end of the season [from] here.”

Hamilton, who has won nine of the 15 races so far, leads Vettel by 66 points in the standings with four races left. His Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg is 73 points adrift, which means Hamilton needs to score nine points more than Vettel and two more than Rosberg to be sure of his second successive crown. A Mercedes one-two, with Hamilton winning, would do that. The Briton has won two of the three races in Austin and three of the last four in the US.

The new engine will be Vettel’s fifth of the season, incurring a penalty because it exceeds the allocation of four. “The priority was always to have maximum power at every single race and it [has] worked very well so far,” he said.