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maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 10 OCTOBER 2018 22 SPORTS FORMULA 1 Lewis Hamilton defends F1 title rival Sebastian Vettel LEWIS Hamilton has said Se- bastian Vettel deserves more respect after moving to defend his championship rival. Vettel attracted criticism for his collision with Max Ver- stappen at Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix which leaves Ham- ilton on the brink of winning his fifth world title. The Ferrari driver's coming together with Verstappen was his seventh significant error of the campaign, and his 10th in two seasons fighting Hamilton for the championship. But Hamilton, who will secure the title if he wins in Austin, Texas next Sunday and Vettel fails to finish second, insists the German is owed greater credit. "I feel the media need to show a little more respect for Sebas- tian," he wrote in a message posted to his Instagram story yesterday. "You simply cannot imagine how hard it is to do what we do at our level, for any athlete at the top of their game that is. It is to be expected that being humans we will make mistakes but it is how we get through them that counts." While a dominant Hamilton, who is visiting the Mercedes factory in Brackley, Northamp- tonshire today, has secured six victories in seven rounds of remarkable racing, Vettel and Ferrari's championship chal- lenge has fallen dramatically off the rails. Ferrari were at fault for put- ting Vettel on the wrong tyres in Saturday's dry-wet qualify- ing session in Suzuka before the German's clash with Ver- stappen in the race dropped him to last. He recovered to finish sixth. Vettel protested his inno- cence afterwards, and said Verstappen was to blame. To- to Wolff, the Mercedes team principal, didn't believe Vettel was at fault. "I'm not sure it was his mis- take," he said. "Sebastian re- covered well from his starting position and at that stage was a solid fourth. As a racing driver you either have to go for it or not and the door looked open. He gave it a go but a racing in- cident caused him to drop all the way back." PLANS for a Vietnamese Grand Prix in 2020 are looking feasible, according to Formula One race director Charlie Whiting. Whiting told reporters at Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix that the location for a street circuit had been identified, to the west of the capital and some 12km from the city centre, even if building work had yet to start. "It's in the advanced stages of design," said the Briton, who flew to Vietnam between races on successive weekends in Russia and Japan. "As far as I'm aware, they're aiming for a 2020 Grand Prix, which shouldn't be a problem based on previous experience." Formula One management has expressed strong interest in a race in Vietnam, with Hanoi seen as the sort of 'destination city' the sport is looking for. However, no signing has been confirmed, even if there has been plenty of speculation that a deal is done. Vietnam would be the first new race introduced by commercial rights holders Liberty Media, who took control in January last year and ousted for- mer supremo Bernie Ecclestone. The Vietnamese government said at the end of August that it supported the idea of staging a For- mula One race on the streets of Hanoi. The coun- try is a growing market for sponsors such as brew- er Heineken and would be a fifth Asian race on the calendar, making up for the departure of Malaysia. Whiting said the proposed layout mainly used existing streets, with one as-yet unbuilt section. "It's an open site where the pit building's going to be built," he said, adding, "Part of the track will be built there which doesn't exist at the moment." F1 may make Vietnam debut in 2020