Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/737583
21 Sport FORMULA 1 MOTOGP maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 12 OCTOBER 2016 Rosberg's title to lose - Lauda Niki Lauda says it's unlikely that Lewis Hamilton will be able to prevent Nico Rosberg from winning the Drivers' Championship unless the German hits trouble in the remaining four races of the season HAMILTON is 33 points adrift of Rosberg, with just 100 left to play for, after he finished only third in Japan on Sunday, while his title rival sauntered to a ninth victory of the year. World champion Hamilton walked out of his press confer- ence with the written media on Saturday evening in response to what he deemed to be disre- spectful coverage of his antics on Snapchat earlier in the week. He then botched his start on Sunday - falling six places to eighth - before ending a bizarre weekend by calling on Mercedes to withdraw their post-race protest against Max Verstap- pen which could have promoted Hamilton to second. Mercedes chairman Lauda ad- mitted that Hamilton's hopes of a third successive drivers' title are slipping from his grasp. Lauda, the three-time world champion, said: "Nico is doing everything right at the moment. If everything is going normal, the championship could be decided in the next few races, and Lewis won't be able to catch Nico any more. This is perfectly clear to me. "It is only lost and won when the points are gathered, but if nothing happens to either car, I don't think Lewis will be able to turn it around again." Hamilton hinted at sabotage from his own Mercedes team following his engine failure in Malaysia before taking aim at the press at Suzuka, but there was no- one to blame for what happened at the start of Sunday's race. "I made a mistake, and then just working my way up from there was tricky," said Hamilton. Later, Mercedes lodged a pro- test against Verstappen after the Dutch driver blocked a move by Hamilton on the penultimate lap. But Hamilton later said on Twitter that he told Mercedes to withdraw the complaint. "There is no protest from my- self,'' Hamilton tweeted."Just heard the team had but I told them it is not what we do. We are champions, we move on. End of!'' A successful hearing could have seen Verstappen handed an elapsed timed penalty, thus bumping Hamilton up to second place. Mercedes, however, said it was the team's decision to with- draw their appeal. Niki Lauda and Nico Rosberg Iannone to miss Japan GP, no replacement DUCATI has confirmed that Andrea Iannone will miss the Japanese Grand Prix through injury, with the team electing not to field a replacement rider. Iannone, who ended Ducati's victory drought at the Red Bull Ring this season, sustained a back injury when he fell during practice at Misano. Iannone was forced to miss the remainder of the weekend's action and an attempt to ride at MotorLand Aragón also proved futile, as he withdrew after the opening session. "The excess f luid in his back injury had been almost totally absorbed and that the calcifica- tion process of the T3 vertebra was now well underway," read a statement issued by Ducati. On the advice of doctors, Ian- none has elected to sit out the upcoming event at Motegi in order to be fit for the Australian Grand Prix, which takes place the following weekend. Ducati, which has previously turned to test rider Michele Pirro as a replacement rider, has opted to run only Andrea Dovizioso this weekend. Iannone, who will be replaced by Jorge Lorenzo in 2017, has al- ready sealed a move to Suzuki. Andrea Iannone