 Lewis overjoyed to come through chaos
Lewis Hamilton described the rain-hit Japanese Grand Prix as the longest race of his life as he came through several scares unscathed to move to within perhaps just seven days of clinching the world title at the first attempt.
The title leader took a supreme victory in atrocious conditions at the Fuji Speedway to open up a 12-point championship lead over team-mate Fernando Alonso as the Spaniard sensationally crashed out.
However his fourth Formula 1 win was his most challenging yet and he admitted he was thrilled to come through it without terminal damage to his car, despite fearing that he might collide with someone behind during the second safety car period.
“It was the longest race, probably, of my life – it just seemed to go on and on,” he said.
“Once we had the [second] safety car, I was consistently onto my engineers to tell the Red Bull team to tell Mark [Webber] to just make a little bit more of a gap, as I couldn’t go any faster and I was trying to keep the distance with the pace car.
“And then I’d move over just in case as I couldn’t see Mark and then all of a sudden he would just appear alongside me, so he kept outbreaking himself.
“I felt something was going to happen – and I guess my instincts told me right. [Webber was hit by Sebastian Vettel]
“And then on the restart, Heikki [Kovalainen] was behind me and I was again nervous and hoped that we didn’t collide, but he did a good job.
“The laps few laps the team were telling me to slow down as I was a second faster than anyone but I was going as slow, really, as I felt comfortable doing.
“But towards the last couple of laps I took it easy as it was so wet and the tyres were getting old.
"I am thrilled to take it, bring it home, and it's great for the team."
The 22-year-old had already survived a huge scare following his first pit stop when he came together with BMW’s Robert Kubica, with the contact pushing him into a spin.
In the immediate aftermath of the collision, his MP4-22 seemed to have been damaged as he dropped down to fifth position behind a series of runners who had yet to pit.
He revealed he feared his car had received potentially race-ending damage and although he regained his previous pace, struggled with vibrations for the remainder of the race.
“I think when you are behind someone, you have to have to take it easy especially in regards to the conditions," he said.
“I couldn’t see him, I couldn’t hear him and he touched me.
“And then I felt there was a vibration, so I thought ‘shoot’, there is something wrong with my car – the rear tyre is going down or there is something wobbling – and I had it for the rest of the race.
“So there was some big vibration, so I was very fortunate but the team said everything was okay so just keep it on the track.”
Hamilton can now wrap up a maiden F1 title in China next weekend if he finishes ahead of Alonso.
source: itv-f1 ---------------------------------------------- | 
