F1: Can Lewis Hamilton do the incredible at the Japanese GP?

Lewis Hamilton heads into this weekends Japanese Grand Prix chasing his third straight win but hoping for a straight fight with Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg as the title rivals go into the closing stages of the season on a level playing fieldLewis HamiltonHamilton went into the Singapore Grand Prix a fortnight ago trailing Rosberg by 22 points But his second successive win coupled with a retirement for Rosberg saw him leave the Marina Bay circuit holding a slim threepoint lead in the standingsThe Singapore result effectively resets the championship battle between the Mercedes pair and with just five of the 19 races still to run the former world champion hopes the title can be decided by a straight fight out on track rather than by unreliabilityOf course it was disappointing for the team to have another retirement Hamilton said after his Singapore win But I know they have made this a priority moving forwardsHamilton perhaps knows better than most how much of a toll poor reliability can take on a championship bid The 2008 world champion has won nearly double the number of races compared to Rosberg this year but has been forced to play catch up to his stablemate for most of the season as three costly retirements and a whole host of reliability problems have hobbled his title chargeWith hardly anything between the two title rivals as the season nears its conclusion and with double points on offer at the seasonfinale at Abu Dhabi a nonfinish for either of the two protagonists could deal a fatal blow to their championship hopesGoing into the race weekend you just dont know whathellip difficulties youre going to face Hamilton said following his win in Singapore All year Ive had that gap to Rosberg and all year Ive had to be chasing it catching up and then its gone againSo I know what could happen Hamilton said The Briton heads into Sundays race gunning for just his secondever career hattrick of victories and the constantlyshifting momentum in the battle between him and Rosberg at the moment appears to be firmly in his favourBut neither the Briton nor Rosberg have won at the 58 kilometer long Suzuka circuit which will play host to Sundays race Hamiltons best result around the track much loved by drivers who relish tackling the challenge posed by its fast sweeping corners has been a third placed finish which he achieved for McLaren in 2009 Rosberg meanwhile has finished no higher than fifthVettel the form manThe form man around Suzuka in recent years has been Sebastian VettelThe German has won the race here four times in five years and also clinched his second world championship at the track in 2011 with a drive to third He arrives in Suzuka having scored his best result of the season a secondplace finish in SingaporeBut his hopes of taking his maiden win of the year at one of his most rewarding circuits have to be tempered as Mercedes remain the team to beat even if the opposition do appear to have made inroads into their advantageOn circuits like Singapore we can get closer but the reality is that the horsepower difference we have is a big factor Red Bull team principal Christian Horner saidSo while we closed the gap last weekend at some of the tracks coming up like Abu Dhabi and perhaps Sochi its going to extend againStorm frontSundays race is under threat from a typhoon was lurking off the coast of Japan Formula Ones official weather forecaster said in a statement on ThursdayAnd while the agency Ubimet expects the storm a category 4 hurricane name Phanfone to pass by south of Suzuka its northern band is still expected to drench the circuit with rain possibly affecting the raceSuzuka has been affected by extreme weather before with qualifying in 2004 and 2010 postponed to Sunday morning but whether this weekends race ndash set to start at 1500 local time can be rescheduled if needed remains unclearIt is unlikely to be delayed in the event it cant be held on Sunday however as there is just a weeks gap to the maiden Russian Grand Prix in Sochi which is the next race on the calendar The weather is only expected to worsen on Monday