Lewis Hamilton has put himself within touching distance of a fourth Formula One world championship after his victory at the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka. His fifth win in the past seven races, plus a spark plug failure that forced his rival, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, to retire after only four laps means the Mercedes driver holds an almost insurmountable points lead going into the final four races of the season.

Hamilton had entered the race with a 34-point advantage over Vettel and leaves 59 ahead, with 100 available. If the 32-year-old wins at the next round in the US and Vettel finishes below fifth, the title will be his and he will become Britain’s most successful racing driver, with one more F1 championship than Sir Jackie Stewart.

“I could only have dreamed of having this kind of gap,” Hamilton said. “Ferrari have put on such a great challenge all year long. All I can really say is that I have to put it down to my team. They’ve done a phenomenal job.”

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Vettel suffered a spark plug problem that proved terminal and it followed a sequence of races in which the championship has swung firmly in Hamilton’s favour. The German crashed out on the first lap in Singapore and could manage only fourth at the next round in Malaysia when he started from the back of the grid after an engine change. His failure to finish at Suzuka is his second DNF in three races.

Vettel knows he has a mountain to climb but remains hopeful. “We go flat out for the last four races and see what happens,” he said. “We still have a chance this year, it is not as much in our control as we would like but overall the team is in a good way. I think we have got further than people thought. We have a lot of positives but today is not a day to look at positives.”

Amid the commotion as Ferrari mechanics hurried to fix his spark plug problem on the starting grid before the race, Vettel missed the national anthem, earning himself a reprimand from the race stewards to add to the one imposed on him at the Monaco Grand Prix in May. Another reprimand this season would earn the German driver a 10-place grid penalty.

Hamilton had managed his lead from pole well, although the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, who finished second, stayed with him to the end. The British driver had proved uncatchable but was sympathetic to his rival. “I think it’s kind of unbelievable really, to think that we are where we are,” he said. “I was excited actually to have a good race with Sebastian here, as I was in the last race – but he’s obviously been incredibly unfortunate. In Formula One it is a lot about reliability, it is about the team’s whole performance.”

Mercedes have won the past three drivers’ and constructors’ championships and appear certain to do so again but the team’s executive director, Toto Wolff, refused to be complacent. “If I told you Seb was going to DNF twice you would have said it was impossible,” he said. “This is motor racing, you have a DNF or two and suddenly things swing around. So we shall not count our chickens.”

It was a view shared by the driver who won two of those three titles, despite having his third for the team all but in his grasp. “There’s still a long way to go,” Hamilton said. “One hundred points is a lot of points. Anything can happen in life. I’ve just got to try to keep my head down and hopefully continue to perform like this.”