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Read our <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161017192246/http://www.independent.co.uk/service/privacy-policy-a6184181.html">Privacy</a> and <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161017192246/http://www.independent.co.uk/service/cookie-policy-a6184186.html">Cookie</a> Policies to find out more.</p> </div> <div class="tabs"></div> <div class="region region-content"> <article class="full-article" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/NewsArticle"> <meta itemprop="mainEntityOfPage" content="http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/motor-racing/lewis-hamilton-japanese-grand-prix-niki-lauda-writes-off-hamilton-nico-rosberg-a7353446.html"> <div itemprop="publisher" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/Organization"> <meta itemprop="name" content="The Independent"> <link itemprop="sameAs" href="http://www.independent.co.uk"> <link itemprop="logo" href="https://static.independent.co.uk/static-assets/brand-logo.png"> </div> <header> <ol vocab="http://schema.org/" typeof="BreadcrumbList" class="breadcrumbs clearfix"><li property="itemListElement" typeof="ListItem"><a property="item" typeof="WebPage" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161017192246/http://www.independent.co.uk/sport"><span property="name">Sport</span></a></li><li property="itemListElement" typeof="ListItem"><a property="item" typeof="WebPage" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161017192246/http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/motor-racing"><span property="name">Motor Racing</span></a></li></ol> <h1 itemprop="headline" class=" ">Lewis Hamilton: Mercedes chairman Niki Lauda writes off Briton's title chances unless Nico Rosberg hits trouble</h1> <div class="intro"> <p>Hamilton is 33 points adrift of Rosberg, with just 100 left to play for - and Lauda believes the championship is all but decided</p> </div> <ul class="caption meta inline-pipes-list"> <li class="author" itemprop="author" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"> <span itemprop="name"><a href="/web/20161017192246/http://www.independent.co.uk/author/philip-duncan" title="Philip Duncan">Philip Duncan</a></span> </li> <li title="10 October 2016 06:16 London"><time data-microtimes="{"published":"1476076560000","display":0,"changed":"1476076560000"}" datetime="06:16, 10 October 2016">Monday 10 October 2016 06:16 BST</time></li> <li class="comments"> <a href="#commentsDiv" id="comment-count" class="icon-comment"></a> </li> </ul> <div id="gigya-share-btns-1"></div> </header> <figure itemprop="associatedMedia image" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" class="featured-media medium-width"> <meta itemprop="representativeOfPage" content="true"> <meta itemprop="url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20161017192246/https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2016/10/10/07/lewis-hamilton.jpg"> <meta itemprop="width" content="2048"> <meta itemprop="height" content="1536"> <picture title="lewis-hamilton.jpg">  <source srcset="https://web.archive.org/web/20161017192246im_/https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/article_medium/public/thumbnails/image/2016/10/10/07/lewis-hamilton.jpg 1x" media="(min-width: 620px) and (max-width: 929px)"/> <source srcset="https://web.archive.org/web/20161017192246im_/https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/article_large/public/thumbnails/image/2016/10/10/07/lewis-hamilton.jpg 1x" media="(min-width: 930px) and (max-width: 1239px)"/> <source srcset="https://web.archive.org/web/20161017192246im_/https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/story_large/public/thumbnails/image/2016/10/10/07/lewis-hamilton.jpg 1x" media="(min-width: 1240px)"/>  <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20161017192246im_/https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/article_small/public/thumbnails/image/2016/10/10/07/lewis-hamilton.jpg" alt="lewis-hamilton.jpg" title="lewis-hamilton.jpg"/> </picture> <figcaption itemprop="description" class="caption"> Hamilton has endured a turbulent past week following the events of the Malaysian Grand Prix <span class="copyright">Getty</span> </figcaption> </figure> <div class="article-wrapper clearfix"> <div class="main-content-column"> <div class="text-wrapper" itemprop="articleBody"> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161017192246/http://www.independent.co.uk/topic/LewisHamilton">Lewis Hamilton</a> will not be able to stop <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161017192246/http://www.independent.co.uk/topic/Nico_Rosberg">Nico Rosberg</a> from winning the championship unless the German hits trouble in the remaining four races of the season, according to Mercedes chairman Niki Lauda.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>World champion Hamilton walked out of his press conference with the written media on Saturday evening in response to what he deemed to be disrespectful coverage of his antics on Snapchat earlier in the week.</p> <div class="inline-block inline-block-related-single inline-block-left" data-nid="/sport/motor-racing/japanese-grand-prix-results-lewis-hamilton-nico-rosberg-wins-championship-constructors-a7352341.html"><a href="/web/20161017192246/http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/motor-racing/japanese-grand-prix-results-lewis-hamilton-nico-rosberg-wins-championship-constructors-a7352341.html"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20161017192246im_/https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/readmore_card/public/thumbnails/image/2016/10/09/08/nico-rosberg1.jpg"/><div class="content"> <div class="context-capsule">Read more</div> <h2>Rosberg triumphs in Japan to extend lead over Hamilton</h2> </div> </a></div> <p>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 Verstappen which could have promoted Hamilton to second.</p> <p>"Nico is doing everything right at the moment," Lauda said. "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.</p> <p>"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."</p> <p>Hamilton, 31, hinted at sabotage from his own Mercedes team following his engine failure in Malaysia before taking aim at the press here, but there was no-one to blame for what happened at the start of Sunday's race.</p> <p>"I made a mistake, and then just working my way up from there was tricky," said Hamilton, who continued his written media blackout afterwards but spoke - albeit briefly - in the official press conference for the top three drivers, an obligation which is mandatory for drivers under the sport's regulations.</p> <div class="dnd-widget-wrapper context-sdl_editor_representation type-image"><div class="dnd-atom-rendered"><div class="image"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20161017192246im_/https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/story_medium/public/thumbnails/image/2016/10/10/07/hamilton.jpg" width="564" height="423" alt="hamilton.jpg" title="hamilton.jpg"/></div></div><div class="dnd-caption-wrapper">Hamilton on the podium after finishing third in Sunday's race (Getty)</div></div> <p>Later, Mercedes lodged a protest against Verstappen after the Dutch driver blocked a move by Hamilton on the penultimate lap.</p> <p>But while on Lauda's private jet, and accompanied by team boss Toto Wolff, Hamilton claimed in two confusing tweets that he told Mercedes to withdraw the complaint.</p> <p>"There is no protest from either myself of Mercedes," Hamilton tweeted from 40,000 feet, despite both the team and the FIA confirming an appeal had been put forward. "One idiot said we have but it's not true. Max drove well, end of. We move on."</p> <p>Hamilton's initial tweet was swiftly deleted, and it is unclear who the "one idiot" is that the Briton was referring to. Moments later, the FIA confirmed Mercedes had withdrawn their protest.</p> <p>"There is no protest from myself," Hamilton then tweeted."Just heard the team had but I told them it is not what we do. We are champions, we move on. End of!"</p> <p>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 withdraw their appeal.</p> <meta itemprop="datePublished" content="2016-10-10T07:16:00+01:00"/> <ul class="inline-pipes-list"> <li> More about: </li> <li><a itemprop="keywords" href="/web/20161017192246/http://www.independent.co.uk/topic/LewisHamilton">Lewis Hamilton</a></li> <li><a itemprop="keywords" href="/web/20161017192246/http://www.independent.co.uk/topic/f1">F1</a></li> <li><a itemprop="keywords" href="/web/20161017192246/http://www.independent.co.uk/topic/formula-one">Formula One</a></li> </ul> <div id="gigya-share-btns-2"></div> <a href="/web/20161017192246/http://www.independent.co.uk/syndication/reuse-permision-form" target="_blank" class="syndication-btn"><img src="/web/20161017192246im_/http://www.independent.co.uk/sites/all/themes/ines_themes/independent_theme/img/reuse.png" width="25">Reuse content</a> </div> <div class="box-comments"> </div> <div class="taboola"> <div id="taboola-below-article-thumbnails"></div> 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